From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Acadia or Acadie, named after the mythical Arcadia, was the name given by the French to a territory including today's Canadian Maritime provinces and part of modern day New England stretching as far south as today's Philadelphia (the 40th to 46th parallel). Later, the territory was divided under British rule into American States and Canadian Provinces.
The territory's first European colonists, who would later become known as Acadians, were French subjects primarily from the Pleumartin to Poitiers area of France. The first French settlement was established by Sieur De Mons, Governor of Acadia under the authority of King Henry IV, on Saint Croix Island in 1604. The settlement was moved across the bay of Fundy to Port Royal the following year after a difficult winter on the island and deaths due to scurvy. In 1608, many of the settlers followed Samuel Champlain north to found New France in modern day Quebec City.
The French took control of the Wabanahki First Nations territory and in 1654 king Louis XIV of France appointed aristocrat Nicholas Denys as Governor of Acadia granting him the confiscated lands and the right to all its minerals.
The area was captured by British colonists in the course of King William's War but returned to France at the peace settlement. It was recaptured in the course of Queen Anne's War and its conquest confirmed in the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713.
Following this reverse, the French signalled their preparedness for future hostilities by building the fort of Fortress Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island. The British were alarmed by the prospect of disloyalty in war time of the French colonists now under their rule. The territorial conflicts between Britain and France led to over 6000 Acadian homes being burned by the British in 1755. Those Acadians who refused to swear loyalty to the British crown fled or were expelled to the American Colonies. Many settled in Louisiana, then still under French rule, where they formed the nucleus of the Cajun population. The name Cajun is derived from Acadia: the word for Acadian in French is acadien, which, said fast, becomes Cajun.
The poem Evangeline by Longfellow begins in Acadia.
See also: List of Acadian governors
