The Acadians are people descended from French settlers in New France in the seventeenth and eighteen centuries. At that time, New France was located in what today are parts of Canada’s maritime provinces, parts of Quebec, and parts of Maine. In the late 1700s, a large number of them were displaced and moved to Louisiana, where they are often referred to as Cajuns; the anglicised term for ‘Acadian’. In parts of Canada, having intermarried with native populations, they also have Indigenous heritage, notably Mi’kmaq.
Today most Acadians speak English but many also speak local dialects of Acadian French. In parts of Canada, such as New Brunswick, Acadians have some autonomy from the federal government, particularly in terms of overseeing their own education system, which is often provided through French.
The complex history and heritage of the Acadian peoples has meant they’ve often been viewed with suspicion during periods of conflict, with the authorities doubting their loyalty to whatever government they happened to be living under at the time. Today, modern Acadians work to preserve their language, culture, and identity.
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