Acadian

Acadian, descendant of the French settlers of Acadia (French: Acadie), the French colony on the Atlantic coast of North America in what is now the Maritime Provinces of Canada.

In 1604 Acadia was visited by Samuel de Champlain and Pierre du Gua, sieur de Monts, and the French established a colony on Dochet Island (Île Sainte-Croix) in the Saint Croix River. The region was long a bone of contention in the wars between France and England, and under the terms of the treaties of Utrecht (1713–14) possession of Acadia passed to the English. In 1755 the imminence of war with France, the question of the neutrality of the Acadians, and the possibility of an Acadian revolt led to the forcible deportation of a large segment of the Acadian population. That event, known among Acadians as “the Great Upheaval,” would serve as the theme of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem Evangeline.

The Acadians were distributed among the English colonies and their lands were confiscated. One notable group settled in the bayou lands of southern Louisiana, where they subsequently became known as Cajuns. After the Treaty of Paris (1763) left the British in undisputed possession of Canada, Acadia ceased to exist as a political unit, and a number of Acadians found their way back to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Their descendants continued to form a distinctive part of the population, and the late 20th and early 21st centuries saw a renewed interest in Acadian history and culture. In 2003 Queen Elizabeth II issued a royal proclamation apologizing for the forced deportation of the Acadians.