Underthe FrenchRegime 15

THE COLONIZATION OF ACADIA /

The shaping of a distinct Acadian people began more than a century before the first French colonists settled on fle Saint Jean, now called Prince Edward Island. The history of the Acadians on the Island cannot be examined without first mentioning those who colonized the mainland.

The boundaries of Acadia were never clearly defined. The two colonizing nations, France and England, could not come to an agree- ment as to the precise border of the disputed territory. For over a century France considered that Acadia included all of the territory which, in today’s terms, comprises the Maritime Provinces, the south shore of the Gaspé Peninsula, the north shore of Maine and the Magdalen Islands. After the negotiations which led to the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, in which France was forced to hand over Acadia to England, France maintained that Acadia included only the territory covered by what is now mainland Nova Scotia'.

The first French settlement in America was founded on the Island of St. Croix in 1604. Approximately eighty men took part in the expedition led by Sieurs Pierre Du Gua de Monts, Samuel de Cham- plain and Jean de Poutrincourt. The first winter proved to be cata- strophic for the tiny colony since almost half of the men perished from the cold and from scurvy. In the spring of 1605 the survivors settled in Port Royal, a more propitious site located on the mainland and one which was to become the capital of Acadia.

Fishermen from all the great maritime countries in Europe had been coming to the waters off this part of North America long before the first settlers arrived. They came every year to fish cod which proved to be extremely lucrative in their countries. These Europeans had dealings with the native people with whom they bartered for furs. Names on present-day maps attest to the presence of Basques, Portuguese and Spaniards who are known to have been in the Gulf of St. Lawrence as early as the mid- 1400s. It should also be remembered that Jacques Cartier made his first great voyage in 1534.

Given the commercial interests of France, her early settlements were primarily devoted to the fur trade and the fishery. Nevertheless, they developed slowly due to financial difficulties and because the territory was also coveted by England. As a result, these trading stations