The Arcadians
The land that was Acadia is located in the Canadian Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. This is where the French began settling in New France, living amongst the Mi'kmaq. Their history and ethnicity are closely related. Not all Acadians were strictly of French origin. Some came from the Basque region between France and Spain while a few others were from England.
The first permanent settlement in New France was Port Royal, and it is here that the Acadians became friendly with the Mi'kmaq, learning from them how to survive in the harsh winters of their new land. When Britain gained permanent control of the area, the Acadians were forced to make a decision of loyalty. Those who refused to become loyal to Britain were expelled from their land in a movement that was later referred to as the Great Expulsion, or Great Upheaval. Some landed in other parts of Canada while a large contingency ended up in Louisiana to become known as Cajuns. Over the years, many of the scattered Acadians returned to their homeland.
Longfellow
One of the most famous heroines of the Grand Expulsion was memorialized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his tragic epic poem Evangeline. The young girl Evangeline Bellefontaine is engaged to Gabriel Lajeunesse, but on their wedding day they are separated in the Great Expulsion. Evangeline eventually ends up in Louisiana only to find out that Gabriel has been there and left. She goes on a pilgrimage to find him, and is ultimately successful, but unfortunately, Gabriel is ill and on his deathbed. Evangeline soon follows him in death. The story is not a true one, nor is it completely accurate historically, but the Acadians have taken the accounting to their hearts in memory of the trials and tribulations suffered by their ancestors during the diaspora.
Acadians are active in remembrances of their heritage and have a national feast day on August 15 that was established in convention in Memramcook ("Berceau de l'Acadie" or "cradle of Acadia") in 1881. The Acadian World Congress, or Le Congrès Mondial Acadien, is a celebration of Acadian culture that comes around once every five years. Its first meeting was in 1994 in Moncton, New Brunswick. The second was held in Louisiana in 1999, and the third in Nova Scotia in 2004.
Some Acadians speak Chiac rather than the conventional Acadian French. This is a dialect that incorporates expressions and words of English origin into the French language and is spoken as the primary language of southeast New Brunswick. While this form of Franglais is criticized by speakers of both English and French, it is proliferating due to the exposure to both languages and its use in daily speech and the media.