Nova Scotia (; Latin for "New Scotland"; ; ) is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces, and one of the four provinces which form Atlantic Canada. Its provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the second smallest of Canada's ten provinces, with an area of , including Cape Breton and another 3,800 coastal islands. As of 2016, the population was 923,598. Nova Scotia is the second most-densely populated province in Canada with . 

"Nova Scotia" means "New Scotland" in Latin and is the recognized English language name for the province. In Scottish Gaelic, the province is called ", which also simply means "New Scotland". The province was first named in the 1621 Royal Charter granting the right to settle lands including modern Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and the Gaspé Peninsula to Sir William Alexander in 1632. 

Nova Scotia is Canada's smallest province in area after Prince Edward Island. The province's mainland is the Nova Scotia peninsula surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, including numerous bays and estuaries. Nowhere in Nova Scotia is more than from the ocean. Cape Breton Island, a large island to the northeast of the Nova Scotia mainland, is also part of the province, as is Sable Island, a small island notorious for its shipwrecks, approximately from the province's southern coast.
As of when?
 As of 2016, the population was 923,598