Acadian Driftwood - American Reacts - The Acadian Expulsion and the Tribute Song by The Band
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- Join me as we listen to the iconic Canadian/American music group The Band sing the song Acadian Driftwood in the context of learning about the event to which it pertains - the Acadian Expulsion by the British during the Seven Years War/The French and Indian War. Let's also learn how the modern descendants of the Acadians are living in Canada and the US.
#johnfamericanreactsuk,au,ca,nz
#Acadianexpulsion
#Thebandacadiandriftwood
For original content by Masaman see: • What on Earth Happened...
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As an Acadian who went through the French school district in New Brunswick, we were taught that in 1604, the first Acadian settlement was established in Ile St Croix (at the current Maine/NB border), but after the population was largely decimated by scurvy over the first winter, they crossed the Bay of Fundy and established the fist permanent Acadian settlement in Port Royale, in what is now south-western NS. in 1608, the French settled the area around Quebec City, which became the administrative centre of Nouvelle France, which was largely disconnected from Acadie.
The Acadians were effectively peasants that lived off fishing and farming and often lived alongside and intermarried with the Mi'kmaq people, but were not particularly connected with the Administrative French powers in "Nouvelle France". Over this colonial period, the territory occupied by the Acadians became of increasing strategic importance, as it was a giant peninsula dividing New England along the East Coast from Nouvelle France along the St Laurence River. Given that travel was still easiest by sea, the English wanted control over the current day Maritimes. In the early 1700s, the English established Halifax, and tried to exert control over and assimilate the Acadians, who shared a language, religion, and ancestry with France, though had largely been left to develop their own culture over the prior 150 years and wanted to remain neutral. They were ultimately seen as a threat if push ever came to shove, especially given that the Acadians didn’t readily take to assimilation efforts.
It all came to a head in 1755, at the start of the French and Indian war, when the British military force in what is now Nova Scotia, in a coordinated effort, rounded up the men of the Acadian settlements in their community churches, and tried to force them to sign the Oath of Allegiance to the British Crown, wherein one of the terms involved giving up the Catholic faith for the Anglican faith. When the men refused to sign, they locked them in, until they could usher them onto ships and kick them out entirely, then frequently loading the women and children onto separate ships. Little effort was made to keep the families together, or to ensure they were being sent to the same place. The campaign was a largely military one to gain control over the waterways between the two administrative and military centres, get rid of a population they had a hard time controlling, and to benefit from the significant work the Acadians did to convert the marshes into fertile farmlands through their massive irrigation efforts via the “aboiteaux” (dykes). [Edited to clarify that that should read *de-irrigation* or *drainage* or the like rather than irrigation.]
[See response from *@EdinburghFive* for some nuance and corrections.]
Wow, thanks so much for taking the time to provide all this information. These are the details I was looking for.
Awesome reply. Btw I am Metis (Miq'mah and french)
@@JT.Pilgrim My great grandfather was Metis as well.
@@johnf-americanreacts1287I agree. This is a very good summary of the historical reasons for the Deportation, although all males over 10 years old were called to the church in Grand Pré at that fateful meeting, not just the men of the community. The Expulsion, also called the Great Upheaval, lasted 8 years and resulted in the forceful removal of some 10 000 Acadians, mostly children, and their homes and farms were burned down so there would be nothing left for them upon their return, if and when that happened. Some escaped and were hidden in the woods by the Mi'kmaq people. Some slowly made their way through the woods to New France ( now Quebec ) and no doubt, the modern region of Northern Maine and even Prince Edward Island. Most of my own ancestors were deported from Cape Breton to France where they were not wanted. Some died en route. Once they were permitted to return to Acadie, sadly the ship carrying my family sank in the Atlantic before landing ashore. However, the few Samson men who managed to escape the Deportation re-established themselves in Cape Breton and the North American branch of our family tree continued on. John, the stories around the Deportation of the Acadians are very tragic but also tell of much courage, faith and survival. Acadians have every right to feel great pride. "Acadie" is in the hearts of these proud people no matter where they live! No one can destroy it! Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "Evangeline" tells the story of the suffering the Deportation brought to the people, in this case young lovers who were separated and spent their lives in search of each other. It helped raise the awareness of the tragedy to the general population when it was written while also raising the pride of the long suffering Acadian people. They began to organize for reforms, including the right to educate their children in the French language. I am proud to say my family was integral in making that a reality in Nova Scotia and my son is a graduate of the French Acadian school system here. French schooling was not available to me or my siblings in our English town, but eventually, I learned French in Quebec as a young adult ( not the Acadian dialect, however) and taught at our local French school. I honestly don't know why more isn't known about this history of the Acadian refugees as it is such an important part of the
establishment of colonial settlement in the New World. I guess the conquerors get to write the history. I learned about the Expulsion of my own ancestors in grade 5, which consisted of a few lines in our history book. That was the extent of it. Anyhow, the reality was too harsh to go further for 10 year olds. Fortunately, a distant cousin, Charles Samson, an architect from California, has done extensive research on our Samson family history which he has published. And I learned more from my time teaching at our local French Acadian school which has been an excellent personal experience and journey. There are now 22 Acadian schools across Nova Scotia that have their own school board, an amazing accomplishment considering the efforts to eradicate the people and their culture! Sorry for the long reply. I am very passionate about my ancestry! Maybe one day you will come to the Maritimes and visit the historic sites marking the important places where these events occurred. Well worth it for a history lover such as yourself! Here's a link for more info of the Acadian deportation history...www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-deportation-of-the-acadians-feature
Thanks everyone :-)
I am a Acadian living in New Brunswick... New Brunswick has about 35% of its total population who declare French as their mother tongue... One can draw a line from the northwest to the southeast and the majority of the population living north and east of this line consider themselves French Acadians... Moncton the largest City is the most bilingual city in Canada. I believe that over 55% of the city's population speak both French and English.... The province is the only official bilingual province in Canada... There are two separate Education systems in New Brunswick ....one of which functions in the French language and the other in English... The same applies to the Health care System.. There are both French and English post secondary institutions in the province..If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask
Goodie Canada trys to hid the genocide that's right total genocide
Genocide and stealing their land and houses and got away with it and flooded the land with inbred Scotts. flooded flooded
This song by the Band was from their late period together on Northern Lights Southern Cross. Richard, Rick and Levon sing the shit out of it. I’ve loved it for decades.
I have read through the comments, and was surprised that noone mentioned that New Brunswick is the only declared French and English (bilingual) province in Canada. I live in NB and very proud of that fact. My Dad is Irish, my mom French/British from Bathurst(northern NB)
I am Acadian descent and was born and raised in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada. Our ancestors immigrated from France to Port Royal Nova Scotia in the 1600’s. We continue to speak French which was my first language. We (Acadians) are pretty well spread out all over Canada and the US.
The Acadians come from an older stock of settlers to New France (Canada - Quebec and Acadia - The Maritimes) than most Canadians. They also developed differently as they were largely independent from influence from Quebec City (capital of Canada) and were made of agrarian and fishing communities. While they did trade with local natives, this was not the raison d'etre of Acadia as it was for Canada. Acadia also had what one could only call a love hate relationship with Massachusetts. In many ways they traded more with Massachusetts than with France. They were also invaded several times by military expeditions from Massachusetts, until most of Acadia, except Cape Breton Island, Prince Edward Island and the Magdeleine Islands, were ceded to England in 1713. Most Acadians were expelled from Acadia 40 years later. The rest of Acadia was ceded to England in 1763 following the battle for Quebec. All these events created a people with a separate history, culture and language than those in other parts of Canada, and, amazingly, some of this continues to live on to this day.
Just a correction. The part Acadia that today makes up New Brunswick remained part of New France after 1713. It was only ceded by the Treaty of Paris in 1763.
Yes, New Englanders "Our friends, the enemy".
My husband ,his brother and I went on a trip down to Gettysburg PA and on the way back we came home via New Brunswick. We stayed with family friends who were Acadians, because were couldn't speak French, the community teased us in fun. They spoke English after they realized we weren't French. Great people!
Acadians are warm and welcoming!
My mothers said we’re from New Brunswick
They were Acadians. I’m trying to learn more about the Acadian culture
My surname is Babineaux from south Louisiana. We are descendants of the Acadians. Probably the definitive work on the expulsion of the French Acadians is A Great and Noble Scheme by John Mack Faragher. South Louisiana is active in preserving the French language and culture in many ways primarily through CODOFIL. CODOFIL is the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana. Their mission as Louisiana's French agency is to support and grow Louisiana's francophone communities through scholarships, French immersion and various other community and language skill-building programs. Both of my grandmothers spoke fluent Cajun French. I can remember as a small child hearing them converse in French.
It wasn’t until yesterday that I heard Acadian Driftwood by the Band for the first time. So well done.
Proud Cajun from Louisiana
Bienvenue, cousin! Have you ever explored your connection to your Acadian roots in Eastern Canada?
I'm Acadian living in Saint John, New Brunswick. My parents are both from the north shore (Restigouche region) I grew up speaking English in school and French at home. We visited our relatives "up home" as often as we could. They couldn't speak a lick of English back then. Thank you for this video! ❤️
My mom is Acadian. Our family members came back from Expulsion. Our family has been here for 400 years.
yes mine too Acadian History is so strong in Maritimes
My family Landry/Leblanc were separated, some to Louisiana some back to France, My 4times great grandfather was part of those sent to France in the 1760's, they returned around 1777, only went to Quebec for fear of expulsion again.
@@StephenJDunn1982 same my Landry LeBlanc are among the earliest.
My dad was Acadian and my maternal great grandmother was as well. Be proud of your beautiful Acadian roots! You are so lucky to have them!
@@gerryhatrick6678 I have Landry and LeBlanc's in my family who are from Isle Madame , Cape Breton where I was born a Samson/ Marchand. Maybe we are related!
One of the most well known Cajun artist in the French Canadian community and France is Zachary Richard. A very popular song writer who made a carrier out of singing in French Cajun from 1980/90s. He still live in Lafayette New-Orleans. Just to say that he is your most popular American artist of what is left of the Cajun culture in North America.
Au bord du lac bijou & Jean Batailler !!! Lets Go!!!
I just checked out Zachary Richard because of your comment. Very cool. Thank you.
My grandmother maiden name was Philomenè Richard before she married my grandfather Adolphè Gautreau. She was a distance cousin of the famous Montreal Canadien hockey 🏒 player Maurice ( Rocket ) Richard of Montréal. My grandmother was born and raised in Tracadie, New Brunswick, my grandfather in Legacéville NB.
They are in New Brunswick/Nova Scotia/ Quebec/New Orleans/Louisiana 🥰
Many Acadians returned to the maritimes in the 1780s and 1790s. Here's a link to an episode of a CBC series called Canada a Peoples History regarding the expulsion: ruclips.net/video/eVSgXy9KQ1s/видео.html
Yes, My family, several brothers, (Landry) were split, half sent to Louisiana, and the other half back to France. While in France my 5'x great grandfather married and had my 4x's great grandfather Alexis Landry in 1770. When Alexis was a boy, his family returned to Canada, but decided to settle in Quebec. Alexis became a shipbuilder by trade, and he eventually served in the was of 1812 for the British. He was given a land grant for his service, which he eventually took his 100 acres in Ontario, giving to his son Jean Baptiste Landry. We are all still in the same area in Ontario to this day. I have pictures of Jean Baptiste's children (my gr gr's.)
Thanks for the link.
Hey. Thanks for talking about Canada. It's cool when an American is interested in something ELSE than the USA... Or NOT always saying how much better things are in the US... USA Number 1 and all that stuff, you know!
Here is my take on Acadia. I lived in Halifax for a few years and dated a girl from the bay of Fundy area. Plus I lived in Quebec for a long time. Here is how I came to see Acadia, at least as far as most Canadians I met talked about it. Acadia is the EASTERN coast of New Brunswick, from Shediac to the South, to Caraquet to the North.. Plus the North-Western tip of Nova Scotia, which locals call French Shore (around Digby )... NOT the same as the French Shore in Newfoudland...
New Brunswick is the only BILINGUAL province, and a LOT of the French speakers there have an Acadian flag as a front license plate. It's REALLY common on Quebec town streets. Lots of New Brunswick transplants move here for the jobs. And the last few years have seen the rise of anti-French politics in NB, so the Acadians there have to fight for every inch of their language. AGAIN!!!
www.thestar.com/news/canada/2022/11/23/and-end-to-french-immersion-a-watchdog-under-threat-is-nb-premier-swinging-a-wrecking-ball-at-bilingualism.html
globalnews.ca/news/9283361/nb-french-immersion-social-contract/
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/official-languages-report-new-brunswick-maclean-1.5843475
PS: If you want to understand WHY the British turned on the Acadians... Here is the best account I found...
www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-deportation-of-the-acadians-feature
My wife is Acadian from Cheticamp on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The French spoken here and the mindset is much different to Quebec.
Very true.
I am Acadian, I live in the Municipality of Clare, a fairly large Acadian community in southwest Nova Scotia. It was established in 1768 by returning Acadian deportees. My mother was a Deveau before marrying my anglophone father. I was raised and schooled primarily in French, and work at l'Universite Sainte Anne, a francophone university. One of the main differences between Quebec and Acadian cultures from the 1700's was that Acadia was made up of small rural communities that cooperated together but with little political administration while Quebec had cities and a more centralized seat of government. Here is a link to a musical group from Clare, Called Grand Derangement (this is the name Acadians use for the deportation) they used to tour through Canada and a little bit in the States as well. ruclips.net/video/jB7HX2OWXCU/видео.html
My son played electric guitar with Grand Dérangement at a concert they gave in our town of Truro NS in 2015. They are all terrific people and very talented musicians!
My father was Normand Samson from Isle Madame, Cape Breton. He became a highly respected school principal in central Nova Scotia. He attended l'Université Ste Anne as a young man as did I during my teacher training. I specialized in French at the Teachers College in Truro. The college had a program whereby students could take courses in French at the university that we were given credits for. I am very proud of my Acadian roots and family! On est ici, c'est pour rester!
This for the comment and the link to Grand Derangement. It was great. I love how the used the step dancers as a form of rhythm instrument. That for sure had Irish folk music influences.
Ahhh, memories of the Meteghan tavern. My ancesestors settled in Abram's River ( Par-en-Bas). Pass the rappie pie!
@@sirslice7531 I actually had clam rappie pie for supper tonight
My ancestor Charles McLaughlin was born in Ireland 🇮🇪 in 1759 four years after the great expulsion of the French Acadians from present-day Nova Scotia. A distant cousin of my Médard McLaughlin had an autobiography book published on the Clan McLaughlin family. It's all in French. And here's why it's all in French ? Médard McLaughlin spoke French growing up in Bouctouche NB and in the McLaughlin autobiography book it doesn't mentioned when Charles McLaughlin left Ireland or when he arrived in New England in the English colonies of America in the 18th century. But the book said he fought in the Amrrican Revolutionary War on the side of the British as he was a British Loyalst who was loyal to King George III of Great Britain 🇬🇧. There was a lot of resentment towards the British Loyalists who were still loyal subjects to King George III of Great Britain. So Charles McLaughlin and two friends he met in the war were Scottish brothers named Buchanan who went with Charles McLaughlin to the northeast part of New Brunswick near the Gaspé Québec border and settled down in Tracadie New Brunswick. There were a lot of French Acadian families already living in that region of that time. Probably the ones who escaped the British capture or who made their way north after the British and French war was over in Canada. I don't know ! But I do know from reading the autobiography McLaughlin book that Charles McLaughlin met his future wife Anne LeBreton, the daughter of François LeBreton and Marie Therese ( Boissel ) LeBreton. Anne and her mother were born and raised in Gaspé Québec ( New France ). Anne's father François LeBreton, came from Saint - Léger Normandy ( Normandie ) France. When I don't know ? It only gives his birthday as 7 May in 1704 - 1799 married Marie Boissel in 1758. Anyway, Charles McLaughlin married Anne Lebreton on 23 September 1793 in Tracadie New Brunswick, of course. Like I said before, Charles Jacques McLaughlin was born in 1759 and died in New Brunswick in 1842. I think the Lebreton family called Charles by his middle name James ( Jacques ) because you can say his name in French. I am a direct descendant of Charles and Anne's first born son Jean ( John ) McLaughlin 1795 - 1878. Charles and Anne McLaughlin had 10 children 5 sons and 5 daughters. Jean McLaughlin is the oldest.
My sister married into a family with the last name of Saulnier and there is an Acadian town called Saulnierville, Nova Scotia that her husband's family originally came from. His father grew up working on fishing vessels in the local area and later in life he made exact wooden replicas of these vessels that are amazing, as they are about 4 feet high by 5 feet long with masts, rigging, etc. True works of art!
Wow, very cool. Thanks for the family history. It helps personalize the history.
Oops. I LOVE our French Canadian heritage but it's always been challenging.
my Mother is Acadian shes a Thibodeau, i guess that makes me one too Great Video Vive L'Acadie, our Family line was only deported to Boston and made there way back north about a decade later
My husband, his brother and I while on vacation in New Brunswick stayed with our friend Adrian Thibodeau.
@@valerieraymond5853 i have an Uncle named Adrian Thibodeau but he lives in PEI
Please note that Canadian history does not refer to any period as the French and Indian war. This is clearly a name given from the American perspective. From the perspective of the New France this is seen as part of the Seven Years War, of which the Battle for Canada occurs in North America. It culminatates with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763.
One of the greatest songs in the English language
John, please Wikipedia-Acadia Driftwood. It will give you much more detail of the expulsion of the Acadians from present day New Brunswick and the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that songwriter Robbie Robertson used for inspiration. The history behind the expulsion is “explained”.
I love your channel and I was born in southwest New Brunswick on the border with Maine. I, my younger and one of my older brothers all married and are still married to women of Acadian descent. They all speak French as their first language, (the husbands are learning). Our children are completely bilingual.
My brothers and I are in our late 50’s and early 60’s. (Both of my brothers children are in their 20’s and 30’s). The Acadian culture is strong and vibrant in New Brunswick. The culture divide is still happening but most would agree that the expulsion was a terrible injustice inflicted upon the Acadians.🧐🇨🇦
Thanks for the tip. I'll do that. I did read Evangeline by Longfellow in college as part of my English minor. I can't honestly say I remember much of it except that it that Evangeline was separated from her love in the expulsion. I didn't realize Robbie used it for inspiration in writing Acadian Driftwood. I'll have to reread it now. It's been (ahem) a long time.
Acadian Driftwood is a great song but it is clear Robertson had very little understanding of the Expulsion of the Acadians. The song is full of factual errors from beginning to end; indicating it was not artistic license he was exercising.
My wife and I are Nova Scotians who both descend from Acadians, New Englanders and First Nations. Our children were educated in French Immersion Program K-12 in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. They are proficient in both French and English. The province of Nova Scotia is trying hard to mend the wounds caused by the Acadian Expulsion.
I’ve been amazed with how many responses I’ve gotten from Acadians or Acadian descendants. So cool.
I live a short drive from Grand Pre and have stood at the memorial to the “spot” where the Acadians were loaded onto the ships A dark spot in Nova Scotian history for sure
Several years back, Parks Canada officials wanted to determine the size of the actual church at Grand Pré where that fateful meeting with the English officials and the Acadian men and boys took place. ( the church there now is a replica). They asked people to come to the site and each oerson was given a name and short description of an actual Acadian held in the church at that meeting. We then gathered together in a taped in area on the spot where Parks Canada archeologists believe the church stood an a photo was taken from above. The tape marked the outside perimiter of the original church walls. After the photo was taken, we were walked through the fields, taking the same route as the deported Acadians, to the actual deportation site where the ships were once docked. Along the way, costumed actors retold the personal stories of some of those deported, men women and children. What a poignant experience! Never to be forgotten!
@@dorisbetts3012 that would be an enlightening experience for sure The cruelty of humans to other humans always saddens my soul
@@dorisbetts3012 I believe that project may have been the idea of an archaeologist/professor from Saint Mary's University, and supported by Parks Canada. The present day church is unfortunately not a replica of the Acadian church.
@@EdinburghFive Yes, I think you are correct. And the church that stands at Grand Pré is a replica. That's why the photograph was taken, to help determine the actual dimensions of the original church.
Expulsed Acadians started to return to Quebec and Acadia following the peace treaty of 1763. One big reason was because the treaty quaranteed freedom of religion and other rights that they did not have in the US colonies; where Catholics were definitely not welcome. As far as the movement of French Canadians to the US, most of this occurred in the 19th century when there was a scarcity of arable land for the following generation. In other words, poverty made many go to New England for work in factories and further west with many others to take up farmland; first in the American west and later in the Canadian West. This was not unique to French Canadians as many Canadians from the Atlantic provinces also did the same thing. This movement really only comes to an end with the First World War. Of course the movement of Canadians to the US has never stopped, just as today there is also a movement of Americans to Canada. This is normal for two developed countries that share many industries and where the movement of people between our two countries is not discouraged.
French traders were actually really friendly with native Americans, they didn't as a whole treat them fairly don't get me wrong, but compared to what came after... early traders lived with native peoples in Canada. There is an entire metis culture (French, native mixture) because of it. Keep in mind that these white men were sent to live in North America as trappers for years and decades without any women from their own nations. They found wives and companionship among native communities who often survived by trapping as they did. Cultures merged as they found they had more in common then they did with kings in Europe.
That is Rick singing the first verse I think then Levon takes over, 2 great voices of The Band. Love them all.
Richard has a couple. Definitely "sailed out on the gulf, headed for St Pierre..."
One thing that is different between Acadians and Quebequois is the dialect of French spoken. I have a lot of French Canadian relatives, all of whom speak an Acadian sounding type of french.
I am a Canadian, and my roots are Acadian.
I’m an Acadian French from Northern New Brunswick which are very proud French Acadians. (My mother is English and my father is French. So I speak French and english in the same sentence we call that chiac)My ancestors are from France ,Micmac and Irish .I also have family in Louisiana. That I only met once.Cajun
Are descendants of Acadian as well as there own history and heritage from different cultures. Every 4 years there’s a congres Mondial des Acadian to celebrate are backgrounds. One year it was in Louisiana. In Northern New Brunswick the 15 of August is la fête Acadian, some cities and villages are closed for the tantamar. The streets fill with Acadian music ( I don’t say French music because are French is Chiac.) that day is to celebrate that the English (British) didn’t win. Acadiens we’re told to not speak French that’s why some escaped to Quebec were it was still Part of New France.So on the 15 of August you take your pots and pan to the streets and make as much noise as you can, to show we are still here. Some in the South of New Brunswick are still Loyalist. New Brunswick is the only province in Canada who is officially bilingual. And it’s sad to say but we still fight to keep are language and heritage to this day. Yeah I know I have a lot of words that are missed spelled sorry. Was going to say English isn’t my first language. But it is, so is French they are both.😂
Quebequois are French loyalists. Acadia were French from early settlers that mostly intermarried with the natives (miq’mah). The Acadian’s just wanted to be left alone and be fisherman and farmers. They were discarded by the French and not trusted by the English. The purpose of of the deportation was to eradicate the Acadian heritage. This is the sad beauty….Acadians still alive, although much less populated
The Acadians did not "mostly intermarried with the natives (miq’mah [Mi'kmaq]). The historical records just do not support that position.
"The purpose of of the deportation was [not] to eradicate the Acadian heritage. It was much more complicated. The Acadians lived very peacefully under British rule for a number of decades. The late 1740s things changed due to Imperial rivalries between France and Britain. In the intervening years up to 1755 you are correct that the British lost their trust in the Acadians. The outbreak of war doomed the Acadians and the result as we know was deportation.
@@EdinburghFive keeping in mind that it’s the victors who usually write the history books. Yeah i know I misspelled Micmac, or Miq’mah, or whichever way you want to say it. I am both Miq’mah and Acadian and Acadian from the north shore of NB.
@@JT.Pilgrim The fact remains the victors don't write the history. There have always been people from all sides of history and those who are completely independent who have written the histories. What people need to do is read the various works and this will give a broader idea what actually happened.
@@EdinburghFive great point. Let tell my ancestors that. It will be very disappointing for them to realize their lives have been only a delusion. Thanks Doc.
At 16:42 the photo was taken in Caraquet :) I must add that we are certainly not QUEBECOIS . To ask an Acadian if we are from Quebec is insulting !
I’m so happy to hear from Acadians and so glad you are still there in Canada and thriving. Peace my friend or Paix mon ami. Not sure that’s right but I tried.
@@johnf-americanreacts1287 Thank you buddy!! There Is a lot of French in Louisiana :) Acadians ( Acadien ) Got an awesome friend in Texas who visits all the time and he loves it :) Thank you to America for keeping Canada safe :) 🇺🇸🇨🇦😘🙂
The Acadians on many levels were difference from the French in Quebec.
- Many of the French who become Acadians immigrate from different parts of France than those in New France
- The Acadian also have a mix of other groups from an early stage: Irish, Scots, English, Portuguese, etc.
- Acadian, unlike Quebec had been occupied by the English/British a number of time over the 1600s. Nearly half of this period saw Acadia under English/British control.
- Acadians held extensive trade with New England, whereas Quebec trade was almost exclusively with France.
- Due to Acadians isolation from both France and Quebec, their language and customs develop differently.
- The Acadian's need to negotiate their space with the British within a contested region helped developed an identity of a 'people' apart. The Acadians had a voice of their own. This was harder to develop in the much more heavily controlled society in Quebec with its colonial administration and Church elite. Colonial governance under both the French and British regimes in Acadia was minor to the point of neglect at times.
All of these factors and others led to a different ethnogenesis for the Acadians than that of people of Quebec.
Well put. My Samson people came from Normandy... St Gatiens des Bois, to be exact. There is a plaque on a small church there marking my ancestors' names and dates of departure for the New World, which I would love to see one day in person. The French my people communicate with is not the standard Parisienne French, (although most know that, too) because no standard had been chosen officially at the time of my peooles' departure from France and their settlement in the New World in the 1600s. The Acadian language is a distinct language but its roots go back to France when dialects varied throughout the land. Sadly, Acadian French has always been viewed as a lower, unacceptable form of French when in fact it is as legitimate as the French spoken anywhere.
Love your videos, Im a Toronto native (53 years) who moved to New Brunswick last year. I have learned so much from your videos. Thank you!
I learn so much as well and from all of you that take the time to comment. Thanks so much.
Hi, I live in an area of Nova Scotia that has a large population of Acadians. It is the southwest part of the province. The community of Pubnico.
I am Acadian on my mom's maternal side. I love history and Ancestry, I have done lots of research on my Acadian ancestors.
The modern Acadian dialect starts to appear in the Gaspé Peninsula of eastern Quebec. It's definitely Acadian on the eastern shore of the peninsula. By the time you get to New Brunswick, it's very obviously different from Quebec French. The whole northern coast of New Brunswick is pretty solidly Acadian, as well as the western part of the province around Edmundston and Saint-Quentin. There are additional pockets in the south of the province. There are a half-dozen pockets in Nova Scotia, but they have tended to anglicize (and on Cape Breton the language interacted substantially with Gaelic). Two little pockets of it in Prince Edward Island. But probably the most interesting is the Magdalen Islands [Îles de la Madeleine] where everyone of the 13,000 inhabitants speaks Acadian, but a small minority speak English at home. Most of these "Madelinots anglais" are descended from shipwrecked Scottish and English sailors who washed up on the islands, the surrounding seas being incredibly dangerous. This minority has a "Council for Anglophone Magdalen Islanders" to help preserve English with various projects. Recently, I've caught on to a young singer from these Islands, Éloi Cummings, who has this unique heritage. He has just appeared this year on various Quebec singing contests. In this song:
ruclips.net/video/gDH9vE5N1mA/видео.html
he sings a Louisiana Cajun classic, but in Acadian dialect
In this song:
ruclips.net/video/ClRcyMd_8Dc/видео.html
he covers Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Lookin' At My Back Door" singing in English, and giving it a pretty good Southern slant.
And in this song, "J'ai quitté mon île" ["I've left My Island"]:
ruclips.net/video/9Huda_9NMqg/видео.html
which is about his leaving his home, he ironically adjusts his French to conform more to the Quebec standard.
When I hear Acadian French spoken, I can understand about 90% of it, but the accent is very disconcerting and there are all sorts of words and expressions you would never hear in standard Canadian French. The most distinctive feature is that stress and tonal patterns are noticeably different. There is also a different ending used for the third person plural. I understand that there are seven distinct regional variants of Acadian, but I can't tell the difference when hearing them, except for the "Chiac" variety in Southern New Brunswick that has obvious influences from the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy First Nations. Since I grew up hearing the related Cree language, it jumps out to my ears.
Massively appreciative for this amazing info. Sorry for the hyperbole but I’m really impressed but the detail and love this kind of exchange from my videos. Who would have thought that this New Yorker would be getting such great detailed info from direct dialog with Acadians in Canada just from a little interest and care in making a video. So cool. I’m also a super nerd when it comes to languages and dialects.
I’m a french speaker from Québec and we are still fighting for the conservation of our language. But slowly we are loosing it . By the way we have mandatory english class at school as soon as 7-8 years old. I have nothing against english speaker we just do not want the culture to dissapear. Hope it gives some point of view . 😊
I get that and respect it. I’d hate to see French North America disappear after hundreds of years of history and culture
@@johnf-americanreacts1287 It’s very sensitive of you to say . Thank you for that .The french that we speak here is very different from the european french too.About the « anti english » I suppose some english speakers thinks that way because of the laws we put in place in order to keep the language alive ,wich to their points of view can seem discrimating but are not aimed at them. On a one to one basis , i am always happy to help when I see someone who doesn’t speak french and want translation. Anyway i went on a bit of a rant! Haha 😀
I'm Acadian (Acadien in French) it's certainly important to us in NEW-BRUNSWICK merci pour le beau video :) Cheers to Louisiana :)
My ancestors went to Quebec, Newfoundland and Maine
My favorite line in the song is...
"I got winter in my blood "
Although I'm American, by birth (Boston), I am of 3/4 Acadian decent and can trace my Acadian roots to 1650 in the heart of (what was then) Acadia, Grand Pre (in what is now known as province of N.S.). All of my Acadian relatives' (my father's generation and beyond) mother tongue is/was French Acadian. The Acadian culture, in eastern Canada, although heavily influenced by English speaking Canadians and Americans isn't diminishing, especially in New Brunswick , which is classified as being bilingual (French/English). I've lived in eastern Canada for many years and am proud of my Acadian heritage ( my descendants returned to Nova Scotia when the British made it OK to do so. My ancesestors had to start over, from scratch. It was a sad time in indeed.
BTW, it's more logical, when referring to "The Band", to define them as being a Canadian/American band (4/5'ths Canadian). Levon was the only American. By the way, they started out in Toronto as the revised backup band (The Hawks) for Ronnie Hawkins. Ronnie was originally from Arkansas and moved to Toronto at the suggestion of Conway Twitty. Levon moved with Ronnie. ...and now you know.
Footnote: Robbie Robertson's mother was from The Sixth Nation Reserve, in Ontario, and was Cayuga and Mohawk.
Grand Pré was not settled in the 1650s. They may have been located at or near Port Royal and then in later years migrated to Grand Pré.
@@EdinburghFive You are correct. His name was Daniel Le Blanc
John, Acadians were deported because Brits wanted land to settle on and second Acadians were reluctant to show fidelity to the British crown. Brits then assembled numerous Acadians and deported them in Louisiana which was still a French possession in North America. Brits took lands from Acadians and gave them to Brits settlers (mostly Scotts) where the name Nova Scotia is derived from.
Hey Alain, a few of your points are a bit off the mark. The British already controlled Acadia as it was ceded to Britain by France in 1713. The Acadians were deported because of French intrigues and war in the region that led to the British losing trust in the Acadians. The Acadians did "show fidelity to the British Crown" as they provided the oaths, with an understanding of neutrality. Not a single Acadian was deported to Louisiana by the British. When the Acadians do start to emigrate to Louisiana it was a Spanish colony. The lands that had belonged to Acadians in Nova Scotia was not given "to Brits settlers (mostly Scotts)" but to New England Planters.
A beautiful sad melody about this expulsion is the Frech Canadian song Un Canadien Errant.
My maternal family arrived in New France 1611. They built families some with the Mi'kmaq. My 10th great-grandfather Charles Amador St Etienne de La Tour was the governor of Acadia until expulsion. I descend from his first wife who was Mi'kmaq. They had three daughters, two were nuns who were sent to France for training in the convent. The one daughter who had returned was the first nun in North America.
Charles La Tour died in 1666. Acadia became a British colony in 1713 and was governed by British Governors. So, Charles La Tour could not have been " governor of Acadia until expulsion.".
One of La Tours' daughters was not the " first nun in North America.". She would not even have been the first Nun in New France.
The first Nuns in North America arrived in Mexico and predate any Nuns in New France by about a century.
The two La Tour daughters sent to France never returned to the New World. Antoinette de Saint-Étienne remained in France, dying there it is thought in about 1660.
My first Acadian lines, Rene Landry in 1634, and Leblanc around the same time came to Port Royal area. My family (a few brothers) were caught up in the expulsions. They got split and divided, Half the family ended up in Louisiana (and I have distant cousins there to this day,) and the other half of the family ended back in France (Brittany). They remained in Brittany for about 8 years, one of his sons grew old enough to take a wife, and got married, had a couple kids. The son decided to go back to his place of birth and childhood, and he came back with his young family and his parents... this time settling in Quebec. The other brothers remained in Louisiana and they never saw each other again. I am a direct descendant of the ones sent to France. My 4 x's great grandfather was the young son, born in France, and returned to Canada as a child when his father and grandparents came back to Canada (Quebec). Later my 4 x's great grandfather fought for the British in the war of 1812, and was given a 100 acre land grant for his service to the crown. Being a ship builder, he took his land in Ontario. Our family still lives on the original land.
Thanks for this great personal story of your family history. I love these direct connections I get to make with real people tied to the subject matter of the video. Peace.
Yes, those with Acadian ancestry can be found across Canada and in the world over today, although many are unaware of their Acadian heritage!
@@dorisbetts3012 That is sad...
The Québécois are French like the rest of us. We have different dialect. But we are all from different parts of Frane
Here are my comments on Masaman's video:
Interesting video. There are a few errors and definitely a few statements that as they are stated could be misleading:
- Although the first French settlement was in 1541 the narrator does not indicate that it failed. There were several other attempts by the French but the first successful settlement was at Port Royal, Acadia in 1605. Quebec City was established in 1608.
- The maps of the French regions are from 1800 and later and do not reflect the French regime period settlements particularly in Acadia.
- The Indigenous people who inhabited most of Acadia are the Mi’kmaq. Mic Mac is an old term that has gone out of use.
- The reference to the Scottish settlement, although it shows a map of the Annapolis Basin located in the southwestern end of Nova Scotia, states the Scottish colony of Nova Scotia was in Cape Breton. The Scottish colony of Nova Scotia included all the lands between New England and Newfoundland. There were two settlements. One in Cape Breton at Baleine, and the other at what is today, Annapolis Royal. The Baleine settlement lasted only two months before being destroyed by the French. Nova Scotia (Acadia), including the Charles Fort settlement, was returned by England to France under the 1632 Treaty of Saint-Germaine-En-Laye. Some of the Scottish settlers remained.
- The English did not annex the Scottish colony as it had been in reality a colony sanctioned by the English monarch.
- It was only after the Treaty of Utrecht that the approximate boundaries of Acadia came into question. During the French regime, it was clear Acadia incorporated what is today, Nova Scotia (including Cape Breton), New Brunswick, part of Maine, and the Gaspé region of Quebec. After the Treaty the French insisted Acadia was only peninsular Nova Scotia. The British and the French disagreed for the next four decades until it became a moot point when France lost all of its territories in North America.
- The Acadians did not refuse to swear an oath of loyalty to the British crown. They provided the oath but had negotiated a condition of neutrality. That condition held until 1755 when the Acadians were asked to swear an unqualified oath. Their refusal triggered the deportations.
- There was no tension between the Acadian and British settlers as there were no British settlers before 1749, and until the end of the 1750s, the British settlers were largely isolated to Halifax and Lunenburg.
- The British had never attempted to Anglicize the Acadians. Under the Treaty of Utrecht, the Acadians were granted the right to practice their Catholic faith. The British administration at Annapolis Royal pretty much left the Acadians alone to live their lives the way they always had. They flourished during this period.
- The Acadians were at the opening of the Seven Years War seen only as potential allies to the French. Not that they actually were allies. France had for ten or more years destabilized the region and there were a few Acadians who had supported the French cause. The Acadians were stuck in the middle and no matter what they were going to suffer. In the end, a few made a lot of trouble for the many. [new research since this earlier post has shown there were far more Acadians supporting and being recruited by the French than thought]
- There is nothing counter-intuitive at all about sending the Acadians to the British colonies. They were British subjects and thus moved to British colonies. It was thought they could become again productive settlers in the new lands. Of course, Lt. Gov Lawrence had looked at the deportation as simply a military operation and had not put into place plans, with the approval and acceptance of the other colonies, to receive and then re-establish the Acadians in the other British colonies. Moving them to French territory or even France would have supplied France with a group ready to fight the British. It was only in the later deportations when Acadians were sent to France. The other British colonies refused to take anymore so Acadians were sent to England. Others arrive in France along with French citizens being sent back to France after the fall of Louisbourg, etc.
Wow, amazing detail. Thanks for this.
My Samson family from Cape Breton were among those sent to France. Those who survived the voyage became unwanted refugees who spoke with a different dialect and vocabulary from those in France by this time. ( My understanding is that Acadian French has its origins in rural parts of France and is a mix of the French language that existed before Parisienne French was decided upon as the acceptable "standard" French. Of course, over the 150 years or so of close relationship with the Mi'kmaq people, Acadian French incorporated aspects of the indigenous language into its own as well ).
Le Grande Derangement. My grandmother's family is Acadien going back to the early 1600s in Canada.
The Indigenous peoples of Nova Scotia (the Micmacs etc.) got along rather well with the Acadians. They even taught them ways of farming.
The early French settlers were helped in their survival by the Mi'kmaq people, both in their arrival to North America and during the 8 years of the " Grand Dérangement" . They co-existed for 150 years. The Acadians had great respect for them. They were allies and trade partners and sometimes married. My Acadian father always said we had Mi'kmaq blood in our family.
Are you saying the Mi'kmaq "taught them [Acadians] ways of farming"? Given the Mi'kmaq were not farmers that was likely not the case.
I love the indigenous but they didn't teach Europeans how to farm. Telling me the French who come from Romans and the Gauls didn't use farming to fuel their militaries? Sure.
Raised in England loving this song now I live in Acadia ❤❤❤
I’m Acadian, from CT
My dad is from madawaska ME
My maternal grandmother was from West Pubnico, Nova Scotia. The Pubnico area is still heavily Acadian, partially Irish, since they mixed with them a bit during their exile in Boston. They were allowed to return because the D'Entremont family has Baronial title to Pubnico, which the class conscious Brits respected. Pubnico is the only community in North America inhabited by direct descendants of the original settlers.
The statement "Pubnico is the only community in North America inhabited by direct descendants of the original settlers." is certainly not the case.
Pubnico is the oldest Acadian colony, and its inhabitants are direct descendants of the original settlers. The Village is the ideal location to learn more about the greatest source of pride for Acadians: surviving the Deportation of 1755 and continuing to thrive to this day.
@@EdinburghFive
@@mikerasmusson8749 Good to hear from you.
If you had added 'Acadian' to the line "Pubnico is the only community in North America inhabited by direct descendants of the original settlers.", so it read 'Pubnico is the only Acadian community in North America inhabited by direct descendants of the original settlers.', then you may be correct. I stress may as I suspect your statement is still incorrect as many of the Acadian communities would still have today descendants of the original settlers. You might what to add a qualifier to your statement; something like 'oldest', 'longest continuously inhabited,' etc. In Annapolis Royal I believe there are still a few Acadian last names.
I have had the pleasure to visit Pubnico n the past. Beautiful area.
The reason why, is because everyone wanted Montreal and Quebec. The Nations of the world-- especially England and France-- desired the territory.
I find there is not a lot of detail on that part of history. From what I understood the British gave them an ultimatum, sigh allegiance to the British crown or be deported. These are a proud people so it's not surprising that the majority would not sign. Love the song, and thanks to the Band, that is how i first learned about this incident.
The song lyrics are full of errors about the history of the deportations.
Cand''n here: New Brunswick is a province that does not come up in current affairs news very much for some reason.The province is in the middle of a lot of international trade activity, you would expect a higher profile by default.
my ancestors are Acadian. Martin/Albert.
I'm a proud Acadian from Moncton, New Brunswick and I can say that what the narrator in the video says about Acadians becoming assimilated into English culture is far from true! You only need to come to an Acadian community on August 15, our "national" holiday, to see how strong and vibrant the culture is here. Sure, maybe the younger generation speaks more English amongst themselves (I know my friends and I did as teenagers), but for my part, I feel it's important to continue to speak French and pass on our Acadian traditions to my son.
It was briefly mentioned (I think) in the video, but in the period between the World Wars, many Acadians moved to the Boston area. Acadians, for a long time, were farmers and fishermen, so in search of better-paying jobs, they went to the larger cities nearby (Montreal, Toronto, Boston). My dad's cousin was born and still lives in a Boston suburb.
Thanks for this great information. I’m glad to hear that the Acadian culture is alive and well and I hope to experience it in person in the not too distant future. Peace.
My father is from Nova Scotia and my brother and I spent majority of our summers there and there are still parts, although very small parts of Nova Scotia that I have Acadians but they’re very small towns Grand -Pre is one of them it’s a beautiful town actually beautiful church not entirely Acadian. Cheticamp up in Cape Breton off the coast that would’ve spent more time in I would say, is probably more Acadian than some. However, there are strong Scottish roots in Cape Breton as well, including the Gaelic College ( Scottish) some of the Gaelic Road signs intermingled with places like Bras d’Ors lakes.
As someone of Acadian/United Empire Loyalist ancestry, I thoroughly enjoyed this post. Although I would consider myself a primarily English Canadian, I am proud of my Acadian name and ancestry. My father's community is big into Acadian culture and traditions, and even being surrounded by a sea of Nova Scotia English, have maintained much of the culture and some of the Acadian language.
Wonderful! My mother was English ( her father emigrated from England as a young man) andmy dad was Acadian from Isle Madame, Cape Breton where most of my extended family still live. I am very proud of my Acadian roots and am the only member of my family to be bilingual ( there are 7 kids in my family). I learned it as an adult since my dad became a school principal in an English town and we moved Isle Madame when I was two. French was not taught in English Nova Scotia then until grade 7. I wish I knew the Acadian French of my people but learned my French mostly in immersion in Quebec. We can still communicate although the dialect and some words differ.
@@dorisbetts3012 Not sure how old you are but I know that some English schools in Nova Scotia have taught French starting from the first year of schooling for at least 60 years, as an old friend of mine from Nova Scotia was one of the students.
@@EdinburghFive French language instruction in the first grade of school existed in the French Acadian communities in Nova Scotia only, unless there was some instruction for little children in a Halifax school? Even the Acadian schools in French communities in NS were very few in number. I am almost 60. My father was a French Acadian and a school teacher who moved from our Acadian community in Cape Breton to the English town of Truro in 1965 as he was hired as an elementary school principal there. Parents opposed his hiring due to the fact that he was French. He remained in that position for 20 years. In the 1980s, basic core French instruction began in grade 4. Earlier, basic French instruction in most of Nova Scotia began in grade 7 but was not required after grade 9. Over time, French immersion classes were offered in the larger centres, mainly in the Halifax schools only and later, integrated French instruction became more popular...not immersion, but more French exposure than Core French class offered. Today, there are immersion classes in many schools for Anglophone children and 22 French Acadian schools now exist for those of French family heritage and for newcomers to Canada if they choose it. They are spread throughout the province, mostly in Acadian communities and in the larger urban centres of Halifax/ Dartmouth and Sydney, Cape Breton. Although once shamed for speaking their own language in this province, French Acadian children now have the opportunity to recapture their lost culture through this separate school system which is operated by a distinct public French Acadian school board.
@@dorisbetts3012 Nova Scotia I believe was much like the other Canadian Provinces in that it took until the 1980s for a French language program to more fully develop. The community my friend was from was clearly very progressive and an anomaly for its time.
Appreciate the topics you react to,
Canadian history has not been prefect, especially if viewed through a ‘Presentism’ historical view, but the recognition and an attempt correct injustices, although slower than some want, is a strength of the country, not a weakness. Still a long way to go.
Agreed about your nation’s willingness to try to confront and redress these issues. It’s admirable.
My father is Acadian; he was born here in RI and Acadian French is his first language. His family is one of the last Acadian families in the state to grow up speaking French; intermarriage with English speakers ended a lot of that, and only a handful of my many cousins are fluent in Acadian French (I am not).
There are a great many people here in RI with Acadian surnames, but most of them seem unaware of what “Acadian” means or even that they ARE descended from Acadians. Very few people here know the history. Even I didn’t really learn about it until I got older and curious to learn.
Now, my children are even more distant from their Acadian heritage - my wife’s family is from India - but this doesn’t bother me at all. Our Acadian heritage sprang from a mingling of blood (French, Mi’kmaq, Irish, and other); so it will be in the future that they will be part of something new. Such is life. Even the British Americans, who “won” their conflict with us (that we didn’t even want to have!) will one day exist no more, their descendants being something new.
It is good. The only alternative is stagnation.
If you want to learn more, check out Zachary Richards’ “Revielle”, and others. Mostly what I know of my heritage is songs. We found the land our family used to live on - the specific spot - just this year. There is nothing there now. Just a desolate field, and some stones.
if you want something interesting to look into , look into the story of jackie vautour ;).leads into present time and the gov of our country coming and retaking our land again a second time after all of this 😢.they took all the land and made what people know as kouchiboucuac provincial park..our land was so beatiful they took it for nohing and made a nature park and whiped the records and made it look like no one ever lived there ...enjoy ;)
I’m sorry for your people, it’s a tale as old as time and my country, like yours learned from our European masters. It all sucks but it’s important to know it and teach it to our kids. My nation isn’t doing a good job of that now.
It was clear Acadia during the French regime was considered to be what is today Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, part of eastern Quebec, and Maine to the Kennebec River. After the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht the French saw the British had not occupied much of the region and then proceeded to agree to disagree as to what exactly they ceded to the British. Several talks over the next few decades took place but never achieved any solutions, as the French really had no interest in doing so. The French even tried to claim that much of the land in the eastern half of Nova Scotia had not been ceded. When this idea failed they tried to have it set aside as Mi'kmaq territory, knowing full well that the Mi'kmaq being their allies would then give France de facto control of the eastern portion of he Province.
Cape Breton and PEI were not ceded to Britain under the Treaty of Utrecht.
There is Acadian in Nova Scotia
There's a lot more Acadians in New Brunswick than Nova Scotia, and most people in Quebec don't consider themselves Acadians. I'm not even sure if they celebrate Acadian Day in Quebec, but it's huge in New Brunswick.
No Quebec doesn’t celebrate Acadian day. Some from Quebec do come to New Brunswick to celebrate. Cause they have family or are from there. Quebec celebrates St. Jean Baptiste.
@@Ndwonder And I think, from a Québecer's point of view that it is "Unacceptable" because we are Brothers from the same Mother and it would suggest that we should stand next to each other and face the storm...
@@stephanecharbonneau3071 in the eye of quebecer we should stand next to each other and face the storm. Sorry that will never happen. Because I am Acadian canadien we have are own heritage .like you have ours. The word unacceptable is in your vocabulary. Not everyone outside Quebec that speak French are québécois. That’s your history not mine. Imagine if I say St. Jean Baptiste is unacceptable, you wouldn’t like. But it’s ok if you say it in regards to others who are French and don’t live there.
The city of Moncton was named after Robert Monckton the man that deported over 7000 Acadian an he was also the governor of New York before the American revolution.
Ah yes, I know him as I am a self-proclaimed history nerd. Lol. Thanks for the info friend.
Thank you for sharing. Very interesting Canada and the US have a lot of shared history. A few years ago we went on a double-decker sightseeing tour of Quebec City and we paused while the narrator of the tour talked about the history of The Plains of Abraham and the pivotal battle between the French and English there. The Canadian War Museum in Ottawa also touches on the expulsion of the Acadians.
You must come to Nova Scotia to visit the amazing French historical site of the Fortress of Louisbourg taken in battle by General Wolfe before his battle on the Plains of Abraham and its importance in the history of North America. Another site to visit is Port-Royal (one of the first habitations in North America where Samuel de Champlain lived in 1605), Fort Beauséjour and Grand Pré Historic site ( the spot from which the French Acadian people were rounded up and declared they would be deported by the English governor). The Acadians are cousins of the Cajuns of Louisiana as some Acadians were deported to the New England colonies in the Deportation beginning in 1755 and eventually made their way to Louisiana where they developed their distinct culture.
Also, some Acadians deported to France eventually decide in the 1780s to emigrate to Louisiana.
The French weren't about colonizing these areas. Their principle interest was in contolling all trade with the local native populations. In fact, they never truly controlled these lands in the same sense as the English did along the eastern seaboard. They controlled this territory in much the same way as England controlled the lands around Hudson Bay via the Hudson Bay Company. As the French didn't really covet their lands and mostly left the natives alone, the natives also tended to side more with the French than the English, who truly did covet their lands. The only areas where there were truly French settlers in this large territory were in the dyked marsh lands bordering the Bay of Fundy and along the St. Lawrence and Richelieu Rivers.
Colonizing also is defined as: appropriate (a place or domain) for one's own use. France was both settling some parts and controlling other parts of North America, thus colonizing.
The difference in how France and Britain operated in North America was driven by the difference in the economies. France was based largely on the fur trade and thus they exploited the Indigenous people to be the workforce to gather the furs. With the British "who truly did covet their lands" was due to economies based largely on agriculture and forestry. Fur trading was important but a minor industry relative to the others. Also, just the shear influx of immigrants to the British colonies drove the need for land.
It is interesting to note that by mid-eighteenth century the Acadians were farming and utilizing more upland acreage than marshland.
And in pockets in Cape Breton around St Peters ( Port Toulousse) and on Isle Madame where my people are from, also in the Chticamp area and around Louisbourg.
Even longer story short, the French and English were in direct competition for World domination for about 800 years. There were also religious (French = Catholic and English = Protestant) and philosophical differences between the two. They were already rivals before anything occurred in North America. There are treaties/agreements with Quebec that did not exist in the Maritimes Province protecting the French.
Side note: Although the French and Anglos in the Maritimes get along quite well now, there are still a lot of Nationalists in Quebec to the point Quebec has in the past acted as almost a geographic barrier between Atlantic Canada and the rest of Canada in the past (hence our unique dialects, accents and customs in Atlantic Canada which favour English, Scotland and Ireland more closely than the rest of Canada). In fact, when western Provinces refer to "Eastern Canada" they are often referring to Ontario and Quebec, not Atlantic Canada ...it's like they just forget about us. Many mix up Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.
They don't mind tourists for the most part in Quebec but I have personally experienced animosity because I didn't speak French when visiting Quebec and I was only child when this occurred, that is how deep the dislike for some go. It has got a lot better over time but if you are looking for people with a Nationalistic mentality, Quebec is where you will find them in Canada. Most of our issues now revolve around bilingualism. Speaking Quebec French in Canada gives you an edge over unilingual Anglo Canadians so much so it can often be a class distinction despite these requirements often being in Anglo Provinces. Acadian French doesn't give you as much of an advantage because all testing in Canada is based on Quebec French so even if you service Acadians, you get no brownie points unless you can speak and correspond with them in Quebec French. Then you have Natives who seem to get left out of discussions regarding Quebec Nationalism. It's like once they get what they want, then they will consider the Natives.
So basically we get along but there are points of resentment there still on both sides. The biggest issue with Acadians before the expulsion was their refusal to swear allegiance to Britain and fear they were too tightly allied with France (you have to take in like a 1000 years of history to understand why the British though this was such a bad thing).
The Quebec resentment to the British is still alive and well. On Dec 9th, 2022 Quebec has passed a law making an oath of allegiance to the monarch optional for members of the legislature and they will admit any previous oaths to British Monarchs were not sincere. Quebec remains to this day the Province most likely to split up Canada due to French/English issues. Acadians have meshed much better with the Anglos although it has come at a cost of it's language and culture. You will see a lot of obvious French Acadian last names but they know little to nothing of their French culture and many don't speak French at least in the Maritimes. Over the years with marriages with non-Francophones, the French aspects have mostly been lost and their name is all they retain hence why many no longer identify as being Acadian. There are definitely still Acadians here though with their own unique culture and language.
Hello /Bonjour, I am on my mother's side. She is one of 24 children, I am one of 70 plus grandchildren, many many . My family is from New Brunswick but I grew up in Toronto. As a my mother was told NOT to speak French (Acadian French) to me as it would make me stupid and slow. This was the time at the start of bilingual Eng/French (Quebecois French). To this day these are two VERY different French and people are very pointed about which French they speak!! My grandfather on my father's side (from St.Lucia) spoke Parisian French, Acadian French and my aunties Quebecois French would all speak English because they couldn't understand one another in French! When speaking about what took place land was wanted. All the hard work of clearing this land was already done by the Acadian farmers when the British came our families were removed and Loyal British were placed on the land and in the homes already built. Few went back and found others living in their homes, working their land. We are people so we came back now our families are here and there but the kettle is always on welcoming to the stranger who comes to your door!
There were very few Acadian homes standing when the British settlers (Planters) arrived in Nova Scotia to take up the old Acadian lands. Most of the buildings had been burned by the New England troops and then also by Acadians militias during the ensuing warfare that took place, denying the New England soldiers there use for shelter.
The 1713 map is wrong as it shows Acadia as still French territory. This area was conquered by the British in 1710 and ceded by France under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Also it shows Newfoundland and Rupert's lands as blank space when these two areas were British a colony and an economic zone of influence. Under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, France abandoned its Newfoundland colonies. This abandonment is what directly led to the establishment of Louisbourg in Cape Breton.
For that matter where are the rest of the British American colonies on the 1713 map?
Thanks for the corrections.
My wife's mother's family is 1/2 Acadian we live in New Brunswick. The same as the Cajun the Acadians have there own food it is mostly made with simple ingredients like chicken fricot 6 ingredients chicken, potatoes, carrots, summer savory, salt and pepper it's like a light clear chicken soup. Or putin not fries cheese and gravy but putin rapeè which is a ball of potato about the size of a softball with diced up small salt pork in the middle about the size of a golf ball and boiled it doesn't sound good but cut it in half and sprinkle brown sugar on it and it is very good or there fish stews or seafood casserole. If you go to an Acadian family gathering and you leave hungry it's your own fault they can cook.
You are making my mouth water. 🤤.
@6:07- It was all Acadia. As a matter of fact, it was all "Nova Scotia." New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island were once part of Nova Scotia until they were made separate colonies in 1784 and 1769 respectively.
Pump the brakes. the first Scottish settlement was Charlesfort, which was on the mainland, not cape Breton, and it was established in 1629. It was Sir William Alexander, a member of James VI's court who convinced the king that a "New Scotland" should takes its place alongside New England and new France, The settlement failed.
Ah jeeze... The Acadiens WERE willing to submit to British rule. They were willing to swear on oath IF the section that said they had to take up arms for the British was removed. Governor Lawrence would accept that. That's why they were deported.
After the defeat at Quebec, the British guaranteed the inhabitants would not be subject to deportation, could leave with their effects if they wanted to, practice their religion, and compete with the British in the fur trade. So that's why the deportations didn't extend to Quebec.
Really? They left out the return of the Acadiens? Yikes.
Charles Fort was established at the same time as the settlement at Baleine, Cape Breton by Lord Ochiltree, an associate of Sir William Alexander. The Charles Fort settlement did not fail as such but was given over to the French when the territory was handed back in 1632. Charles Fort became to new Port Royal.
The Acadian did submit to British rule and recognized they were British subjects. This went back to the time Acadia was ceded to the British in 1713. The Acadians were willing in 1755 to provide to Governor Lawrence the qualified oath that included neutrality. Lawrence demanded an unqualified oath. They Acadians refused this and paid the price for that decision.
The British didn't deport the French in Quebec for a number of reasons not the least of which was the shear number of people there and the huge cost it would have been to carryout deportations. Where would they have sent 60,000 to 70,000 people? Even France would likely have balked at trying to take care of that many refugees suddenly showing up. Other reasons were, the situation had changed with France losing its colonial possessions in North America, Britain was pretty much bankrupt at the end of the Seven Years War, deporting all the French would have utterly destroyed the colonial economy, etc.
@@EdinburghFive
I don't recall the name Cape Breton by Lord Ochiltree from the biography of Alexander. I'll have to check.
As the rest; I was being concise.
Hey there - Anglo born in Southern Ontario (and 11th generation French Canadian on my mum's side, 1st generation Cdn on my Scottish father's side), grew up in British Columbia and now living in Quebec. The Quebec situation is very complicated. Les Quebecois naturally want to preserve their language, cultures and customs (and their politicians play a lot of games with this, as you can imagine) - but they are an island of French speakers, surrounded by (mostly) Anglo North America. Not long ago, if you strayed outside of Montreal (very bilingual), you were in French speaking only territory. Not any more. Hello modern culture/internet. The folks under about 35 are almost all pretty functionally bilingual, as music, video games, movies, streamed serial programmes (no one likes subtitles, and french actors' voices!) are preferred to be enjoyed from the original content. I have trouble improving my French here, as 95% of the people I meet "want to practice their english". I don't know if you have every been to the province of Quebec - but you should visit here. It is a very, very unique place. Very special. You will not regret it. ;-)
I have been there. Quebec is due north from me and Montreal is driving distance. I’ve been there a few time and once in Quebec City, but all times when I was in my 20s and once as a child. I did have a sense of history, but not a sophisticated understanding of cultural/political issues during my youth so I was not attuned to them at the time.
The Acadian people were farmers. They settled the land around Grand Pre and through the use of dikes and levees , created the most fertile farmland in the world. They were a gentle, highly intelligent people who wanted only to live their lives unbothered by the English. Unfortunately, they were sitting on all that gorgeous land and the English used the ongoing war and politics as an excuse to force them out. Families were ripped apart, children pulled from their Mothers arms and put on separate ships. Many of thepeople died on the ships as they went from place to place, seeking asylum and being turned away . Originally Acadia refered to the land around Grand Pre in Nova Scotia, however, once the french were allowed to return they found their farms had been illegally claimed by the British forcing them to relocate to other parts of the province, New Brunswick and PEI. Today, the proud decendants of Acadia live in settlements through out the Maritimes retaining their language, music, customs and shared history.
Edit - typo
Glad to see you posting but your comments contains a few errors.
The Acadian settlement extent far more broadly than just "around Grand Pre". The Acadians were like everyone else and definitely were not all gentle as many took up arms against the British in times of peace when the British were not attacking them.
The Acadian did not "created the most fertile farmland in the world". Although very good farmland it is not even the best in Canada.
It is a myth that "Families were ripped apart, children pulled from their Mothers arms and put on separate ships".
When the Acadians left Nova Scotia they were forcibly deported and sent to ports in the other British American colonies, England, and France. They were not "seeking asylum".
Acadia was far more than "the land around Grand Pre". Old Acadia was comprised of what is today Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, a small part of Quebec, and Maine to the Kennebec River.
It was not case that the Acadian lands were "illegally claimed by the British". These lands had belonged to the British since 1713 having been ceded by France and furthermore the British Crown owned much of this land outright as it had purchased from the French Seigneurs the seigneuries. Acadians were tenant farmers under the French regime and mostly remained such under the British. As now, it was then - no one likes their landlord.
The Quebec region was more the France army settlers and the Acadien was kick out of France in 1755 by order from the king of France to populate New France. Am proud to be Acadien and I live in the birth place of our flag.
I am happy to inform you the Acadians were not " kick out of France in 1755 by order from the king of France to populate New France" The French (later known as the Acadians) settled Acadia starting in 1605. It was the British who kicked the Acadians out of Nova Scotia (old Acadia) in 1755.
Acadian from NB here. The difference between Acadia and Quebec would probably be due to lifestyle and aristocracy. Acadians had a unique canal style of farming that you can still see today from satellite photos, and were heavily reliant on the sea, where as the Quebecois were much more urbanized(civilized?) building stone cities and fortifications and relied heavily on trapping and hunting. A lot of the settlers in Acadia just wanted to be free from European serfdom and united with the native mi''kmaq tribes, where as the people of Quebec were of higher social economic standing and benefited from the french aristocracy.
Today, I would say the majority of Acadians have adopted english as their preferred language, and have mixed heavily with the Irish and Scottish, adopting the term "Maritimer" as their identity, which is fitting as "the Maritimes" is essentially a name given to the 3 provinces of Canada which were formed from dividing Acadia, minus the parts that went to Québec(gaspé peninsula, madeleine islands) and the eastern half of Maine.
There were pushes in the past to assimilate the Acadians, but it resulted in a lot of hostility and revolts, especially in the 1960s when the government once again took possession of several Acadians towns to make a provincial park, sparking riots which resulted in the government finally giving full rights to francophones and NB becoming the first officially bilingual province.
It's exactly because of Acadia and Louisiana style assimilation that today Quebec is so very strict on french preservation and protectionism laws. Ironically, francophones are now choosing to learn and adopt english on their own accord, now that it's a personal choice and not something being forced upon them.
Your statement "A lot of the settlers in Acadia just wanted to be free from European serfdom" is not correct. The Acadians for the most part lived on seigneurial lands where they were tenant farmers. Under this system they owed rents and labour to the Seigneurs. Even during the British regime they remained tenant farmers. In the eighteenth-century the British government purchased the seigneuries.
By "unique canal style" I think you mean a dykeland system. Although perhaps unique to Canada, and a agriculture technology that define the colonial Acadians, the use of dykes was not a unique system. Even the colonists in some of the British American colonies used dykes to reclaim lands for agricultural use.
And the Acadians were not poor. Not until the deportation that is. My family were deported to Massachusetts and Georgia before deported to Louisiana.
No Acadians were deported to Louisiana. They went there as a matter of choice. The largest group went there three decades after the deportations.
The Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world The water rises and falls in the range of 40 ft with each tide
The Acadians built a system of dikes to reclaim land from the sea These dikes exist to today and you can drive basically below sea level as you cross the dikelands Modern day farmers still use the land I assume this is similar to the levees in Louisiana
That's incredible about the dikes.
The dykes that exist today are much larger than those from the time of the Acadians. The original dykes have either eroded away or are buried in the marshlands.
happy holidays......this is wonderful.
Nova Scotian Acadian Heritage here! My husband too. :D
I'm at 3 1/2 minutes into this video and I'm a senior and I still remember the FLQ and the murders of Pierre LaPorte and another man way back in the 70's. "Give me liberty, or give me death" took on a whole new meaning. But I LOVE pur French
The FLQ crisis was all about Quebec not the Acadia.
The FLQ were terrorists; stupid Red Brigade wannabes. Should have all been imprisoned for life.
I don't know this for a fact, but I believe the Acadians were expelled to Louisiana because they were of French descent in New Brunswick (an English territory) and the Acadians wouldn't sign an oath of allegiance to the British Crown. Also, the poem Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is about the Acadians. I've heard that the French dialects between the Quebecois and the Acadians is also different. There is so much history in the Maritimes - it's amazing.
Actually, it’s not quite accurate that the French Acadians didn’t sign the oath of allegiance. Many did and were deported anyway. There are many Acadians who remained in places like Nova Scotia - aided by the First Nations people. I’m descended from those people…part First Nation and part Acadian.
The French were deported through the 13 colonies. The Acadians that settle in Louisiana is because they escaped the colonies. Quebec have there own history and not the same as acadiens
@@NdwonderThey were also deported to France ( my ancestors) and the Carribean.
Governor Lawrence in the English settlement of Halifax was tired of the Acadian neutrality and questioned it. He figured they would eventually side with France even though they had little to nothing to do with it ( aside from their French priests) and just wanted a peaceful existance. There were many political reasons for the expulsion which occured over 8 years from all parts of Acadie that covered the Maritime provinces, part of Maine and the Gaspé peninsula. Most of those separated and expelled were children as Acadians were Catholic with large families. Some escaped travelling through the woods to New France ( Quebec). Some were hidden by the Mi'kmaq people. Many died en route or on the route back to the former lands of Acadie years later. They arrived to find their lands they cultivated for 150 years were occupied by British Loyalists who were given the lands after the American Revolution. They had to settle along the coastlines and became fishermen, although they were excellent farmers. It is a tragic part of North American history but the Acadians persevered in spite of it all!
@@dorisbetts3012 they deported Acadiens everywhere. They believed that they where sending them back home. It’s true that Acadian are descendants of France. But the French settlers weren’t French (fromFrance) anymore they were Acadian and Métis.
Rick Danko was also Canadian
My late grandfather used to tell me stories of growing up in Nova Scotia where many of the old generation were deathly afraid of being caught speaking French in their own homes because throughout the 19th century it was actually illegal to speak French in Nova Scotia or to be catholic for that matter.
Although people did avoid speaking French in places it was not illegal to do so. Neither was it in the nineteenth-century illegal to be Catholic. If it was illegal to be Catholic in Nova Scotia how do you explain the fact there were Catholic churches all over the colony/Province?
If I would like to teach someone about the Acadians and the history, I would NOT show that video that you watched to anyone. I have a feeling that guy never set foot in our part of the country and never understood us. During the Acadian deportation, they seperated entire families. Mom could be put on a ship, Dad in another, kids on different ones and none of them were send at the same place. Mom could have been sent back to France, Dad to England and kids in any other British Empire colonies. When the treaty was signed, a lot came back in hope of finding lost family members. But they weren't allowed to come back to the same lands and were send mostly along the coastlines. That why the Acadian Peninsula is along the north shoreline of New Brunswick. With time, Quebec and the Acadians became 2 different, but similar, culture. A Quebequois once told me that he was jealous of us Acadians. You can become a Québecois by moving to Québec, but moving into Acadian parts will never make you an Acadian. You are either born one or not. We are all over, but the vast majority are in the Atlantic provinces, but more New Brunswick, PEI and Nova Scotia. We consider ourselves close cousin with the Cajuns a lot more than the people from Quebec because their French is probably closer to us and a good part of our ancestors were deported to Louisiana.
In the video you watched, some of his facts are true, but with huge holes on important facts, which made his video so painful to watch. He totally focus on stuff less relevant to the story. Some of the Acadians were not deported and were able to hide with the natives who willingly hid them. In order to "blend" and avoid being caught, some of them just changed their family name to an English version of their French name. That's how some LeBlanc became the Whites and the LeBrun became the Browns. The Acadians were pretty much left on their own to fight the British Empire, with only the natives on the French side. Let's not forget that at the same time, the British were trying to take over France and the French King had his own place to defend. Taking over the French colonies in the New World was another way to weaken what was left of the French Empire who I think, did not last till the end of that century. Acadians did not want to become British subjects. The irony is that today, we are, as being part of the Commonwealth. That is probably why, to this day, the French population of Canada do not feel any connection to the current Royal family and still wish to get out of the Commonwealth.
I could go on for quite some time, as this is my history and think it's an important one to be told, but often forgotten
Hi Nadine, is a myth that "During the Acadian deportation, they seperated entire families. Mom could be put on a ship, Dad in another, kids on different ones and none of them were send at the same place. Mom could have been sent back to France, Dad to England and kids in any other British Empire colonies."
The misunderstanding rises as to what s meant by family. People think in the sense of parents and dependant children (nuclear families) versus in the extended family sense of independent children, their families, and also other relatives. When the ships were loaded nuclear families were loaded together and there may have been independent family members and their families as well. Once a ship was full families from the same community, who were relatives, were loaded on other ships. These ships did not necessary, as you pointed out, go to the same ports. It was in this way that 'extended' families became separated. The Acadians were very close nit and thus the separation of extended families was traumatic.
Your statement "the British were trying to take over France" is also in error. The cause of the Seven Years War and French and Indian War in North America was based on Imperial rivalries. Britain had no intension of "taking over France". It did want to neuter France's power in Europe and colonial endeavours round the world.
It is also not true that "Acadians did not want to become British subjects". The idea of being a subject in the seventeenth and eighteenth-century is different than it is today. It was much more fluid in Europe and its colonies. Under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, it was clear the Acadians who remained would become subjects to Britain. Those who did not want to be subjects were welcome to leave within one year. Those who stayed were thus recognizing their subjecthood to the English King. Most of those who left in relatively short order returned. That act of returning to the British colony of Nova Scotia thus was a de facto recognition of subjecthood. Also, when the Acadians provided the oaths, they were formally recognizing their subjecthood.
@@EdinburghFive I guess what you learned in school was different than what we did in French school....or maybe my teacher got the wrong books, cause some of what I said, I do remember as if it was yesterday reading it in my books. It upsetted me for weeks.
As for the British wanting to take over, I think I might have mixed 2 time periods, as I thought for a brief moment that it was at the same time that Marie Antoinette got beheaded, but I went back to read a little about it and it turns out that she was born the exact year they started the deportation
@@nadinehebert7709 Good to hear from you.
When I was in school our history books did not say a lot about the Acadians. My knowledge on the subject comes from a lot of research online and in libraries, discussions with experts, etc.
You have a fine Acadian name and one that goes back right to the beginning of French colonization in both Acadia and Québec.
@@EdinburghFive Someone I know was able did my family tree and was able to go all the way back in the late 1500, a generation or two before the first Hébert moved to the New France. 3 brothers came, only 2 married and got kids. One populated the north of New Brunswick and the second the south. With time, some of them moved and created new generations elsewhere, like Quebec. I would like to retrace my family tree on my mom's side now and grandmothers side too, as I've been told they are all strong Acadian name that can be trace back to France
@@nadinehebert7709 Are you descended from Louis Hébert or from either Antoine and Étienne Hébert?
Héberts in Quebec descend from Louis. In Acadia from Antoine and Étienne Hébert.
You can find information in the Acadian census records (available online) as well as Professor Stephen White's 'Dictionnaire Généalogique Des Familles Acadiennes'.
Cajun started as a derogatory term in Louisiana
The Brits wanted the French-speaking Acadians in the Maritimes to swear allegiance to the British crown: many, if not all, of them refused. Plus, the Brits wanted the territory. I live in Québec, speak Québécois French and have travelled to New Brunswick and spoke French with people down there. It was hard to understand in many ways, a mixture of old French, English and the local dialect of French. New Brunswick is the only official bilingual province in Canada and the French-speaking people there have their own institutions: schools, universities etc. Also, Canada, at a federal level, is officially bilingual, which guarantees minority language rights (French in the English-speaking provinces, or English in Québec).
The Acadian did indeed swear their loyalty oaths to the British. They did so with an agreed qualification of neutrality. This worked well until the later part of the 1740s. After that the region became very destabilized because of French imperial intrigues in the region. On the eve of the French and Indian War/Seven Years War in the mid-1750s, the British asked the Acadians to provide an unqualified oath. Twice the Acadians refused. After a short period they realized their error and offered the unqualified oath. By this point the British had lost trust in the Acadians and thus the offer of the oath was considered valueless. The result, as we all know, was deportation.
My grandfather's family was Acadian. I am one of those people who results from assimilation. Time and marriage makes my Acadian ancestry just a small part of the whole make up. But it's still there and still relevant.
Hello I am Canadian eh. I like your posts and watch often. Please check out the Ocean Ranger disaster, an oil rig that sank off the coast of Newfoundland Feb.1982.
Will do. Thanks for the tip my friend. Much appreciated
There's a Canadian Heritage Minute about the Acadian Expulsion. The Cajun people of Louisiana descend from them.
The Canadian Heritage Minute is interesting but has errors and is very "soft" on how it portrays the evident. I noted they turned off their comment sections after getting a lot of comments about their poor production. It is a shame they did not produce a better video as they certainly have the time, money, and access to the experts to have produced and excellent video.
there is three singers on the song just listen and you can tell each one
While the obvious part of the impact is Canadian, the Cajun culture in the US is a result of the Acadian expulsion. Yes you owe some amazing food t9 Canada! 😆
Here is a link to a live concert by a band name , "La Bottine Souriante"(The Happy Boot). This band is the current day exemplar of 'Acadian Music' writ large in the new millenium. They draw from the raw roots of the past 300 years and extruding them into the present. I am sorry for the drama. However, notice how many of the players are sitting down? That's because they need their feet for percussion and it give it a certain kind of groove. Quebecois have that in common however, it's blended with Irish and Scottish music(so it's not crrrrap!). Now I can hear this influence in zydeco music. The Scottish and Irish fiddlers usually stand and they use a more percussive technique. The Scots dance with their arms over their heads but the Irish dance with their arms below shoulder height. The female singer/dancer is moving more like and Irish dancer, albeit her first language is in all likelihood, French. Anyway, I really enjoyed the concert. ruclips.net/video/lHoBppP62VQ/видео.html
Amazing. Thanks for this. For real.
We were from (1775-2005) marked for death for treason. Queen Elizabeth 2 finally pardoned us July 27 (2003-2005)
You mean Queen Elizabeth provided an apology not a pardon.
If you are truly interested in the Acadians, read the book A Great And Noble Scheme by Farranger. This book is the best reference about the expulsion.
Thanks for the tip.
Faragher writes an interesting book and also brings up a few matters that other historians have either avoided or neglected to write about. One of these areas was the guerilla war the Acadians carried on from 1755 against the British. Perhaps avoided by other writers as it was an image of a soldier Acadian that just didn't fit well with the old image of the Longfellowish Acadian.
Faragher did not do a lot of primary document research for the book but relied almost exclusively on other people's work, not bothering to review it in light of newer research and changing perspectives about the colonial Acadians. We also juxtaposes historical situations in a manner that is out of place and time, perhaps in an effort to create an increased negative view of the British. From a contextual point of view he does not attempt to show what the French were doing; in other words there is no balancing of what was taking place by the major players and why. In my opinion he did this to pander to the masses (American, Cajun American, and a few Acadians) in an effort to produce emotions that helped sell the book. This appears to be very unacademic.