20 THEISLAND ACADIANS 
     
    
   
   
    
     ILE SAINT JEAN: THE BEGINNINGS OF A COLONY 
     
    
   
   
    
     \France laid claim to fle Saint Jean long before she sent settlers 
     
     there in 1720. As early as 1534, the French explorer Jacques Cartier had 
     
     visited the Island briefly and had taken possession of it in the name of 
     
     the King of France.,While the first description of the Island can be 
     
     found in his reports, it had long been frequented by the Micmac, 
     
     especially in the summertime. They may even have established perma- 
     
     nent settlements. The Micmac called the island Abegweit which means 
     
     “cradled on the waves.” 
     
    

    
     We do not know who named the island after Saint John nor when. 
     
     We do know that the name was used by the Basques and Bretons who 
     
     fished off the Island long before its first appearance on the map of New 
     
     France drawn up by Samuel de Champlain in 16127. 
     
    

    
     The name [le Saint Jean appears in the text of royal concessions 
     
     granted during the seventeenth century to certain shipowners and 
     
     merchants who financed the cod fishery. Among the known holders of 
     
     royal privileges we note the names of Nicolas Denys (1653), Francois 
     
     Doublet (1663) and Gabriel Gautier (1686). However, it would seem 
     
     that none of them ever founded a permanent settlement on the island. 
     
    

    
     After losing Acadia and Newfoundland in 1713, France wanted to 
     
     colonize fle Saint Jean and fle Royale (Cape Breton). She recognized the 
     
     need to strengthen her position along the Atlantic coast both to 
     
     protect her colony in New France, which at the time included twenty 
     
     thousand inhabitants, and to support the important codfish industry. 
     
     In order to begin the colonization of fle Royale, France encouraged 
     
     Acadians to move off the peninsula which now belonged to the British. 
     
     French authorities wanted to profit from the Acadians’ experience in 
     
     order to quickly establish and develop a new colony. Recognizing the 
     
     advantage which the Acadians represented, the Navy Board stated 
     
     in 1717: 
     
    
   
   
    
     These French Acadians are by nature industrious, they are born blacksmiths, 
     
     joiners, coopers, carpenters, builders and they make the cloth and homespun 
     
     for their own clothes. That is why in addition to clearing the land on fle Royale 
     
     they would provide the colony with a considerable number of good workmen 
     
     who would contribute much more to its settlement than people sent from 
     
     France who would not be used to either the climate or the customs of the 
     
     country. (TR)*