On 8/6/07, Adam Maas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snip> > The 'Acadian' flag is a modern contrivance.
It was designed in 1888. It's been accepted within the Acadian community for some time. > Frank could possibly > elucidate better, as IIRC he is Acadian (which btw, is the word that > Cajun is derived from), but Cape Breton is to a great extent the heart > of Acadian identity today. There are parts of Cape Breton that have a large number of Acadians, as do parts of New Brunswick and the Western Shore of Nova Scotia (the so-called Evangeline Trail). >The Acadians were the first settlers on > mainland Canada, and were at one point thrown out of the Maritimes by > the British due to tensions/hostilities with France (most ended up in > Louisiana) before being allowed to return some time later. The Acadians were expelled for very complex reasons. The French and English were fighting in Europe, and the English were wary that due to their French roots, the Acadians would side with the French. They demanded that the Acadians sign an oath of allegiance, but they'd only sign an non-aggression pact. The governor or Nova Scotia (an English colony) kind of fudged it and told the Crown that the Acadians signed "the oath". The Crown was less than pleased to find out later what had actually happened. The Governor of Massechusetts (still a colony at this point), Shirley, was running out of farmland, and saw the "threat" of the Acadians as a reason to boot them out, so he could send some Massechusetts farmers there. It was in fact the sabre-rattling of Shirley that tipped the balance. Most people don't know it, but many of the militia who actually expelled the Acadians were from Mass., and most of the farmers that moved in to take over Acadian lands were from there as well. In 1755, under pressure from the Crown and Shirley, Governor Lawrence signed the expulsion order. It was executed in a most heartless way: the men of the villages were told to go to the local church for a town meeting. They were then herded onto "slave ships", and most never saw their families again. The next day the mothers and children were rounded up, and the villages burned to the ground (as a disincentive to returning). Some 25% to 50% of those expelled died of disease on the ships - they were piled in much like African slaves were in slave ships. These ships basically went from port to port along the coast, where the Acadians were refused entry. Those that did "escape" either became indentured servants or hid out in the woods; some eventually made their way back to what's now Canada. They were never actually "allowed" back; borders being porous as they were at the time, they simply "came" back. Many of them also came part way back, hence the large number of French names in bordering states to New Brunswick, such as Maine (although many French names were originally Quebecois who went down there looking for work as lumberjacks). Adam's right: many did end up in Louisiana (a Spanish colony at the time), and stayed, evolving into today's Cajuns. They are very > distinctly different from les Habitants of Quebec<snip> I agree. cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
