when the acadien territories were first captured by the english the followong treaty in 1713 gave france what is now new brunswick, pei and cape breton--and some bases in newfoundland. the english only got mainland nova scotia. there was quite a bit of conflict over the border with new brunswick and even the mainland port of canso nova scotia. the french buily fort beausejour near the present new brunswick/nova scotia border and they had many raids before the war broke out again in 1758. to secure the mainland of nova scotia the english deported the main acadien colony from the annapolis valley and deigby basin and several times they also sailed to the pei cost and new brunswick coast, however the the moudit anglais were pretty thin on the ground and they got almost none from pei and new brunswick and a little over half of the mainland nova scotia adadiens. in all about eight thousand were deported from nova scotia and maybe two thousand from the other areas. about half of these settled aand stayed in louisania, most of the rest came back after the war, but some ended up as far a the falkland islands, or st maol fronce--from which they settled the falklands--giving them the old name the malvinas .

the resettled communities went to claire county nova scotia and to the two cape breton setlements at ile madame and cheticamp. many who were never deported stayed in new brunswick with a lot of immigration from quebec over the centuries.

the acadien traditional music tends to preserve sme very old french medieval music but does have irish fiddle music influence as well. the old acadien dance tunes are very different from the irish tunes, more modal and on a limited scale--much like old breton tunes.

there are many old ballads but in acadia they tended to accompany the singing . i think the unaccompamiment came with the poverty of deportation more than being traditional.

this deportation, which acadiens call the great disaster, shapes much of the present mentality of the acadiens.most still view government as at best a nuisance and at worst the enemy.they fiercely protect their language and their french institutions. however , as an part acadien who barely speaks french, i can say they are also very friendly. even if you can't speck a word of french you can have agreat time at fette acadien--the major summer festival. lameque also has a summer baroque festival that is fabulous. low key. two concerts a day with lots of time to lie on the lovely beaches of lameque and miscu islands.

there is a very lively local music and lots of great atlantic lobster at prices you don't see anywhere else. they actually have lobster at the subway shop in lameque!!

i highly recomend it as a vacation. local bed and breakfast prices are usually lower than more populated areas and the summer weathwer is lovely. now the winter is another story, taht wind whistling off the gulf of st lawrence will chill you to the bone