What was Acadia?

Acadia (Acadie in French) was a French colony of northeastern North America covering present-day Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and parts of Maine and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. It was founded at Port-Royal in 1605 by Pierre Du Gua de Mons, Samuel de Champlain, and Jean de Poutrincourt, making it the oldest French colony in North America (three years older than Quebec City). The name 'Acadia' is thought to derive from the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano's 1524 use of 'Arcadie' (a poetic reference to Greek pastoral Arcadia) for the Atlantic coast.

Acadian settlers, who arrived from western France between the 1630s and 1730s, developed a distinctive agricultural society based on dyked salt marshes (aboiteaux) along the Bay of Fundy. The Acadians drained tidal marshes by building wooden tide gates (aboiteaux) that allowed fresh water to drain at low tide while preventing salt water from flooding fields at high tide. This unique technology produced highly fertile farmland and supported a population that grew from about 400 settlers in 1671 to about 13,000 to 18,000 by 1755. Acadians lived alongside the Mi'kmaq and developed close diplomatic and trade relationships, including frequent intermarriage.

Acadia changed hands repeatedly between France and England during the 17th and early 18th centuries. Major events included the destruction of Port-Royal by the Virginia raider Samuel Argall in 1613, multiple captures and recaptures during the Anglo-French wars, and the final British conquest of mainland Acadia in 1710 by Francis Nicholson. The Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 transferred mainland Acadia (renamed Nova Scotia) to Britain while leaving Île Royale (Cape Breton Island) and Île Saint-Jean (Prince Edward Island) under French control.

The British struggled to integrate the French-speaking Catholic Acadian population into a Protestant British colony. The Acadians refused to swear unconditional loyalty oaths to the British Crown, preferring to remain neutral in Anglo-French wars. After the founding of Halifax in 1749 and the outbreak of the French and Indian War in 1754, British Lieutenant-Governor Charles Lawrence ordered the deportation of the Acadians beginning at Grand-Pré on September 5, 1755. About 11,500 Acadians were deported between 1755 and 1763, with another 1,500 to 2,000 dying during deportation. After 1764 some Acadians were permitted to return; today Acadians remain a vibrant cultural community in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, the Magdalen Islands, and Louisiana (where deportees became the ancestors of the Cajuns).