Acadia

Etymology

Explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano is credited for originating the designation Acadia on his 16th-century map, where he applied the ancient Greek name "Arcadia" to the entire Atlantic coast north of Virginia. "Arcadia" is derived from the Arcadia region in Greece, which had the extended meanings of "refuge" or "idyllic place". Henry IV of France chartered a colony south of the St. Lawrence River between the 40th and 46th parallels in 1603, and he recognized it as La Cadie. Samuel de Champlain fixed its present orthography with the r omitted, and cartographer William Francis Ganong has shown its gradual progress northeastwards to its resting place in the Atlantic provinces of Canada.

As an alternative theory, some historians suggest that the name is derived from the indigenous Canadian Mi'kmaw language, in which Cadie means "fertile land".

History

17th century

The history of Acadia was significantly influenced by the great power conflict between France and England, later Great Britain, that occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the Mi'kmaq had been living in Acadia for at least two to three thousand years. Early European settlers were French subjects primarily from the Poitou-Charentes and Aquitaine regions of southwestern France, now known as Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The first French settlement was established by Pierre Dugua de Mons, Governor of Acadia, under the authority of the French King, Henri IV, on Saint Croix Island in 1604. The following year, the settlement was moved across the Bay of Fundy to Port Royal after a difficult winter on the island and deaths from scurvy. There, they constructed a new habitation. In 1607, the colony received bad news as Henri IV revoked Sieur de Mons' royal fur monopoly, citing that the income was insufficient to justify supplying the colony further. Thus recalled, the last of the French left Port Royal in August 1607. Their allies, the Mi'kmaq, agreed to act as custodians of the settlement. When the former lieutenant governor, Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt et de Saint-Just, returned in 1610, he found the Port Royal habitation just as it was left.

During the first 80 years of the French presence in Acadia, there were numerous significant battles as the English, Scottish, and Dutch contested the French for possession of the colony. These battles happened at Port Royal, Saint John, Cap de Sable (present-day Port La Tour, Nova Scotia), Jemseg, Castine, and Baleine.

From the 1680s onward, there were six colonial wars that took place in the region (see the French and Indian Wars as well as Father Rale's War and Father Le Loutre's War). These wars were fought between New England and New France, and their respective native allies. After the British siege of Port Royal in 1710, mainland Nova Scotia was under the control of British colonial government, but both present-day New Brunswick and virtually all of present-day Maine remained contested territory between New England and New France, until the Treaty of Paris of 1763 confirmed British control over the region.

The wars were fought on two fronts: the southern border of Acadia, which New France defined as the Kennebec River in southern Maine and in present-day peninsular Nova Scotia. The latter involved preventing the British from taking the capital of Acadia, Port Royal (See Queen Anne's War), establishing themselves at Canso (See Father Rale's War) and founding Halifax (see Father Le Loutre's War).

18th century

During Queen Anne's War, some Acadians, the Wabanaki Confederacy and the French priests participated again in defending Acadia at its border with New England. They made numerous raids on New England settlements along the border in the Northeast Coast Campaign and the famous Raid on Deerfield. In retaliation, Major Benjamin Church went on his fifth and final expedition to Acadia. He raided present-day Castine, Maine and continued with raids against Grand Pre, Pisiquid, and Chignecto. A few years later, defeated in the siege of Pemaquid (1696), Captain March made an unsuccessful siege on the Capital of Acadia, Port Royal (1707). British forces were successful with the siege of Port Royal (1710), while the Wabanaki Confederacy were successful in the nearby Battle of Bloody Creek (1711) and continued raids along the Maine frontier.

The 1710 conquest of the Acadian capital of Port Royal during the war was confirmed by the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713. The British conceded to the French "the island called Cape Breton, as also all others, both in the mouth of the river of St. Lawrence, and in the gulph of the same name", and "all manner of liberty to fortify any place or places there." The French established a fortress at Louisbourg, Cape Breton, to guard the sea approaches to Quebec.

On 23 June 1713, the French residents of Nova Scotia were given one year to declare allegiance to Britain or leave the region. In the meantime, the French signalled their preparedness for future hostilities by beginning the construction of Fortress Louisbourg on Île Royale, now Cape Breton Island. The British grew increasingly alarmed by the prospect of disloyalty in wartime of the Acadians now under their rule. French missionaries worked to maintain the loyalty of Acadians, and to maintain a hold on the mainland part of Acadia.

During the escalation that preceded Dummer's War (1722–1725), some Acadians, the Wabanaki Confederacy and the French priests persisted in defending Acadia, which had been conceded to the British in the Treaty of Utrecht, at its border against New England. The Miꞌkmaq refused to recognize the treaty handing over their land to the English and hostilities resumed. The Miꞌkmaq raided the new fort at Canso, Nova Scotia in 1720. The Confederacy made numerous raids on New England settlements along the border into New England. Towards the end of January 1722, Governor Samuel Shute chose to launch a punitive expedition against Sébastien Rale, a Jesuit missionary, at Norridgewock. This breach of the border of Acadia, which had at any rate been ceded to the British, drew all of the tribes of the Wabanaki Confederacy into the conflict.

19th century

Among the Acadian descendants in the Canadian Maritime provinces, there was a revival of cultural awareness which is recognized as an Acadian Renaissance, with a struggle for recognition of Acadians as a distinct group starting in the mid-nineteenth century. Some Acadian deputies were elected to legislative assemblies, starting in 1836 with Simon d'Entremont in Nova Scotia. Several other provincial and federal members followed in New Brunswick and in Prince Edward Island.

This period saw the founding of Acadian higher educational institutions: the Saint Thomas Seminary from 1854 to 1862 and then Saint Joseph's College from 1864, both in Memramcook, New Brunswick. This was followed by the founding of Acadian newspapers: the weekly Le Moniteur Acadien in 1867 and the daily L'Évangéline in 1887 (fr), named after the epic poem by Longfellow.

In New Brunswick the 1870s saw a struggle against the Common Schools Act of 1871, which imposed a non-denominational school system and forbade religious instruction during school hours. This led to widespread Acadian protests and school-tax boycotts, culminating in the 1875 riots in the town of Caraquet. Finally in 1875 a compromise was reached allowing for some Catholic religious teaching in the schools.

In the 1880s there began a series of Acadian national conventions. The first in 1881 adopted Assumption Day (Aug.15) as the Acadian national holiday. The convention favored the argument of the priest Marcel-François Richard (fr) that Acadians are a distinct people which should have a national holiday distinct from that of Quebec (Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day). The second convention in 1884 adopted other national symbols including the flag of Acadia designed by Marcel-François Richard, and the anthem Ave maris stella. The third convention in 1890 created the Société nationale L'Assomption to promote the interests of the Acadian people in the Maritimes. Other Acadian national conventions continued until the fifteenth in 1972.

In 1885, the author, historian and linguist Pascal Poirier became the first Acadian member of the Senate of Canada.

20th century and beyond

By the early twentieth century, some Acadians were chosen for leadership positions in New Brunswick. In 1912, Monseigneur Édouard LeBlanc of Nova Scotia was named bishop of Saint John, after a campaign lasting many years to convince the Vatican to appoint an Acadian bishop. In 1917, the premier of Prince Edward Island resigned to accept a judicial position, and his Conservative Party chose Aubin-Edmond Arsenault as successor until the next election in 1919. Arsenault thus became the first Acadian provincial premier of any province in Canada. In 1923, Peter Veniot became the first Acadian premier of New Brunswick when he was chosen by the Liberal Party to complete the term of the retiring premier until 1925.

The expansion of Acadian influence in the Catholic church continued in 1936 with the creation of the Archdiocese of Moncton whose first archbishop was Louis-Joseph-Arthur Melanson, and whose Cathédrale Notre-Dame de l’Assomption was completed in 1940. The new archdiocese was expanded to include new predominantly Acadian dioceses in Bathurst, New Brunswick (1938), in Edmundston (1944) and in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia (1953).

In 1960, Louis Robichaud became the first Acadian to be elected premier of a Canadian province. He was elected premier of New Brunswick in 1960 and served three terms until 1970.

The Robichaud government created the Université de Moncton in 1963 as a unilingual French-language university, corresponding to the much older unilingual English-language University of New Brunswick. In 1964, two different deputy ministers of education were named to direct English-language and French-language school systems respectively. In the next few years, the Université de Moncton absorbed the former Saint-Joseph's College, as well as the École Normale (teacher's college) which trained French-speaking teachers for the Acadian schools. In 1977, two French-speaking colleges in Northern New Brunswick were transformed into the Edmundston and Shippagan campuses of the Université de Moncton.

The New Brunswick Equal Opportunity program of 1967 introduced reforms of municipal structures, of health care, of education, and of the administration of justice. In general, these changes tended to reduce economic inequality between regions of the province, and therefore tended to favour the disadvantaged Acadian regions.

Territory

During much of the 17th and early 18th centuries, Norridgewock on the Kennebec River and Castine at the end of the Penobscot River were the southernmost settlements of Acadia.

The French government defined the borders of Acadia as roughly between the 40th and 46th parallels on the Atlantic coast.

The borders of French Acadia were not clearly defined, but the following areas were at some time part of French Acadia:

Present-day mainland Nova Scotia, with Port Royal as its capital. Lost to Great Britain in 1713.

Present-day New Brunswick, which remained part of Nova Scotia until becoming a separate colony in 1784. Lost to Great Britain in 1763.

Île-Royale, later Cape Breton Island, with the Fortress of Louisbourg. Lost to Great Britain in 1763.

Île Saint-Jean, later Prince Edward Island. Lost to Great Britain in 1763.

The part of present-day Maine east of the Kennebec River. Lost to Great Britain in 1763.

Notable military figures of Acadia

The following list includes those who were born in Acadia (yet not necessarily of Acadian ethnicity) or those who became naturalized citizens prior to the fall of the French in the region in 1763. Those who came for brief periods from other countries are not included (e.g. John Gorham, Edward Cornwallis, James Wolfe, Boishébert, etc.).

17th–18th century

Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour – Civil War in Acadia

Chief Madockawando – King William's War

John Gyles – King William's War

Father Louis-Pierre Thury– King William's War

Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste – Queen Anne's War

Charles Morris (jurist) – King George's War

Pierre Maillard – Father Le Loutre's War

Joseph-Nicolas Gautier – Father Le Loutre's War

Pierre II Surette – French and Indian War

Government

Acadia was in territory disputed between France and Great Britain. England controlled the area from 1621 to 1632 (see William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling) and again from 1654 until 1670 (see William Crowne and Thomas Temple), with control permanently regained by its successor state, the Kingdom of Great Britain, in 1710 (ceded under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713). Although France controlled the territory in the remaining periods, French monarchs consistently neglected Acadia. Civil government under the French regime was held by a series of Governors (see List of governors of Acadia). The government of New France was in Quebec, but it had only nominal authority over the Acadians.

The Acadians implemented village self-rule. Even after Canada had given up its elected spokesmen, the Acadians continued to demand a say in their own government, as late as 1706 petitioning the monarchy to allow them to elect spokesmen each year by a plurality of voices. In a sign of his indifference to the colony, Louis XV agreed to their demand. This representative assembly was a direct offshoot of a government system that developed out of the seigneurial and church parish imported from Europe. The seigneurial system was a "set of legal regimes and practices pertaining to local landholding, politics, economics, and jurisprudence."

Many of the French governors of Acadia prior to Hector d'Andigné de Grandfontaine held seigneuries in Acadia. As Seigneur, in addition to the power held as governor, they held the right to grant land, collect their seigneurial rents, and act in judgement over disputes within their domain.

After Acadia came under direct Royal rule under Grandfontaine the Seigneurs continued to fulfill governance roles.

The Acadian seignuerial system came to an end when the British Crown bought the seigneurial rights in the 1730s.

The Catholic parish system along with the accompanying parish priest also aided in the development Acadian self-government. Priests, given their respected position, often assisted the community in representation with the civil government at Port Royal/Annapolis Royal. Within each parish the Acadians used the elected marguilliers (wardens) of the conseil de fabrique to administer more than just the churches' affairs in the parishes. The Acadians extended this system to see to the administrative needs of the community in general. The Acadians protected this structure from the priests and were "No mere subordinates to clerical authority, wardens were 'always suspicious of any interference by the priests' in the life of the rural parish, an institution which was, ... , largely a creation of the inhabitants." During the British regime many of the deputies were drawn from this marguillier group.

Governance under the British after 1710

After 1710, the British military administration continued to utilize the deputy system the Acadians had developed under French colonial rule. Prior to 1732 the deputies were appointed by the governor from men in the districts of Acadian families "as ancientest and most considerable in Lands & possessions,". This appears to be in contravention of various British penal laws which made it nearly impossible for Roman Catholics and Protestant recusants to hold military and government positions. The need for effective administration and communication in many of the British colonies trumped the laws.

In 1732, the governance institution was formalized. Under the formalized system the colony was divided into eight districts. Annually on October 11 free elections were to take place where each district, depending on its size, was to elect two, three, or four deputies. In observance of the Lord's Day, if October 11 fell on a Sunday the elections were to take place on the immediately following Monday. Notice of the annual election was to be given in all districts thirty days before the election date. Immediately following election, deputies, both outgoing and incoming, were to report to Annapolis Royal to receive the governor's approval and instructions. Prior to 1732 deputies had complained about the time and expense of holding office and carrying out their duties. Under the new elected deputy system each district was to provide for the expenses of their elected deputies.

The duties of the deputies were broad and included reporting to the government in council the affairs of the districts, distribution of government proclamations, assistance in the settlement of various local disputes (primarily related to land), and ensuring that various weights and measures used in trade were "Conformable to the Standard".

In addition to deputies, several other public positions existed. Each district had a clerk who worked closely with the deputies and under his duties recorded the records and orders of government, deeds and conveyances, and kept other public records. With the rapid expansion of the Acadian populace, there was also a growing number of cattle and sheep. The burgeoning herds and flocks, often free-ranging, necessitated the creation of the position of Overseer of Flocks. These individuals controlled where the flocks grazed, settled disputes and recorded the names of individuals slaughtering animals to ensure proper ownership. Skins and hides were inspected for brands.

Population

Before 1654, trading companies and patent holders concerned with fishing recruited men in France to come to Acadia to work at the commercial outposts. The original Acadian population was a small number of indentured servants and soldiers brought by the fur-trading companies.

Gradually, fishermen began settling in the area as well, rather than return to France with the seasonal fishing fleet. The majority of the recruiting took place at La Rochelle. Between 1653 and 1654, 104 men were recruited at La Rochelle. Of these, 31% were builders, 15% were soldiers and sailors, 8% were food preparers, 6.7% were farm workers, and an additional 6.7% worked in the clothing trades. Fifty-five percent of Acadia's first families came from western and southwestern France, primarily from Poitou, Aquitaine, Angoumois, and Saintonge. Over 85% of these (47% of the total), were former residents of the La Chaussée area of Poitou.

Many of the families who arrived in 1632 with Isaac de Razilly shared some blood ties; those not related by blood shared cultural ties with the others. The number of original immigrants was very small, and only about 100 surnames existed within the Acadian community.

Many of the earliest French settlers in Acadia intermarried with the local Mi'kmaq tribe.

A Parisian lawyer, Marc Lescarbot, who spent just over a year in Acadia, arriving in May 1606, described the Micmac as having "courage, fidelity, generosity, and humanity, and their hospitality is so innate and praiseworthy that they receive among them every man who is not an enemy. They are not simpletons. ... So that if we commonly call them Savages, the word is abusive and unmerited."

Most of the immigrants to Acadia were poor peasants in France, making them social equals in this new context. The colony had very limited economic support or cultural contacts with France, leaving a "social vacuum" that allowed "individual talents and industry ... [to supplant] inherited social position as the measure of a man's worth." Acadians lived as social equals, with the elderly and priests considered slightly superior.

Economy

Most Acadian households were self-sufficient, with families engaged in subsistence farming only for a few years while they established their farms. Very rapidly the Acadians established productive farms that yielded surplus crops that allowed them to trade with both Boston and Louisbourg. Farms tended to remain small plots of land worked by individual families rather than slave labor. The highly productive dyked marshlands and cleared uplands produced an abundance of fodder that supported significant production of cows, sheep and pigs. Farmers grew various grains: wheat, oats, barley, hops and rye; vegetables: peas, cabbage, turnips, onions, carrots, chives, shallots, asparagus, parsnips and beets; fruit: apples, pears, cherries, plums, raspberry and white strawberry. In addition they grew crops of hemp and flax for the production of cloth, rope, etc.

From the rivers, estuaries and seas they harvested shad, smelts, gaspereau, cod, salmon, bass, etc., utilizing fish traps in the rivers, weirs in the inter-tidal zone and from the sea with lines and nets from their boats. The fishery was pursued on a commercial basis as in 1715 at the Minas Basin settlements, when the Acadian population there numbered only in the hundreds, they had "between 30 - 40 sail of vessels, built by themselves, which they employ in fishing" reported Lieutenant-Governor Thomas Caulfield to the Board of Trade. Charles Morris observed the Acadians at Minas hunting beluga whales. The Acadians also varied their diets by hunting for moose, hare, ducks and geese, and pigeon.

After 1630, the Acadians began to build dikes and drain the sea marsh above Port Royal. The high salinity of the reclaimed coastal marshland meant that the land would need to sit for three years after it was drained before it could be cultivated. The land reclamation techniques that were used closely resembled the enclosures near La Rochelle that helped make solar salt.

As time progressed, the Acadian agriculture improved, and Acadians traded with the British colonies in New England to gain ironware, fine cloth, rum, and salt. During the French administration of Acadia, this trade was illegal, but it did not stop some English traders from establishing small stores in Port Royal. Under English rule, the Acadians traded with New England and often smuggled their excess food to Boston merchants waiting at Baie Verte for transshipment to the French at Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island.