II.

French Colony

In 1603 France granted the French colonial promoter Pierre du Gua, sieur de Monts a trade monopoly in Acadia. The following year, de Monts led the first group of French settlers to mainland Acadia. They first settled on an island at the mouth of the Saint Croix River, on the present-day border between New Brunswick and Maine. In 1605 the colonists moved to Port Royal (near present-day Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia). They abandoned Port Royal and returned to France in 1607 because of a trade dispute.

In 1610 French settlers returned to the area, only to be dispersed three years later when the English, who claimed rights to the territory as well, raided the region. In 1632 the French began to resettle the area, and Port Royal soon emerged again as the administrative and population center of Acadia. By 1650 the colony claimed some 300 inhabitants; many of today’s Acadians trace their ancestry to these early settlers. The French regime continued until 1710, interrupted by periods of loose English ascendancy at Port Royal from 1654 to 1667 and in 1690.

The Acadian economy was largely agricultural. The Acadians drained and diked the marshes along the Bay of Fundy and used these reclaimed lands for livestock and cultivation. Fisheries and the fur trade were also important activities. Acadians traded with New England, exchanging furs and agricultural products for textiles, agricultural tools, and foodstuffs, although the French imperial authorities discouraged the trade. The Acadians generally coexisted peacefully with the aboriginal inhabitants of the region. Acadian use of marshland did not trouble their Mi’kmaq neighbors, and the fur trade connected Acadians with the Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, and Passamaquoddy.