The Acadians Acadia The Expulsion and the birth

The Acadians, Acadia, The Expulsion and the birth of Nova Scotia

® Acadia (in the French language Acadie) was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day New England, stretching as far south as Philadelphia. People living in Acadia, and sometimes former residents and their descendants, are called Acadians. ® The actual specification by the French government for the territory refers to lands bordering the Atlantic coast, roughly between the 40 th and 46 th parallels. Later, the territory was divided into the British colonies which became Canadian provinces and American states. ® Today, Acadia is used to refer to regions of North America that are historically associated with the lands, descendants, and/or culture of the former French region. It particularly refers to regions of The Maritimes with French roots, language, and culture, primarily in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, as well as in the American state of Maine. It can also be used to refer to the Acadian diaspora in southern Louisiana, a region also referred to as Acadiana. In the abstract, Acadia refers to the existence of a French culture in any of these regions.

® Early European colonists, who would later become known as Acadians, were French subjects primarily from the Pleumartin to Poitiers in the Vienne département of west-central France. The first French settlement was established by , Governor of Acadia, under the authority of King Henry IV, on Saint Croix Island in 1604. The following year, the settlement was moved across the Bay of Fundy to Port Royal after a difficult winter on the island deaths from scurvy. In 1607 the colony received bad news: King Henry had revoked Sieur de Monts' royal fur monopoly, citing that the income was insufficient to justify supplying the colony further. Thus recalled, the last of the Acadians left Port Royal in August of 1607. Their allies, the native Mi'kmaq nation, kept careful watch over their possessions, though. When the former Lieutenant Governor, Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt et de Saint-Just, returned in 1610, he found Port Royal just as it was left. [ ® The French took control of the Abenaki First Nations territory. In 1654, King Louis XIV of France appointed aristocrat Nicolas Denys as governor of large portions of Acadia and granted him the confiscated lands and the right to all its minerals.

® The Netherlands asserted sovereignty over Acadia in 1674 after privateer Jurriaen Aernoutsz captured the forts at Pentagoet and Jemseg. Control over the region reverted to France when Aernoutsz's appointed administrator, John Rhoades, was captured by New England within a few months. The Dutch West India Company continued to assert a paper claim over Acadia until 1678, appointing Cornelius Van Steenwyk as its governor, although they never successfully recaptured actual control of the territory. ® British colonists captured Acadia in the course of King William's War (1690– 1697), but Britain returned it to France at the peace settlement. It was recaptured in the course of Queen Anne's War (1702– 1713), and its conquest was confirmed in the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). ® On June 23, 1713, the French residents of Acadia were given one year to declare allegiance to Britain or leave the region. In the meantime, the French signalled their preparedness for future hostilities by beginning the construction of Fortress Louisbourg on Isle Royale, now Cape Breton Island. The British grew increasingly alarmed by the prospect of disloyalty in wartime of the Acadians now under their rule.

Causes ® 1713 – Treaty of Utrecht – ended war between Britain and France/Spain. In North America, France ceded to Great Britain its claims to the Hudson's Bay Company territories in Rupert's Land, Newfoundland Acadia. The formerly partitioned island of Saint Kitts was also ceded in its entirety to Britain. France retained its other pre-war North American possessions, including Île-Saint-Jean (now Prince Edward Island) as well as Île Royale (now Cape Breton Island), on which it erected the Fortress of Louisbourg. How would a minority control (English and Scots) a majority (Acadians)? ® Oath of Allegiance came years later – Acadians decide to remain neutral and not sign the oath, but would sign oath of loyalty ® Problem – to France they appear as unreliable allies, to Britain, unsatisfactory citizens ® People on the border between two warring nations

Causes continued ® 1749 – Creation of Halifax as British stronghold to counter Louisbourg and protect Boston/New England ® 1750 -51 – French strengthen position at Fort Beausejour in NB near Sackville; Acadians were literally in the middle ® 1753 – Governor Charles Lawrence sees Acadian neutrality as a threat; they must sign allegiance

Causes continued ® Ulterior motives – British desire Acadian lands for the settlement of Protestants from Britain, New England, and Germany (around Lunenburg)

Causes continued 1754 – Outbreak of war between France and Britain ® July 1755 - Lawrence orders Acadian leaders to appear before the Halifax Counsel to sign an iron clad oath of allegiance ® The Acadians will not sign, but will hand over their firearms ® July 28, 1755 – Acadians are given one more chance, but will not sign ®

The Expulsion After they refuse to sign, ® Lawrence announces that all Acadians who refused to sign an oath of allegiance would be deported (expulsion, Grand d’erangement/Great Upheaval)

The Expulsion ® Carried out by 2000 New England militiamen who herded the Acadians together at their settlements and sent them on ships bound for the 13 American colonies and England

The Expulsion The New Englanders burned the Acadians’ barns and houses to deprive them of shelter if they tried to stay behind ® Women and children took to the woods in hiding (Mi’Kmaq help) ® Families were broken up as the British sent ships from the same villages to different destinations (intentional to kill their culture) ®

Escape ® ® ® Some escaped One group of 86 Acadians dug a tunnel from their barracks in their prison camp On one ship, Acadians seized their captors and sailed back to the Bay of Fundy and fled to the St. John River region of NB 2000 fled to Ile Saint-John (PEI); for every one Acadian originally living in PEI, there were three Acadian refugees In 1758, the British captured Louisbourg fort, Ile Saint -Jean and Ile Royale (Cape Breton) and rounded up and deported any Acadians who had escaped there; 1500 fled yet again to NB, New England, New France, and St. Pierre and Miquelon

The Journey ® Many died en route of malnutrition, exposure, storms at sea, shortage of drinking water and disease due to poor sanitary conditions ® Many ships lost 1/3 of their Acadian passengers ® When they arrived at their destinations, many wandered from town to town searching for their families and friends. They were intentionally spilt up (“Evangeline” poem) ® They often put advertisements in newspapers looking for their relatives

Expulsion ® The deportations lasted for seven years ® In the end, Acadians were sent to Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and England, most of which were unprepared for their arrival ® In total, the British are estimated as deporting ¾ of the Acadian population of 13, 000. Seven thousand were deported in the first years alone. Another 3000 had been deported by 1762. ® You. Tube - Québec History 10 - The Acadians

® Evangeline Poem (English Version)

The Acadians in Louisiana 1756 – a group of Acadians was sent to England put into internment camps until France took them back in 1763 ® They had difficulty adjusting to French society and could not find comfortable homes ® 1600 of them sailed for New Orleans, Louisiana, a Spanish colony, in 1785 to join others who had settled there earlier from 1766® 1770 ® ® ® This is where we get the word, “Cajun” You. Tube - The Cajuns You. Tube - acadian driftwood, the band You. Tube - Band & Emmylou Harris The Last Waltz evangeline

® You. Tube - Cajun Fiddle ® You. Tube - Sesame Street film Louisiana Zydeco music ® You. Tube - Sesame Street - It's Zydeco ® Jambalaya, crawdads, bayou, Mardi Gras, gumbo soup, etc…all Cajun!

Effect on Mi’kmaq ® The Mi’kmaq population had been negatively effected as well ® The deportation destroyed the friendly social and economic relationships on which Aboriginal people had depended for nearly 150 years and led to poor relations with the British that culminated in wars and the now infamous treaties of the 1750 s.

The Return By 1764, the Acadians were permitted to return to NS, NB and PEI ® An estimated 3000 did so ® By 1800, there were 4000 Acadians living in NS, 3800 in NB, and 700 in PEI ® Most settled in Cheticamp in CB and the SW of NS, in Malpeque in PEI, and to vacant land throughout NB ®

A New Identity The new Acadian identity was centred around the church since very few other aspects of their culture remained in tact ® The Expulsion unexpectedly acted as a unifying force and helped to create a uniquely Acadian identity that continues to this day ®

ACADIAN LAST NAMES ® ACADIAN 18 th CENTURY NAMES & ORIGINS: ACADIAN ANCESTRAL HOME

In 1620, the Plymouth Council for New England, under King James VI (of Scotland) & I (of England) designated the whole shorelines of Acadia and the Mid-Atlantic colonies south to the Chesapeake Bay as New England. The first documented Scottish settlement in the Americas was of Nova Scotia in 1621. On 29 September 1621, the charter for the foundation of a colony was granted by James VI to William Alexander, 1 st Earl of Stirling and, in 1622, the first settlers left Scotland. This settlement initially failed because of difficulties in obtaining a sufficient number of skilled emigrants, and in 1624 James VI created a new order of baronets. Admission to this order was obtained by sending six labourers or artisans, sufficiently armed, dressed and supplied for two years, to Nova Scotia, or by paying 3, 000 merks to William Alexander. For six months, no one took up this offer until James compelled one to make the first move. ® In 1627, there was a wider uptake of baronetcies and thus more settlers available to go to Nova Scotia. However, in 1627, war broke out between England France, and the French re-established a settlement at Port Royal which they had originally settled. Later that year, a combined Scottish and English force destroyed the French settlement, forcing them out. In 1629, the first Scottish settlement at Port Royal was inhabited. The colony's charter, in law, made Nova Scotia (defined as all land between Newfoundland New England) a part of mainland Scotland; this was later used to get around the English navigation acts. However, this did not last long: in 1631, under King Charles I, the Treaty of Suza was signed which returned Nova Scotia to the French. The Scots were forced by Charles to abandon their mission before their colony had been properly established, and the French assumed control of the Mi'kmaq and other First Nations territory. ®

® ® ® Ancestors of more than half of present-day Nova Scotians arrived in the period following the Acadian Expulsion. Between 1759 and 1768, about 8, 000 New England Planters responded to Governor Charles Lawrence's request for settlers from the New England colonies. Several years later, approximately 30, 000 United Empire Loyalists (American Tories) settled in Nova Scotia (when it comprised present-day Maritime Canada) following the defeat of the British in the American Revolutionary War. Of these 30, 000, 14, 000 went to New Brunswick and 16, 000 went to Nova Scotia. Approximately 3, 000 of this group were Black Loyalists, about a third of whom soon relocated themselves to Sierra Leone in 1792 via the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor, becoming the Original settlers of Freetown. Large numbers of Gaelic-speaking Highland Scots emigrated to Cape Breton and the western part of the mainland during the late 18 th century and 19 th century. In 1812 Sir Hector Maclean (the 7 th Baronet of Morvern and 23 rd Chief of the Clan Maclean) emigrated to Pictou from Glensanda and Kingairloch in Scotland with almost the entire population of 500. [13][14][15] Sir Hector is buried in the cemetery at Pictou. [15] About one thousand Ulster-Scots settled in mainly central Nova Scotia during this time, as did just over a thousand farming migrants from Yorkshire and Northumberland between 1772 and 1775. Nova Scotia was the first colony in British North America and in the British Empire to achieve responsible government in January-February 1848 and become self-governing through the efforts of Joseph Howe. Pro-Confederate premier Charles Tupper led Nova Scotia into the Canadian Confederation in 1867, along with New Brunswick and the Province of Canada. In the provincial election of 1868, the Anti-Confederation Party won 18 out of 19 federal seats, and 36 out of 38 seats in the provincial legislature. For seven years, William Annand Joseph Howe led the ultimately unsuccessful fight to convince British imperial authorities to release Nova Scotia from Confederation

In 1654, King Louis XIV of France appointed aristocrat as Governor of Acadia and granted him the confiscated lands and the right to all its minerals. English colonists captured Acadia in the course of King William's War, but England returned the territory to France in the Treaty of Ryswick at the end of the war. The territory was recaptured by forces loyal to Britain during the course of Queen Anne's War, and its conquest was confirmed by the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713. France retained possession of Île St Jean (Prince Edward Island) and Île Royale (Cape Breton Island), on which it established a fortress at Louisbourg to guard the sea approaches to Quebec. This fortress was captured by American colonial forces in 1745, then returned by the British to France in 1748, then captured again during the French and Indian War, in 1758. ® Thus mainland Nova Scotia became a British colony in 1713, although Samuel Vetch had a precarious hold on the territory as governor from the fall of Acadian Port-Royal (Annapolis Royal) in October 1710. British governing officials became increasingly concerned over the unwillingness of the French-speaking, Roman Catholic Acadians, who were the majority of colonists, to pledge allegiance to the British Crown, then George II. The colony remained mostly Acadian despite the establishment of Halifax as the province's capital, and the settlement of a large number of foreign Protestants (some French and Swiss but mostly German) at Lunenburg in 1753. In 1755, the British forcibly expelled over 12, 000 Acadians in what became known as the Grand Dérangement, or Great Upheaval[7]. The Acadians were scattered across the Atlantic, in the Thirteen Colonies, Louisiana, Quebec, Britain and France[8]. Very few eventually returned to Nova Scotia [9]. ®