Prince Edward Island (PEI) is a province of Canada and one of the three Maritime provinces. It is the smallest province of Canada in both land area and population, but the most densely populated. Part of the traditional lands of the Mi’kmaq, it became a British colony in the 1700s and was federated into Canada as a province in 1873. Its capital is Charlottetown. According to Statistics Canada, the province of PEI has 158,158 residents.