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Acadiens (French) | |
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 Population distribution of Acadian Canadians by census division, 2021 census | |
| Total population | |
| ~500,000 (cultural) / ~3,000,000 (ethnic) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| United States ~1,100,000 / Canada ~1,900,000[1] / France ~20,000 | |
| New Brunswick, Canada | 225,560 (cultural) / ~400,000 (ethnic) |
| Louisiana, United States | ~60,000 (cultural) / >500,000 (ethnic) |
| Nova Scotia, Canada | 49,205 (cultural) / ~200,000 (ethnic) |
| Quebec, Canada | 32,950 (cultural) / >1,000,000 (ethnic) |
| Maine, United States | ~30,000 (cultural) / >300,000 (ethnic) |
| New England, United States | >100,000 (ethnic) |
| Ontario, Canada | <50,000 (ethnic) |
| Alberta, Canada | >10,000 (ethnic) |
| Prince Edward Island, Canada | <10,000 (ethnic) |
| British Columbia, Canada | <10,000 (ethnic) |
| Brittany, France | ~3,000 (ethnic) |
| Saint Pierre and Miquelon, France | ~3,000 (ethnic) |
| Manitoba, Canada | ~1,500 (ethnic) |
| Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada | ~1,000 (ethnic) |
| Languages | |
| Acadian French (a variety of French with over 300,000 speakers in Canada),[2] Cajun French, English, Chiac, Quebec French or Joual. Franglais | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Roman Catholicism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| French (Saint Pierre and Miquelon Islanders, Poitevin-Saintongeais and Occitans), Cajuns, French-Canadians, Mi'kmaq, Métis, Huguenots | |
| Part of a series of articles on the |
| French people |
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The Acadians (French: Acadiens; European French: [akadjɛ̃], Acadian French: [akad͡zjɛ̃]) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern American region of Acadia, where descendants of Acadians who escaped the Expulsion of the Acadians (a.k.a. The Great Upheaval / Le Grand Dérangement) re-settled, or in Louisiana, where thousands of Acadians moved in the late 1700s. Descendants of the Louisiana Acadians are most commonly known as Cajuns, the anglicized term of "Acadian".[3]
Acadia was one of the five regions of New France, located in what is now Eastern Canada's Maritime provinces, as well as parts of Quebec and present-day Maine to the Kennebec River. It was ethnically, geographically and administratively different from the other French colonies such as the French colony of Canada. As a result, the Acadians developed a distinct history and culture.[4] The settlers whose descendants became Acadians primarily came from the west-central region of France, such as the rural areas of Poitou-Charentes.[5] During the French and Indian War (known in Canada as The Seven Years' War),[6] British colonial officers suspected that Acadians were aligned with France, after finding some Acadians fighting alongside French troops at Fort Beauséjour. Though most Acadians remained neutral during the war, the British, together with New England legislators and militia, carried out the Great Expulsion (Le Grand Dérangement) of the Acadians between 1755 and 1764. They forcefully deported approximately 11,500 Acadians from the maritime region. Approximately one-third perished from disease and drowning.[7] In retrospect, the result has been described as an ethnic cleansing of the Acadians from Maritime Canada.[8][9]
Acadians speak a variety of French called Acadian French, which has a few regional accents (for example, Chiac in the southeast of New Brunswick, or Brayon in the northwest of New Brunswick). Most can also speak English. The Louisiana Cajun descendants tend to speak English, including Cajun English, or Louisiana French, a relative of Acadian French from Canada, though most have been primarily anglophone since the mid-20th century.[10] 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. In some cases, Acadians intermarried with Indigenous peoples, in particular, the Mi'kmaq.[11][12]
Estimates of contemporary Acadian populations vary widely. The Canadian census of 2006 reported only 96,145 Acadians in Canada, based on self-declared ethnic identity.[13] However, the Canadian Encyclopedia estimates that there are at least 500,000 people of Acadian ancestry in Canada, which would include many who declared their ethnic identity for the census as French or as Canadian.[14]
- ^ "Acadian Culture". The Canadian Encyclopedia. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
- ^ "File not found - Fichier non trouvé". statcan.ca. Archived from the original on 25 July 2009. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
- ^ David C. Edmonds (1979). Yankee Autumn in Acadiana: A Narrative of the GREAT TEXAS OVERLAND EXPEDITION through Southwestern Louisiana October-December 1863. Lafayette, Louisiana: The Acadiana Press. pp. 73, 114, 233.
- ^ Landry, Nicolas; Lang, Nicole (2001). Histoire de l'Acadie. Les éditions du Septentrion. ISBN 978-2-89448-177-6.
- ^ Griffiths, N.E.S. (2005). From Migrant to Acadian: A North American Border People, 1604–1755. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-7735-2699-0.
- ^ "Seven Years' War | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
- ^ Lockerby, Earle (Spring 1998). "The Deportation of the Acadians from Ile St.-Jean, 1758". Acadiensis. XXVII (2): 45–94. JSTOR 30303223.
- ^ John Faragher. Great and Noble Scheme, 2005.
- ^ Cross, Dominick. "Acadian story brutal before it got better". The Advertiser. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
- ^ Conwell, Marilyn (1963). Louisiana French Grammar. The Hague: Mouton & Co. pp. 18–19.
- ^ Peace, Thomas (28 September 2020). "A Reluctant Engagement: Alliances and Social Networks in Early-18th-Century Kespukwitk and Port Royal". Acadiensis. 49 (1): 5–38. doi:10.1353/aca.2020.0000. S2CID 220495634.
- ^ Boudreau, Christian. "An Ethnographic Report on the Acadian-Métis ( Sang-Mêlés) People of Southwest Nova Scotia".
- ^ "Canadian census, ethnic data". Retrieved 18 March 2013.
A note on interpretation: With regard to census data, rather than going by ethnic identification, some would define an Acadian as a French-speaking person living in the Maritime provinces of Canada. According to the same 2006 census, the population was 25,400 in New Brunswick; 34,025 in Nova Scotia; 32,950 in Quebec; and 5,665 in Prince Edward Island
- ^ "Acadian Culture". The Canadian Encyclopedia. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2020.