| Colony of Acadia Acadie | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division of New France | |||||||||||||||||
| 1604–1713 | |||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||
 Acadia Extension in 1754. | |||||||||||||||||
 Approximate map of the most commonly accepted definition of Acadia | |||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Undetermined; Port-Royal (de facto) | ||||||||||||||||
| Demonym | Acadian | ||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||
• Established | 1604 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1713 | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Acadia (French: Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River.[1]
The population of Acadia included the various indigenous First Nations that comprised the Wabanaki Confederacy, the Acadian people and other French settlers.
The first capital of Acadia was established in 1605 as Port-Royal. Soon after, English forces of Captain Argall, an English ship's captain employed by the Virginia Company of London attacked and burned down the fortified habitation in 1613. A new centre for Port-Royal was established nearby, and it remained the longest-serving capital of French Acadia until the British siege of Port Royal in 1710.[a] There were six colonial wars in a 74-year period in which British interests tried to capture Acadia, starting with King William's War in 1689.
French troops from Quebec, Acadians, the Wabanaki Confederacy, and French priests continually raided New England settlements along the border in Maine during these wars. Acadia was conquered in 1710 during Queen Anne's War, while New Brunswick and much of Maine remained contested territory. Prince Edward Island (Île Saint-Jean) and Cape Breton (Île Royale) remained under French control, as agreed under Article XIII of the Treaty of Utrecht.[3]
The English took control of Maine by defeating the Wabanaki Confederacy and the French priests during Father Rale's War. During King George's War, France and New France made significant attempts to regain mainland Nova Scotia. The British took New Brunswick in Father Le Loutre's War, and they took Île Royale and Île Saint-Jean in 1758 following the French and Indian War. The territory was eventually divided into British colonies.
The term Acadia today refers to regions of North America that are historically associated with the lands, descendants, or culture of the former region. It particularly refers to regions of the Maritimes with Acadian roots, language, and culture, primarily in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, the Magdalen Islands and Prince Edward Island, as well as in Maine.[4]
"Acadia" can also refer to the Acadian diaspora in southern Louisiana, a region also referred to as Acadiana since the early 1960s. In the abstract, Acadia refers to the existence of an Acadian culture in any of these regions. People living in Acadia are called Acadians, which in Louisiana changed to Cajuns, the more common, rural American, name of Acadians.
- ^ Williamson 1832, pp. 27, 266, 293.
- ^ Dunn, Brenda (2004). A History of Port-Royal-Annapolis Royal, 1605-1800. Nimbus Publishing, Limited. ISBN 978-1-55109-740-4.
- ^ Chalmers, George (1790). A Collection of Treaties Between Great Britain and Other Powers. J. Stockdale. p. 381.
- ^ Beaujot, Roderic (1998). "Demographic Considerations in Canadian Language Policy". In Ricento, Thomas K.; Burnaby, Barbara (eds.). Language and Politics in the United States and Canada: Myths and Realities. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-68104-3.
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