<P> A large influx of Catholic settlers arrived in New Brunswick in 1845 from Ireland as a result of the Potato Famine . They headed to the cities of Saint John or Chatham, which to this day calls itself the "Irish Capital of Canada". Established Protestants resented the newly arrived Catholics . Until the 1840s, Saint John, the major city of New Brunswick, was a largely homogenous, Protestant community . Combined with a decade of economic distress in New Brunswick, the immigration of poor unskilled labourers triggered a nativist response . The Orange Order, until then a small and obscure fraternal order, became the vanguard of nativism in the colony and stimulated Orange - Catholic tension . The conflict culminated in the riot of 12 July 1849, in which at least 12 people died . The violence subsided as Irish immigration declined . </P> <P> Throughout the 19th century, shipbuilding, beginning in the Bay of Fundy with shipbuilders like James Moran in St. Martins and soon spreading to the Miramichi, became the dominant industry in New Brunswick . The ship Marco Polo, arguably the fastest clipper ship of her time was launched from Saint John in 1851 . Noted shipbuilders like Joseph Salter laid the foundations of towns such as Moncton . Resource - based industries such as logging and farming were also important to the New Brunswick economy . From the 1850s through to the end of the century, several railways were built across the province, making it easier for these inland resources to make it to markets elsewhere . </P> <P> New Brunswick was one of the four original provinces of Canada that entered into Confederation in 1867 . The Charlottetown Conference of 1864 had originally been intended only to discuss a Maritime Union of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, but concerns over the American Civil War as well as Fenian activity along the border led to an interest in expanding the geographic scope of the union . This interest arose from the Province of Canada (formerly Upper and Lower Canada, later Ontario and Quebec) and a request was made by the Canadians to the Maritimers to have the meeting's agenda altered . </P> <P> Following Confederation, the naysayers were proven right and New Brunswick (as well as the rest of the Maritimes) suffered the effects of a significant economic downturn . New national policies and trade barriers that had been created as a result of Confederation disrupted the historic trading relationship between the Maritime Provinces and New England . In 1871, the legislature sent a delegation to Ottawa in order to renew on "better terms". The situation in New Brunswick was exascerbated by the Great Fire of 1877 in Saint John and by the decline of the wooden sailing shipbuilding industry . </P>

When did new brunswick become part of canada