Acadia

Acadia,
early Canadian province corresponding to present Nova Scotia, though of greater area, was claimed by the English but mainly settled by the French. When the Acadians refused to take an oath of allegiance to the British, during the last French and Indian War, several thousand of them were deported (1755) to British provinces farther south. Many families were accidentally separated, although most of the French sought refuge in Quebec and Louisiana. Longfellow's Evangeline is the most famous account of these events. In Louisiana the Acadian exiles and their descendants are called “Cajuns,” and have been described by Kate Chopin and other local-color writers.