Hillsborough Bay

Inlet in the southeast of Prince Edward Island, measuring 20 km/12 mi from east to west, and 14 km/9 mi in width. The provincial capital Charlottetown is situated on its northern shore. The Fort Amherst/Port La Joye National Historic Site, in the northwest opposite Charlottetown, marks the first European settlement on Prince Edward Island, established by the French in 1720 and captured by the British in 1745, returned to the French in 1748, and recaptured by the British in 1758 when more than 4,000 French and Acadian settlers were deported.

The Hillsborough River (length 48 km/30 mi) rises in Kings County and flows 27 km/17 mi southwest to Charlottetown, where, known as the East River, it joins the North (Yorke) and West (Eliot) rivers to form Charlottetown Harbour. All three are estuarial, and connect (to the southeast) with the bay, which contains St Peters, Governors, and smaller islands. Rice Point marks its western edge, and Point Prim, in the east, is the site of a lighthouse. Pownal and Orwell bays, also in the east, are Hillsborough Bay's largest inlets.