Our French Heritage: Acadie
No. 20, February 23, 1999 of the Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser's HISTORY OF ACADIANA, a publication dedicated to preserving Acadiana's heritage and culture

Fishermen, then fur traders, then farmers settled the original Acadiana homeland. Their families stayed for 150 years before they were sent into exile by the British.

1. Fishermen were first to visit Acadian homeland, Frenchmen visited rich Grand Banks as early as 1497
2. European religious differences spread to Acadie
3. Trouble with the British began almost immediately
4. Acadie survives as a fur trading outpost despite neglect, Virginians continue regular raids
5. British use French wars to stake claim to Canada
6. Father and son on different side of conflict, for a while
7. Money settles diplomatic dispute over Acadie's ownership
8. Historians place original 'Arcadia' in different areas
9. Isaac de Razilly becomes governor of Acadie, He brought 300 people, livestock, seed and tools
10. D'Aulnay and La Tour battle for control of Acadie, One wanted agriculture, the other wanted fur
11. Ministers in France take a dim view of La Tour attack
12. First families settled in pastoral Annapolis Valley
13. Creditors muddle affairs after d'Aulnay's death, Charles de La Tour returns form exile in Quebec to reclaim his fur trading lands
14. Anglos begin to take notice as Acadia changes hands
15. Treaty of Breda gave no definition of 'Acadie'
16. Place names have changed form old Acadian times
17. The First Families of Acadie -- Census of 1671
18. Ship Saint-Jehan brought first families to Port Royal
19. Codfish on the beaches bring trade tensions
20. Lightly defended settlements fall again to the British
21. War again sends British troops into Acadian lands
22. Oath of allegiance become sticking point with Acadians, They didn't want to fight against the French or English
23. Governor Phillips rarely appeared in Nova Scotia
24. Population growth becomes a worry to the British
25. Fall of fortress at Louisbourg signals beginning of the end
26. British demand new oath, Acadians begin to flee, New governor builds English strongholds to encircle settlements in ancestral lands
27. The tide begins to turn toward Acadian expulsion
28. 'A scene of confusion, despair, and desolation', Acadians at Grand Pré told they will be sent away from their ancestral lands
29. Acadian lands offered to New England residents
30. Longfellow kept alive the story of the Acadian exile
31. Important Dates in the Settlement and Dispersion of the Acadians
32. Further Reading on the Settlement of Acadie