Acadian: Encyclopedia - Acadian

Acadian

  New Brunswick: 26,220
  Quebec: 17,420
  Nova Scotia: 11,180
  Ontario: 8,745
  Prince Edward Island: 3,020

  Acadians
  Cajuns
  Métis
  Québécois

The Acadians (French: Acadiens) are the original French settlers of parts of the northeastern region of North America comprising what is now the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Although Acadians and Quebecers are both French-Canadian, Acadia was founded four years before Quebec and in a geographically separate area. Consequently, the two cultures are distinct.

Acadian - History

During the 17th century, about 100 French families were established in Acadia. The Acadians avoided the disputes between the French and the British and became known as the "neutral French." They developed friendly relations with the aboriginal Mi'kmaq, learning their hunting and fishing techniques.

The Acadians became British subjects when France ceded Acadia by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, and Acadia became known as Nova Scotia ("New Scotland"). When the French and Indian War began in 1754, the British government, doubting the neutrality of the Acadians, demanded that they take an oath of allegiance to the British monarch. Since the oath required renouncing a key article of the Acadians' Roman Catholic faith, most refused.

An Acadian delegation came to Halifax in 1755 with a petition to present to the lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia, Colonel Charles Lawrence. Lawrence demanded that they take the oath of allegiance; the petitioners refused and Lawrence had them imprisoned. Under pressure from the Province of Massachusetts Bay and the British admiral in Halifax, Lawrence ordered the mass deportation of Acadians despite earlier cautions from British authorities against drastic action.

In what is known as the Great Expulsion (Grand Dérangement), about 10,000 Acadians (three-fourths of the Acadian population in Nova Scotia) were expelled from the colony between 1755 and 1764. The British destroyed around 6000 Acadian houses and dispersed the Acadians among the 13 colonies from Massachusetts to Georgia. Although there were no purposeful attempts to separate families, this did occur in the chaos of the eviction. The British attempted to send members of the same community to different colonies to impose assimilation.

Some Acadians escaped into the woods and lived with the Mi'kmaqs, escaping expulsion.

Massachusetts passed a law in November 1755 placing the Acadians under the custody of "justices of the peace and overseers of the poor"; Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Connecticut adopted similar laws. The Province of Virginia under Robert Dinwiddie initially agreed to resettle about 1000 Acadians that arrived in the colony but later ordered them deported most them to England, writing that the "French people" were "intestine enemies" that were "mudr'g and scalp'g our frontier settlers."

In 1764, the war was over, and the Acadians were allowed to return to Nova Scotia as long as they did not settle in any one area in large numbers. Some Acadians resettled along the Nova Scotia coast and remain scattered across Nova Scotia to this day.

Other Acadians were deported to France, especially in the slums of Nantes and on Belle-Isle off Brittany. The French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon near Newfoundland became a safe harbor for many Acadian families until they were once again deported by the British in 1778 and 1793.

In 2003, at the request of Acadian representatives, Queen Elizabeth II, acting as the Canadian monarch, issued a proclamation officially acknowledging the deportation and establishing July 28 as a day of commemoration. The day of commemoration is observed by the Canadian government, as the successor of the British, but not by the British government, which carried out the expulsion.

Acadian - Geography

The Acadians today inhabit the north and east shores of New Brunswick, the area around Moncton, the Magdalen Islands, and smaller pockets in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia such as Chéticamp, Clare, Halifax-Dartmouth, Pomquet, Richmond and Sydney. There are also people of Acadian ancestry in Maine and Quebec. Some of the Acadians who were deported in 1755 were encouraged by the French king to settle in Louisiana, where their descendants, the Cajuns, have become a dominant cultural influence in many a Louisiana parish.

Acadian - Culture

Today Acadians are a vibrant minority, particularly in New Brunswick and Maine.

Notable Acadians include singers Angèle Arsenault and Edith Butler, writer Antonine Maillet, boxer Yvon Durelle, former Governor General Roméo LeBlanc, and former New Brunswick premier Louis Robichaud, who was the first Acadian premier and who was responsible for modernizing education and the government of New Brunswick in the mid-20th century.

August 15, the feast of the Assumption, is the national feast day of the Acadians. The flag of the Acadians is the French tricolour with a golden star in the blue section, which symbolizes the Blessed Virgin Mary, the "Star of the Sea". The national anthem of the Acadians is "Ave, maris stella". On that day, the Acadians celebrate by having the tintamarre which consists mainly of a big parade where people can dress up with the colours of Acadia and make a lot of noise.

In 2004, a Congrès mondial acadien was held in Nova Scotia to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first French-speaking settlers in Canada. Musical festivals and theatrical productions displayed Acadian culture, and academics debated the meaning of Acadia in the 21st century. Debates included the best ways of preserving Acadian culture in an overwhelmingly English area, and what exactly an Acadian is in 2004. Some Acadians do not recognize more recent immigrants as true Acadians, although most people accept any French-speaking Maritimer as an Acadian.

Acadian - Language

Acadians speak a dialect of French called Acadian French. Many of those in the Moncton area speak Chiac and English.

Acadian - Legend

The American folklore hero, Paul Bunyan, is believed by some to have been influenced if not inspired by Acadian stories about lumberjacks.

Acadian - The Expulsion in literature

In 1847 an epic poem by American writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, was loosely based on the events surrounding the 1755 deportation. The poem became an American classic.

Robbie Robertson wrote a popular song based on the Acadian Expulsion titled "Acadian Driftwood" that appeared on The Band's 1975 album, Northern Lights — Southern Cross.

Antonine Maillet's Pélagie-la-charette concerns the return voyage to Acadia of several deported families starting 15 years after the Great Expulsion.

See also

• Acadia
• List of Acadians
• New Brunswick
• Quebec
• New France
• French Canadian

Acadian - Notes

¹ Canadian census, ethnic data. Rather than go by self-identification, many would instead define an Acadian as a French speaking person living in the Maritime provinces of Canada; which according to the same 2001 census, was 276,355 (236,665 in New Brunswick, 34,025 in Nova Scotia, and 5,665 in PEI).[1]
² Le Grand Dérangement An exhibit done by the Massachusetts State Archives in conjunction with the Commonwealth Museum. This was made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more in-depth information of the role of Massachusetts in Le Grand Dérangement contact or visit the Massachusetts State Archives at: http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcidx.htm

Categories: Acadia | Acadians | Ethnic groups in Canada | French Canadians

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Acadian", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki