Annapolis Royal, Annapolis, Nova Scotia, Canada (Port Royal, Acadia)
1755 - Grand Derangement

The "Grand Derangement" the forced deportation of Acadians is considered the beginning of the Cajun culture.

Of the 8 to 10 thousand Acadians deported, 3/ 4 arrived in the American colonies or were incarcerated in Halifax or London. The rest hid in the woods of New Brunswick, or walked to Quebec. Many regrouped in northern New Brunswick, others to Prince Edward Island and some to Nova Scotia. They all lost their lands and equipment, every thing was British dominated.

September to December: The British Governor of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence, serving from July 23, 1756 to September 24, 1762, expelled and deported eight to ten thousand settlers, spreading them down the Eastern Seaboard to Louisiana where they called themselves Cajuns. Some place the numbers closer to 10,000 people. Col. John Winslow (1703-1774), in charge of the first embarkation’s, called it a scene of confusion, despair and desolation. The women are in great distress. They carried their children in their arms, while others pulled carts with household effects. A group of seven hundred escaped by walking six hundred miles to New Brunswick. Charles Lawrence, Governor of Nova Scotia, considered these Acadians a nuisance and a threat, easily replaced by loyal New England settlers. The population of Halifax dropped from nearly 5,000 in 1750, to about 1,500 people this year. After the great land clearance, Britain lured several thousand New Englanders north with offers of free cleared land. Farmers and craftsmen took over the fields the Acadians once tilled; fishermen settled along the Nova Scotia Atlantic coast.

October: New England didn't know what to do with the influx of Acadians, 2,000 landed Boston, 200 New York, 300 Connecticut. Many were passed on or sent to England and France. Others were pressed into slavery (bondage).


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