Acadians, Expulsion of the

The Expulsion of the Acadians (also known as the Great Upheaval, the Great Expulsion, The Deportation, the Acadian Expulsion, Le Grand Dérangement) is the forced removal by the British of the Acadian people from present day Canadian Maritime provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island (an area also known as Acadie).

The Expulsion (1755–1763) occurs during the French and Indian War.

The Expulsion starts by the British deporting Acadians to the Thirteen Colonies and then, after 1758, the British send them to France.

Approximately 11,500 Acadians are deported.

The British Conquest of Acadia had occured in 1710.

The Treaty of Utrecht was signed in 1713, and allowed the Acadians to keep their lands.

Over the ensuing forty-five years, the Acadians had refused to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain.

During this period, some Acadians had participated in various militia operations against the British and maintained vital supply lines to the French fortress of Louisbourg and Fort Beausejour.

The Acadian Expulsion is part of the military campaign that the New Englanders use to defeat New France.

The British seek to eliminate any future military threat posed by the Acadians and to permanently cut the supply lines they provide to Louisbourg by deporting all Acadians from the area.

Without making distinctions between the Acadians who had been peaceful and those who rebelled against the occupation, the British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council orders them all expelled.

[5] In the first wave of the expulsion, Acadians are deported to other British colonies.

During the second wave, they are deported to England and France (whence some Acadians migrate to Louisiana).

Many Acadians flee initially to Francophone colonies such as Canada, the unsettled Northern part of Acadia, Isle Saint-Jean and Isle Royale.

During the second wave of the expulsion, many of these Acadians are either imprisoned or deported.

The deportation leads to the deaths of thousands of Acadians primarily by disease and drowning when ships are lost.

The American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow memorializes the historic event in his poem about the plight of the fictional character Evangeline; it is widely popular and makes the expulsion well known.

Acadians who live during the deportation include Noel Doiron and Joseph Broussard ("Beausoleil"), who become icons.

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