Why did early European settlements in Nova Scotia cluster along the coast?

Early European settlements in Nova Scotia clustered along the coastline primarily because the sea served as the essential means of transportation for the region.1

The economy of these early communities was fundamentally tied to maritime activities, specifically fisheries, the fur trade, and coastal farming. Because the interior of the province remained difficult to access and sparsely settled, the coast provided the most viable locations for trade, resource extraction, and communication with the outside world. This maritime orientation was reinforced by the province's geography, as its history and development have remained closely linked to shipbuilding and transatlantic shipping since the establishment of the first permanent European settlement at Port Royal in 1605.12