Sydney, Nova Scotia

Sydney
Sydney waterfront as viewed from Westmount
Nickname:  The Steel City
Sydney Location of Sydney in Nova Scotia
Coordinates: 46°08′11″N 60°11′44″W / 46.13639°N 60.19556°W / 46.13639; -60.19556
Country	Canada
Province	Nova Scotia
County	Cape Breton
Municipality	Cape Breton Regional Municipality
Founded	1785
Incorporated City	1904
Amalgamated	1 August 1995
Named for	Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney
Area
• Total	30.91 km2 (11.93 sq mi)
Highest elevation	66 m (217 ft)
Lowest elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Population  (2021)[citation needed]
• Total	30,960
• Density	1,000/km2 (2,600/sq mi)
• Metro density	718.50/km2 (1,860.9/sq mi)
	"Metro" population based on a 43 km2 or 17 sq mi sample that is larger than the old boundaries for the former City of Sydney, pre-1995.
Time zone	UTC– 04:00 (AST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC– 03:00 (ADT)
Canadian Postal code	B1L – S
Area code	902 & 782
Telephone Exchange	202, 217, 270, 284, 304, 317, 322, 371, 408, 509, 537, 539, 549 560–5, 567, 574, 577, 578, 595, 979
Highways	Hwy 125 Trunk 4 Trunk 22 Trunk 28 Route 305 Route 327
Website	sydney.capebretonisland.com

Sydney is a former city and urban community on the east coast of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Sydney was founded in 1785 by the British, was incorporated as a city in 1904, and dissolved on 1 August 1995, when it was amalgamated into the regional municipality.

Sydney served as the Cape Breton Island's colonial capital, until 1820, when the colony merged with Nova Scotia and the capital moved to Halifax.

A rapid population expansion occurred just after the turn of the 20th century, when Sydney became home to one of North America's main steel mills. During both the First and Second World Wars, it was a major staging area for England-bound convoys. The post-war period witnessed a major decline in the number of people employed at the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation steel mill, and the Nova Scotia and Canadian governments had to nationalize it in 1967 to save the region's biggest employer, forming the new crown corporation called the Sydney Steel Corporation.^[1] The city's population has steadily decreased since the early 1970s due to the plant's fortunes, and SYSCO was finally closed in 2001. Today, the main industries are in customer support call centres and tourism. Together with Sydney Mines, North Sydney, New Waterford, and Glace Bay, Sydney forms the region traditionally referred to as Industrial Cape Breton.