Isle Saint-Jean was a French colony in North America that existed from 1713 to 1763 on what is today Prince Edward Island as part of the wider colony of Acadia.
Isle Saint-Jean was a French colony in North America that existed from 1713 to 1763 on what is today Prince Edward Island as part of the wider colony of Acadia.
After 1713, France engaged in a reaffirmation of its territory in Maritime North America. Besides the construction of Acadian settlement of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, France was resolved to organize a colony on Isle Saint-Jean.
The beginning of the colony was slow, with only 297 inhabitants by 1728. During the years 1740–1750, hundreds of Acadians fled Nova Scotia, which had been conquered by the British in 1713, to exile themselves on this island. The colony population increased to 4,000 inhabitants by 1755.
After Louisbourg had fallen to the British on July 26, 1758, during the French and Indian War, the order of deportation was given two weeks later to the Acadians of Isle Saint-Jean, and the Ile Saint-Jean Campaign began. The British authorities had decided to forgo the initiative to assimilate them in the British colonies, and wanted them returned to France. Around 4,600 Acadiens lived on Isle Saint-Jean.
In August 1758, 3,100 inhabitants were captured and deported to France. Others succeeded in hiding or fleeing. Of the twelve ships used to transport the Acadians, three sank; Duke William (364 died), Violet (280 died) and Ruby (213 died). In all, 1,649 Acadians, around 53% of the total number deported, died from drowning or diseases. [1]
In 1763, France ceded the Isle Saint-Jean officially to Great Britain, with the Treaty of Paris.
The Acadians are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the Northern American region of Acadia, as it is the region where the descendants of a few Acadians who escaped the Expulsion of the Acadians re-settled. Most Acadians in Canada continue to live in majority French-speaking communities, notably those in New Brunswick where Acadians and Francophones are granted autonomy in areas such as education and health.
Acadia was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River.
The Expulsion of the Acadians was the forced removal between 1755 and 1764 by Britain of inhabitants of the North American region historically known as Acadia. It included the modern Canadian Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, along with the U.S. state of Maine. The Expulsion occurred during the French and Indian War, the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War.
St. Peter's is a small incorporated village located on Cape Breton Island in Richmond County, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Île-Royale was a French colony in North America that existed from 1713 to 1763 as part of the wider colony of Acadia.
Charles Deschamps de Boishébert was a member of the Compagnies Franches de la Marine and was a significant leader of the Acadian militia's resistance to the Expulsion of the Acadians. He settled and tried to protect Acadians refugees along the rivers of New Brunswick. At Beaubears National Park on Beaubears Island, New Brunswick he settled refugee Acadians during the Expulsion of the Acadians.
The Acadians are the descendants of 17th and 18th century French settlers in parts of Acadia in the northeastern region of North America comprising what is now the Canadian Maritime Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, the Gaspé peninsula in eastern Québec, and the Kennebec River in southern Maine.
The history of Prince Edward Island covers several historical periods, from the pre-Columbian era to the present day. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the island formed a part of Mi'kma'ki, the lands of the Mi'kmaq people. The island was first explored by Europeans in the 16th century. The French later laid claim over the entire Maritimes region, including Prince Edward Island in 1604. However, the French did not attempt to settle the island until 1720, with the establishment of the colony of Île Saint-Jean. After peninsular Acadia was captured by the British in 1710, an influx of Acadian migrants moved to areas still under French control, including Île Saint-Jean.
The siege of Louisbourg was a pivotal operation of the Seven Years' War in 1758 that ended the French colonial era in Atlantic Canada and led to the subsequent British campaign to capture Quebec in 1759 and the remainder of French North America the following year.
Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre was a Catholic priest and missionary for the Paris Foreign Missions Society. Le Loutre became the leader of the French forces and the Acadian and Mi'kmaq militias during King George's War and Father Le Loutre's War in the eighteenth-century struggle for power between the French, Acadians, and Miꞌkmaq against the British over Acadia.
Skmaqn–Port-la-Joye–Fort Amherst is a National Historic Site located in Rocky Point, Prince Edward Island.
Noël Doiron was a leader of the Acadians, renowned for his leadership during the Deportation of the Acadians. Doiron was deported on a vessel named the Duke William (1758). The Duke William sank, killing many passengers, in one of the worst marine disasters in Canadian history. The captain of the Duke William, William Nichols, described Noel Doiron as the "father" to all the Acadians on Ile St. Jean and the "head prisoner" on board the ship.
The Petitcodiac River campaign was a series of British military operations from June to November 1758, during the French and Indian War, to deport the Acadians that either lived along the Petitcodiac River or had taken refuge there from earlier deportation operations, such as the Ile Saint-Jean campaign. Under the command of George Scott, William Stark's company of Rogers Rangers, Benoni Danks and Gorham's Rangers carried out the operation.
The Bay of Fundy campaign occurred during the French and Indian War when the British ordered the Expulsion of the Acadians from Acadia after the Battle of Fort Beauséjour (1755). The campaign started at Chignecto and then quickly moved to Grand-Pré, Rivière-aux-Canards, Pisiguit, Cobequid, and finally Annapolis Royal. Approximately 7,000 Acadians were deported to the New England colonies.
The Gulf of St. Lawrence campaign occurred during the French and Indian War when British forces raided villages along present-day New Brunswick and the Gaspé Peninsula coast of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Sir Charles Hardy and Brigadier-General James Wolfe were in command of the naval and military forces respectively. After the siege of Louisbourg, Wolfe and Hardy led a force of 1,500 troops in nine vessels to the Gaspé Bay arriving there on September 5. From there they dispatched troops to Miramichi Bay, Grande-Rivière, Quebec and Pabos, and Mont-Louis, Quebec. Over the following weeks, Sir Charles Hardy took 4 sloops or schooners, destroyed about 200 fishing vessels and took about two hundred prisoners.
The Acadian Exodus happened during Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755) and involved almost half of the total Acadian population of Nova Scotia deciding to relocate to French controlled territories. The three primary destinations were: the west side of the Mesagoueche River in the Chignecto region, Isle Saint-Jean and Île-Royale. The leader of the Exodus was Father Jean-Louis Le Loutre, whom the British gave the code name "Moses". Le Loutre acted in conjunction with Governor of New France, Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière, who encouraged the Acadian migration. A prominent Acadian who transported Acadians to Ile St. Jean and Ile Royal was Joseph-Nicolas Gautier. The overall upheaval of the early 1750s in Nova Scotia was unprecedented. Present-day Atlantic Canada witnessed more population movements, more fortification construction, and more troop allocations than ever before in the region. The greatest immigration of the Acadians between 1749 and 1755 took place in 1750. Primarily due to natural disasters and British raids, the Exodus proved to be unsustainable when Acadians tried to develop communities in the French territories.
Nova Scotia is a Canadian province located in Canada's Maritimes. The region was initially occupied by Mi'kmaq. The colonial history of Nova Scotia includes the present-day Maritime Provinces and the northern part of Maine, all of which were at one time part of Nova Scotia. In 1763, Cape Breton Island and St. John's Island became part of Nova Scotia. In 1769, St. John's Island became a separate colony. Nova Scotia included present-day New Brunswick until that province was established in 1784. During the first 150 years of European settlement, the colony was primarily made up of Catholic Acadians, Maliseet, and Mi'kmaq. During the last 75 years of this time period, there were six colonial wars that took place in Nova Scotia. After agreeing to several peace treaties, the long period of warfare ended with the Halifax Treaties (1761) and two years later, when the British defeated the French in North America (1763). During those wars, the Acadians, Mi'kmaq and Maliseet from the region fought to protect the border of Acadia from New England. They fought the war on two fronts: the southern border of Acadia, which New France defined as the Kennebec River in southern Maine, and in Nova Scotia, which involved preventing New Englanders from taking the capital of Acadia, Port Royal and establishing themselves at Canso.
The military history of the Acadians consisted primarily of militias made up of Acadian settlers who participated in wars against the English in coordination with the Wabanaki Confederacy and French royal forces. A number of Acadians provided military intelligence, sanctuary, and logistical support to the various resistance movements against British rule in Acadia, while other Acadians remained neutral in the contest between the Franco–Wabanaki Confederacy forces and the British. The Acadian militias managed to maintain an effective resistance movement for more than 75 years and through six wars before their eventual demise. According to Acadian historian Maurice Basque, the story of Evangeline continues to influence historic accounts of the expulsion, emphasising Acadians who remained neutral and de-emphasising those who joined resistance movements. While Acadian militias were briefly active during the American Revolutionary War, the militias were dormant throughout the nineteenth century. After confederation, Acadians eventually joined the Canadian War efforts in World War I and World War II. The most well-known colonial leaders of these militias were Joseph Broussard and Joseph-Nicolas Gautier.
Port-LaJoye was founded in 1720 on Île Saint-Jean, now Prince Edward Island. Settlement in the area began with the arrival of an expedition sent by the Comte de Saint-Pierre, who settled West of the Harbour entrance to the site named Port-LaJoye. Port-LaJoye became the administrative centre, although other sites had greater commercial potential. The British confirm this decision when they became masters of the region after the capitulation of Louisbourg in 1758.
The Ile Saint-Jean campaign was a series of military operations in fall 1758, during the Seven Years' War, to deport the Acadians who either lived on Ile Saint-Jean or had taken refuge there from earlier deportation operations.