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ca_086
Who We Are › Founding Peoples
Who were the Acadians?
- Descendants of French colonists who began settling in the Maritime provinces in 1604
- Loyalists who settled in New Brunswick after the American Revolution
- Indigenous people of Nova Scotia
- French settlers from Quebec who moved to the Maritimes in the 1700s
Why this is the correct answer
The Acadians were descendants of French colonists who began settling in what are now the Maritime provinces — principally Nova Scotia — from 1604 onward. They developed a distinct culture and identity separate from France and Quebec. In 1755, the British forcibly deported thousands of Acadians in an event known as the Great Upheaval.