Today we drove along the St. Lawrence that was settled by the from France originating Acadians. Lovely little villages, lighthouses and beautiful little churches in everyone of them. We stopped at the small fishing village of Caraquet, where we strolled between the fishing boats that were moored in the harbour. The Acadians are very proud of their heritage and prominently display their flag, the same as the french Blue-Blanc-Rouge but with a yellow star on the blue. Through talking with some locals, we found out that a few hundred years ago, all the Acadians that did not swear allegiance to the British crown, were banned from the area. Most of them settled in other Maritime provinces.
Artemis gave me the link to your blog and I've enjoyed viewing the photos and reading about your cross Canada adventure.
ReplyDeleteThe story of the Acadians is a very sad and complicated one. During the 18th century, all the wars that were taking place in North America were tied to those in Europe, in this particular case, the war between England and France, rivals for centuries. When England won what is now Nova Scotia, then part of Acadia, the French inhabitants were forced to take an oath to the British Crown or face expulsion. If they took the oath, this might force them to take up arms against their brothers and sisters in New France, so they refused en mass. Some even escaped to other French territories. The same situation occurred to other parts of Acadia, now New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, where the same oath or expulsion took place.
With the expulsion, the families were separated, and sent by ship to the 13 colonies (later the United States), to France and the Britain. Many died on the ships of hunger and sickness. Some ships never made it to their destination and sunk on the way with hundreds lost per sinking.
Acadians were not allowed to return to their old homeland until after confederation (about 1870 was one date I found). I have followed this since my high school days in the early 1970s and I am still saddened that we as humanity have not yet learned to get along together in this world (what happened in Bosnia and other places around the globe is but an example).
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your tour across the country. I think everyone should make to journey to see what this land has to offer. Looking at nature is in itself a reward!
- Volker