Surveying for Loyalist settlement began in the Bay of Quinte region, and by the next year several townships were laid out. This early planning created a framework for land grants and farming communities in what would later become Upper Canada (Ontario).
A large "spring fleet" of Loyalist refugees began arriving at Parrtown (now part of Saint John) at the mouth of the Saint John River. This marked the start of rapid Loyalist settlement in the Bay of Fundy region and intensified pressure to reorganize colonial government and land distribution.
Great Britain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris, officially ending the war. The peace agreement set the stage for large-scale Loyalist departures from the new United States to remaining British colonies, including Nova Scotia and the Province of Quebec.
Birchtown, near Shelburne in Nova Scotia, was founded as a major settlement for Black Loyalists who had left the United States with the British. It became a key center of Black Loyalist life in the Maritimes, while also exposing deep inequalities in land, wages, and legal treatment.
On Evacuation Day, the last British troops left New York City. The British withdrawal also meant many Loyalists and people formerly protected by British lines had to leave quickly, adding momentum to migration and resettlement in British North America.
After rapid Loyalist settlement around the Bay of Fundy and the Saint John River, Britain split New Brunswick from Nova Scotia. The new colony was meant to provide more direct administration, courts, and land management for the growing Loyalist population.
In Shelburne and nearby Birchtown, white Loyalist veterans attacked Black Loyalists and local officials amid job competition, shortages, and delays in land grants. The violence revealed how racial discrimination and unequal access to resources shaped Loyalist settlement outcomes in Nova Scotia.
Governor Frederick Haldimand issued a proclamation granting a large tract along the Grand River to the Six Nations and their allies who had supported Britain during the Revolution. This was a major Loyalist-related resettlement in its own right and also reshaped land politics in the interior of British North America.
Parrtown and Carleton were united and incorporated as the City of Saint John. The chartered city became a major Loyalist urban center and a gateway for further settlement, while also embedding exclusions that limited rights and economic participation for Black residents.
Governor Lord Dorchester declared his intention to mark and honor families who had remained loyal to the British Crown. Over time, this helped shape Loyalist identity in British North America and supported claims for recognition and land benefits tied to wartime loyalty.
Britain passed the Constitutional Act, dividing the Province of Quebec into Upper Canada and Lower Canada with separate governments. The change responded in part to Loyalist settlement in the west, providing English-style law and land tenure for many newcomers while maintaining different institutions in French-speaking Lower Canada.
The division into Upper Canada and Lower Canada took effect, giving each colony its own administration and legislative system. For Loyalist communities, this helped turn emergency refugee settlement into more stable provincial governance and land administration.
After years of broken land promises, discrimination, and economic hardship in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, a large group of Black Loyalists chose to leave. Fifteen ships departed Halifax for Sierra Leone, where many helped establish Freetown—an outcome that reshaped Black communities in the Maritimes and created lasting Atlantic ties.
Upper Canada’s elected Legislative Assembly met for the first time at Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake). This marked a shift from improvised settlement governance toward regular lawmaking and institutions shaped by Loyalist political expectations.
The Parliament of Upper Canada adopted a law limiting slavery by banning new imports of enslaved people and setting rules that would free children born to enslaved mothers at age 25. The act did not end slavery immediately, but it signaled that Loyalist-founded institutions could also become sites of legal change and debate about rights.
By around 1800, the main emergency wave of Loyalist migration had largely turned into established towns, farms, and provincial governments in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Upper Canada. The settlements left a lasting legacy in English-speaking population growth, new colonial borders, and institutions—alongside ongoing conflicts over land and unequal rights for Black and Indigenous Loyalists.
United Empire Loyalist Migration and Settlement in British North America (1783–1800)