An Unsettled Conquest: The British Campaign Against the Peoples of Acadia (Early American Studies)

ultimately, The Story Of Nova Scotia's Violent Integration Into The British System Offers A Case Study In The Limits Of Voluntarism In The Ramshackle Empire That Preceded The Seven Years' War.— william And Mary Quarterly

The former French colony of Acadia—permanently renamed Nova Scotia by the British when they began an ambitious occupation of the territory in 1710—witnessed one of the bitterest struggles in the British empire. Whereas in its other North American colonies Britain assumed it could garner the sympathies of fellow Europeans against the native peoples, in Nova Scotia nothing was further from the truth. The Mi'kmaq, the native local population, and the Acadians, descendants of the original French settlers, had coexisted for more than a hundred years prior to the British conquest, and their friendships, family ties, common Catholic religion, and commercial relationships proved resistant to British-enforced change. Unable to seize satisfactory political control over the region, despite numerous efforts at separating the Acadians and Mi'kmaq, the authorities took drastic steps in the 1750s, forcibly deporting the Acadians to other British colonies and systematically decimating the remaining native population.

The story of the removal of the Acadians, some of whose descendants are the Cajuns of Louisiana, and the subsequent oppression of the Mi'kmaq has never been completely told. In this first comprehensive history of the events leading up to the ultimate break-up of Nova Scotian society, Geoffrey Plank skillfully unravels the complex relationships of all of the groups involved, establishing the strong bonds between the Mi'kmaq and Acadians as well as the frustration of the British administrators that led to the Acadian removal, culminating in one of the most infamous events in North American history.

"The story of the removal of the Acadians - who settled throughout the eastern United States and whose most famous descendants are the Cajuns of Louisiana - and the subsequent oppression of the Mi'kmaq has never been completely told. In this first comprehensive, in-depth history of the events leading up to the ultimate break-up of Nova Scotian society, Geoffrey Plank unravels the complex relationships of all the groups involved, establishing the strong bonds between the Mi'kmaq and Acadians as well as the frustration of the British administrators. An Unsettled Conquest shows how the unique circumstances of Nova Scotia provided the British with the incentive - and, in the 1750s, the opportunity - to implement proposals that had been debated and rejected in other parts of the empire, leading to one of the most infamous events in North American history."--BOOK JACKET. The story of the removal of the Acadians from Nova Scotia, some of whose descendants are the Cajuns of Louisiana, is the subject of this in-depth history of the events leading up to the ultimate break-up of Nova Scotian society in the 1750s. After the Acadian deportation, the British systematically decimated the remaining native population--one of the most infamous events in North American history. 17 illustrations. IN the spring of 1690, when Acadia was still part of the French Empire and Annapolis Royal was still known by its original name, "Port Royal," a volunteer army from Massachusetts attacked. ANYONE approaching Annapolis Royal by water in 1725 would have first noticed the fort.