Acadia, << uh KAY dee uh, >> was a region and French colony in what is now mostly eastern Canada. It was part of New France, the French colonial empire in North America. Acadia included what are now the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Also in Acadia were parts of what are now the province of Quebec and the state of Maine. Acadia is best known as the setting for the romantic poem Evangeline (1847) by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, an American poet.
The French explorer Pierre du Gua, Sieur de Monts, founded the original settlement in Acadia in 1604. Acadia remained a French settlement until the early 1700’s, when it became involved in the struggle for control of North America between France and England.
During Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713), Port-Royal, the seat of the Acadian government, surrendered to the British. The Treaty of Utrecht, which ended the war, gave Acadia to Britain. A dispute arose, however, when France only ceded (surrendered) what is now mainland Nova Scotia. The other parts of Acadia tried to remain neutral in the dispute.
In 1755, during the French and Indian War, British officials tried to force the Acadians to take an oath of allegiance to the British king. But the Acadians refused to do so, and between 1755 and 1763 about 10,000 men, women, and children were forced to move to colonies farther south. After suffering much hardship, most of these people in time returned to Acadia and settled in southeastern New Brunswick. Over 350,000 of their descendants still live there. About 4,000 Acadians went to Louisiana, a former French colony in what is now the United States. Descendants of these Acadians are known as Cajuns. Many of them still speak a French dialect. Since the early 1900’s, many Cajuns have moved from Louisiana to parts of eastern Texas to work in the petroleum industry and other businesses there.
