Where's Acadia?

Ted. As you have gleaned from previous posts, I am a bit of a history buff. I also enjoy geography. Our travels have become an ongoing reminder of my ignorance of the world. For example, I knew that the Cajuns came to Louisiana from somewhere called Acadia but was not clear on exactly where that was.

Well, low and behold – I’m in it! As I have learned, Acadie (the French word for Acadia) was one of the five colonies of New France. It encompassed present day Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and northern Maine. The capitol was Port Royal, about 80 miles west of present day Halifax. At it’s peak in 1712, New France was about four times larger than the 13 English colonies. 50 years later, after losing several wars with the British, New France had shrunk to the area called Louisiana that Thomas Jefferson eventually bought from Napoleon.

The English made no friends when they arrived to claim the spoils of the wars. Many Acadians were exiled to Louisiana, as documented in the epic poem Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The indigenous people, the Mi’kmaq also suffered for their long time allegiance to the French. Land, farms and property were handed out to Protestant immigrants who swore loyalty to the British kings. Thus encouraged, a steady stream of Scots, Germans and English settlers arrived from Europe and the 13 English colonies to the south.

So, today, Acadie only exists in scattered pockets of Atlantic Canada where French is still spoken. We will explore some of these areas in the weeks ahead. In the meanwhile, we will enjoy the lovely (and very English) community of Halifax.