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124-664: Most settlement in the peninsula occurred as a result of the Expulsion of the Acadians during the Gulf of St. Lawrence Campaign (1758) , where British personnel forcibly removed them from their homes, mostly in southern New Brunswick and Nova Scotia . Fishing is the dominant industry on the peninsula, with a large agricultural sector as well. The disappearance of the Lady Audette and Lady Dorianne vessels in 1970/71 shocked

248-520: A tectonic plate and attached by accretion or suture to crust lying on another plate. Each of these has its own distinctive geologic history, which is different from that of the surrounding areas. The southern half of the island formed from the Avalon terrane , which was once a microcontinent in the Paleozoic era. It is made up of volcanic rock that formed near what is now called Africa. Most of

372-627: A raid on the blockhouse at LaHave, Nova Scotia. On September 11, a child was killed in a raid on the Northwest Range. Another raid happened on March 27, 1759, in which three members of the Oxner family were killed. The last raid happened on April 20, 1759, at Lunenburg, when the Miꞌkmaq killed four settlers who were members of the Trippeau and Crighton families. The Cape Sable campaign involved

496-559: A region they called La Grande Ligne ("The Great Road", also known as "the King's Highway"). About 1,500 Acadians accepted the offer, but the land turned out to be infertile, and by the end of 1775, most of them abandoned the province. The British did not directly deport Acadians to Louisiana. Following the expulsion by the British from their home, Acadians found their way to many friendly locales, including France. Acadians left France, under

620-415: A schooner at Fort Cumberland and killed its master and two sailors. In the winter of 1759, the Miꞌkmaq ambushed five British soldiers on patrol while they were crossing a bridge near Fort Cumberland. They were ritually scalped and their bodies mutilated as was common in frontier warfare . During the night of April 4, 1759, a force of Acadians and French in canoes captured the transport. At dawn they attacked

744-565: A total of 10,311 square kilometres (3,981 sq mi) in area. It lies in the southeastern extremity of the Gulf of St. Lawrence . Cape Breton is separated from the Nova Scotia peninsula by the very deep Strait of Canso . The island is joined to the mainland by the Canso Causeway . Cape Breton Island is composed of rocky shores, rolling farmland, glacial valleys, barren headlands, highlands, woods and plateaus. The island

868-493: A vital supply of coal for Halifax throughout the war. The British began developing the mining site at Sydney Mines in 1777. On 14 May 1778, Major Hierlihy arrived at Cape Breton. While there, Hierlihy reported that he "beat off many piratical attacks, killed some and took other prisoners." A few years into the war, there was also a naval engagement between French ships and a British convoy off Sydney, Nova Scotia, near Spanish River (1781), Cape Breton. French ships, fighting with

992-565: A warehouse near Fort Edward, killed thirteen British soldiers, took what provisions they could carry and set fire to the building. Days later, the same partisans raided Fort Cumberland. By November 1756, French Officer Lotbinière wrote about the difficulty of recapturing Fort Beausejour: "The English have deprived us of a great advantage by removing the French families that were settled there on their different plantations; thus we would have to make new settlements." The Acadians and Mi'kmaq fought in

1116-717: Is Carboniferous sedimentary with limestone , shale, and sandstone. Many fluvial remains from are glaciation found here. Mining has been ongoing for centuries, and more than 500 mine openings can be found, mainly in the east. Karst topography is found in Dingwall, South Harbour, Plaster Provincial Park, along the Margaree and Middle Rivers, and along the north shore of Lake Ainslie. The presence of gypsum and limestone increases soil pH and produces some rich wetlands which support giant spear , tufted fen , and other mosses , as well as vascular plants like sedges . This ecosystem

1240-460: Is characterized by a number of elevations of ancient crystalline and metamorphic rock rising up from the south to the north, and contrasted with eroded lowlands. The bedrock of blocks that developed in different places around the globe, at different times, and then were fused together via tectonics . Cape Breton is formed from three terranes . These are fragments of the Earth's crust formed on

1364-531: Is debated by scholars. A census of 1764 indicates 2,600 Acadians remained in the colony, having eluded capture. In 1710, during the War of the Spanish Succession , the British captured Port Royal , the capital of Acadia. The 1713 Treaty of Utrecht ceded the territory to Great Britain while allowing the Acadians to keep their lands. Reluctant to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain, over

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1488-568: Is found. Wetter areas have tamarack , and black spruce . The weather station at Ingonish records more rain than anywhere else in Nova Scotia. Behind barrier beaches and dunes at Aspy Bay are salt marshes . The Aspy, Clyburn, and Ingonish rivers have all created floodplains which support populations of black ash, fiddle head fern, swamp loosestrife , swamp milkweed , southern twayblade , and bloodroot . Red sandstone and white gypsum cliffs can be observed throughout this area. Bedrock

1612-625: Is now Ingonish on the island's northeastern peninsula. These fishermen traded with the local population but did not maintain a permanent settlement. This Portuguese colony's fate is unknown, but it is mentioned as late as 1570. During the Anglo-French War of 1627 to 1629, under King Charles I , the Kirkes took Quebec City , James Stewart, 4th Lord Ochiltree , planted a colony on Unama'ki at Baleine, Nova Scotia , and Alexander's son, William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling , established

1736-585: Is spread throughout Cape Breton and is defined as hills and slopes 150-300m above sea level, typically covered with Acadian forest. It includes North Mountain , Kellys Mountain , and East Bay Hills . Forests in this area were cleared for timber and agriculture and are now a mosaic of habitats depending on the local terrain, soils and microclimate . Typical species include ironwood, white ash, beech, sugar maple, red maple, and yellow birch. The understory can include striped maple, beaked hazelnut , fly honeysuckle , club mosses and ferns . Ephemerals are visible in

1860-607: The Aerial Experiment Association , financed by his wife Mabel Gardiner Hubbard . These efforts resulted in the first powered flight in Canada when the AEA Silver Dart took off from the ice-covered waters of Bras d'Or Lake . Bell also built the forerunner to the iron lung and experimented with breeding sheep. Marconi's contributions to Cape Breton Island were also quite significant, as he used

1984-624: The Battle of Jumonville Glen . French Officer Ensign de Jumonville and a third of his escort were killed by a British patrol led by George Washington . In retaliation the French and the Native Americans defeated the British at Fort Necessity . Washington lost a third of his force and surrendered. Major General Edward Braddock 's troops were defeated in the Battle of the Monongahela , and Major General William Johnson 's troops stopped

2108-607: The Cabot Strait . Its first Lieutenant-Governor was Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres (1784–1787) and his successor was William Macarmick (1787). A number of United Empire Loyalists emigrated to the Canadian colonies, including Cape Breton. David Mathews , the former Mayor of New York City during the American Revolution , emigrated with his family to Cape Breton in 1783. He succeeded Macarmick as head of

2232-613: The Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM), which includes all of Cape Breton County and is often referred to as Industrial Cape Breton . Cape Breton Island takes its name from its easternmost point, Cape Breton. This may have been named after the Gascon fishing port of Capbreton , but more probably takes its name from the Bretons of northwestern France. A Portuguese mappa mundi of 1516–20 includes

2356-475: The Church of England was made the official religion. These acts granted certain political rights to Protestants while the new laws excluded Catholics from public office and the franchise (the right to vote) and forbade Catholics from owning land in the province. It also empowered British authorities to seize all "popish" property (Church lands) for the crown and barred Catholic clergy from entering or residing in

2480-624: The French conquered St. John's, Newfoundland on June 14, 1762, the success galvanized both the Acadians and the natives, who gathered in large numbers at various points throughout the province and behaved in a confident and, according to the British, "insolent fashion". Officials were especially alarmed when natives gathered close to the two principal towns in the province, Halifax and Lunenburg, where there were also large groups of Acadians. The government organized an expulsion of 1,300 people and shipped them to Boston. The government of Massachusetts refused

2604-600: The Gaspé Peninsula coast of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence . Sir Charles Hardy and Brigadier-General James Wolfe commanded the naval and military forces, respectively. After the Siege of Louisbourg (1758), Wolfe and Hardy led a force of 1500 troops in nine vessels to Gaspé Bay , arriving there on September 5. From there they dispatched troops to Miramichi Bay on September 12, Grande-Rivière, Quebec and Pabos on September 13, and Mont-Louis, Quebec on September 14. Over

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2728-590: The Haitian Revolution . Louisiana's population contributed to the founding of the modern Cajun population. (The French word "Acadien" evolved into the word "Cadien", which was later anglicized as the word "Cajun"). On July 11, 1764, the British government passed an order-in-council to permit Acadians to legally return to British territories in small isolated groups, provided that they take an unqualified oath of allegiance. Some Acadians returned to Nova Scotia (which included present-day New Brunswick). Under

2852-538: The LaHave River at Dayspring was killed and another seriously wounded by a member of the Labrador family. The next raid happened at Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia on August 24, 1758, when eight Miꞌkmaq attacked the family homes of Lay and Brant. They killed three people in the raid, but were unsuccessful in taking their scalps, a common practice for payment from the French. Two days later, two soldiers were killed in

2976-491: The Mi'kmaq people . These peoples and their progeny inhabited the island (known as Unama'ki) for several thousand years and continue to live there to this day. Their traditional lifestyle centred around hunting and fishing because of the unfavourable agricultural conditions of their maritime home. This ocean-centric lifestyle did, however, make them among the first Indigenous peoples to discover European explorers and sailors fishing in

3100-739: The Mississippi River and later, they settled in the Atchafalaya Basin , as well as in the prairie lands to the west—a region which was later renamed Acadiana . Some Acadians were sent to colonize places in the Caribbean, such as French Guiana , or the Falkland Islands under the direction of Louis Antoine de Bougainville ; these latter efforts at colonization were unsuccessful. Other Acadians migrated to places like Saint-Domingue , but they fled to New Orleans after

3224-582: The New Waterford power plant by striking miners led to a major union sentiment that persists to this day in some circles. William Davis Miners' Memorial Day continues to be celebrated in coal mining towns to commemorate the deaths of miners at the hands of the coal companies. The turn of the 20th century saw Cape Breton Island at the forefront of scientific achievement with the now-famous activities launched by inventors Alexander Graham Bell and Guglielmo Marconi . Following his successful invention of

3348-541: The Province of Maine , a large, but sparsely populated exclave of the colony of Massachusetts. For four long winter months, William Shirley , who had ordered their deportation, had not allowed them to disembark and as a result, half died of cold and starvation aboard the ships. Some men and women were forced into servitude or forced labor, children were taken away from their parents and were distributed to various families throughout Massachusetts. The government also arranged

3472-688: The Royal Canadian Navy in World War I through to the early years of World War II . Promotions for tourism beginning in the 1950s recognized the importance of the Scottish culture to the province, as the provincial government started encouraging the use of Gaelic once again. The establishment of funding for the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts and formal Gaelic language courses in public schools are intended to address

3596-485: The Thirteen Colonies , then later transported to either Britain or France . Of an estimated 14,100 Acadians, approximately 11,500 were deported, of whom 5,000 died of disease, starvation or shipwrecks. Their land was given to settlers loyal to Britain, mostly immigrants from New England and Scotland . The event is largely regarded as a crime against humanity , though the modern-day use of the term "genocide"

3720-634: The forced removal of inhabitants of the North American region historically known as Acadia between 1755 and 1764 by Great Britain . It included the modern Canadian Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia , New Brunswick , and Prince Edward Island , along with part of the US state of Maine . The Expulsion occurred during the French and Indian War , the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War . Prior to 1758, Acadians were deported to

3844-438: The "Ste Anne's Massacre". On February 18, 1759, Hazen and about fifteen men arrived at Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas. The Rangers pillaged and burned the village of 147 buildings, two Catholic churches and various barns and stables. The Rangers burned a large store-house, containing a large quantity of hay, wheat, peas, oats and other foodstuffs, and killed 212 horses, about five head of cattle and a large number of hogs. They also burned

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3968-537: The 1850s, marked in 1851 by the full-rigged ship Lord Clarendon , which was the largest wooden ship ever built in Cape Breton. In 1820, the colony of Cape Breton Island was merged for the second time with Nova Scotia. This development is one of the factors which led to large-scale industrial development in the Sydney Coal Field of eastern Cape Breton County. By the late 19th century, as a result of

4092-408: The Acadians ). A. J. B. Johnston wrote that the evidence for the removal of the Acadians indicates that the decision makers thought the Acadians were a military threat, therefore the deportation of 1755 does not qualify as an act of ethnic cleansing. Geoffrey Plank argues that the British continued the expulsion after 1758 for military reasons: present-day New Brunswick remained contested territory and

4216-473: The Acadians had to remain in port on their vessels for months. The Colony of Virginia refused to accept the Acadians on grounds that no notice was given of their arrival. They were detained at Williamsburg , where hundreds died from disease and malnutrition. They were then sent to Britain where they were held as prisoners until the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The Acadians who had offered the most resistance to

4340-507: The Acadians on the Petiticodiac . They arrived at present-day Moncton and Danks' Rangers ambushed about 30 Acadians who were led by Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil. The Acadians were driven into the river where three of them were killed and scalped, and the others were captured. Broussard was seriously wounded. Danks reported that the scalps were Miꞌkmaq and received payment for them. Thereafter, he went down in local lore as "one of

4464-729: The Acadians permission to land and sent them back to Halifax. Miꞌkmaw and Acadian resistance was evident in the Halifax region. On April 2, 1756, Miꞌkmaq received payment from the Governor of Quebec for twelve British scalps taken at Halifax. Acadian Pierre Gautier, son of Joseph-Nicolas Gautier, led Miꞌkmaw warriors from Louisbourg on three raids against Halifax Peninsula in 1757. In each raid, Gautier took prisoners, scalps or both. Their last raid happened in September and Gautier went with four Miꞌkmaq, and killed and scalped two British men at

4588-636: The Acadians refused to sign an oath of allegiance to Britain, which would make them loyal to the crown, the British Lieutenant Governor, Charles Lawrence, as well as the Nova Scotia Council on July 28, 1755, made the decision to deport the Acadians. The British deportation campaigns began on August 11, 1755. Throughout the expulsion, Acadians and the Wabanaki Confederacy continued a guerrilla war against

4712-461: The Acadians the legal right to leave Georgia and enter other colonies. South Carolina followed Georgia's example and expediated passports to Acadian exiles in hopes they would move on to other territories. Along with these papers, South Carolina authorities provided the Acadians with two vessels. After running aground numerous times in the ships, some of these Acadians returned to the Bay of Fundy. Along

4836-498: The Acadians to France during the second wave of the expulsion. Approximately 1,000 Acadians went to the Colony of Maryland , where they lived in a section of Baltimore that became known as French Town . The Irish Catholics were reported to have shown charity to the Acadians by taking orphaned children into their homes. Approximately 2,000 Acadians disembarked at the Colony of Massachusetts . There were several families deported to

4960-570: The Acadians' allegiance to the French and the Wabanaki Confederacy as a military threat. Father Le Loutre's War had created the conditions for total war ; British civilians had not been spared and, as Governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council saw it, Acadian civilians had provided intelligence, sanctuary, and logistical support while others had fought against the British. During Le Loutre's war, to protect

5084-581: The Americans, were re-coaling and defeated a British convoy. Six French and 17 British sailors were killed, with many more wounded. In 1784, Britain split the colony of Nova Scotia into three separate colonies: New Brunswick, Cape Breton Island, and present-day peninsular Nova Scotia, in addition to the adjacent colonies of St. John's Island (renamed Prince Edward Island in 1798) and Newfoundland . The colony of Cape Breton Island had its capital at Sydney on its namesake harbour fronting on Spanish Bay and

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5208-538: The Annapolis region. They were victorious in the Battle of Bloody Creek (1757) . Acadians being deported from Annapolis Royal on the ship Pembroke rebelled against the British crew, took over the ship and sailed to land. In December 1757, while cutting firewood near Fort Anne, John Weatherspoon was captured by Natives—presumably Miꞌkmaq— and was carried away to the mouth of the Miramichi River, from where he

5332-523: The Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia , Canada. The 10,311 km (3,981 sq mi) island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although the island is physically separated from the Nova Scotia peninsula by the Strait of Canso , the 1,385 m (4,544 ft) long Canso Causeway connects it to mainland Nova Scotia. The island is east-northeast of

5456-589: The Bras d'Or watershed, Boularderie Island , and the Sydney coalfield. They include salt marshes, coastal beaches, and freshwater wetlands. Starting in the 1800s, many areas were cleared for farming or timber. Many farms were abandoned from the 1920s to the 1950s with fields being reclaimed by white spruce , red maple , white birch , and balsam fir . Higher slopes are dominated by yellow birch and sugar maple . In sheltered areas with sun and drainage, Acadian forest

5580-485: The British claim to Acadia, putting villages at risk of attack from the Miꞌkmaq. Other Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath because they were anti-British. Various historians have observed that some Acadians were labelled "neutral" when they were not. By the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians, there was already a long history of political and military resistance by Acadians and the Wabanaki Confederacy to

5704-409: The British colonies. While there was clear animosity between Catholics and Protestants during this time period, many historians point to the overwhelming evidence which suggests that the motivation for the expulsion was military. The British wanted to cut off supply lines to the Miꞌkmaq, Louisbourg and Quebec. They also wanted to end any military threat which the Acadians posed (See Military history of

5828-456: The British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council ordered all Acadians to be expelled. In the first wave of the expulsion, Acadians were deported to other British North American colonies. During the second wave, they were deported to Britain and France, and from there a significant number migrated to Spanish Louisiana , where "Acadians" eventually became " Cajuns ". Acadians fled initially to Francophone colonies such as Canada ,

5952-609: The British in response to British aggression which had been continuous since 1744 (see King George's War and Father Le Loutre's War ). The first wave of the expulsion began on August 10, 1755, with the Bay of Fundy Campaign during the French and Indian War. The British ordered the expulsion of the Acadians after the Battle of Beausejour (1755). The campaign started at Chignecto and then quickly moved to Grand-Pré , Piziquid ( Falmouth / Windsor, Nova Scotia ) and finally Annapolis Royal . On November 17, 1755, George Scott took 700 troops, attacked twenty houses at Memramcook, arrested

6076-515: The British occupation of Acadia. The Miꞌkmaq and the Acadians were allies through numerous inter-marriages during the previous century. While the Acadians were the largest population, the Wabanaki Confederacy, particularly the Miꞌkmaq, held the military strength in Acadia even after the British conquest. They resisted the British occupation and were joined on numerous occasions by Acadians. These efforts were often supported and led by French priests in

6200-401: The British removing Acadians from present-day Shelburne County and Yarmouth County . In April 1756, Major Jedidiah Preble and his New England troops, on their return to Boston, raided a settlement near Port La Tour and captured 72 men, women and children. In the late summer of 1758, Major Henry Fletcher led the 35th regiment and a company of Gorham's Rangers to Cape Sable. He cordoned off

6324-600: The British settlers from attacks along the former border of New England and Acadia, the Kennebec River , the British built Fort Halifax ( Winslow ), Fort Shirley ( Dresden , formerly Frankfurt) and Fort Western ( Augusta ). After the British capture of Beauséjour , the plan to capture Louisbourg included cutting trade to the Fortress in order to weaken the Fortress and, in turn, weaken the French ability to supply

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6448-618: The British—particularly those who had been at Chignecto—were reported to have been sent to the southernmost colonies (the Carolinas and the Colony of Georgia ), where about 1,400 Acadians settled and were "subsidized" and put to work on plantations . Under the leadership of Jacques Maurice Vigneau of Baie Verte , the majority of the Acadians in Georgia received a passport from the governor, John Reynolds . These passports gave

6572-622: The Chignecto region and were victorious in the Battle of Petitcodiac (1755). In the spring of 1756, a wood-gathering party from Fort Monckton (former Fort Gaspareaux ) was ambushed and nine were scalped. In April 1757, the same band of Acadian and Miꞌkmaw partisans raided Fort Edward and Fort Cumberland near present-day Jolicure, New Brunswick , killing and scalping two men and taking two prisoners. July 20, 1757, some Miꞌkmaq killed 23 and captured two of Gorham's rangers outside Fort Cumberland. In March 1758, forty Acadians and Miꞌkmaq attacked

6696-512: The French advance at Lake George . In Acadia, the primary British objective was to defeat the French fortifications at Beauséjour and Louisbourg and to prevent future attacks from the Wabanaki Confederacy, French and Acadians on the northern New England border. (There was a long history of these attacks from Acadia – see the Northeast Coast Campaigns 1688 , 1703 , 1723 , 1724 , 1745 , 1746 , 1747 .) The British saw

6820-516: The French colony of Île Royale also included Île Saint-Jean , today called Prince Edward Island, and Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine . Louisbourg itself was one of the most important commercial and military centres in New France. Louisbourg was captured by New Englanders with British naval assistance in the Siege of Louisbourg (1745) and by British forces in 1758. The French population of Île Royale

6944-583: The Lunenburg settlement nine times over a three-year period during the war. Boishebert ordered the first Raid on Lunenburg (1756) . In 1757, the second raid on Lunenburg occurred, in which six people from the Brisson family were killed. The following year, March 1758, there was a raid on the Lunenburg Peninsula at the Northwest Range (present-day Blockhouse, Nova Scotia ) when five people from

7068-422: The Miꞌkmaq in their warfare against the British. According to historian Stephen Patterson , more than any other single factor – including the massive assault that eventually forced the surrender of Louisbourg – the supply problem brought an end to French power in the region. Lawrence realized he could reduce the military threat and weaken Fortress Louisbourg by deporting the Acadians, thus cutting off supplies to

7192-486: The New Englanders wanted to make sure that British negotiators would be unlikely to return the region to the French as they had done after King George's War . Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (French: île du Cap-Breton , formerly île Royale ; Scottish Gaelic : Ceap Breatainn or Eilean Cheap Bhreatainn ; Mi'kmaq : Unamaꞌki ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on

7316-547: The North American continent is moving westward, earthquakes tend to occur on the western edge of the continent. The warm summer humid continental climate is moderated by the proximity of the cold, oftentimes polar Labrador Current and its warmer counterpart the Gulf Stream , both being dominant currents in the North Atlantic Ocean. There are lowland areas in along the western shore, around Lake Ainslie,

7440-495: The Ochs and Roder families were killed. By the end of May 1758, most of those on the Lunenburg Peninsula had abandoned their farms and retreated to the protection of the fortifications around the town of Lunenburg, losing the season for sowing their grain. For those who did not leave their farms, the number of raids intensified. During the summer of 1758, there were four raids on the Lunenburg Peninsula. On July 13, 1758, one person on

7564-602: The Polletts Cove - Aspy Fault Wilderness Area north of Pleasant Bay , are likely part of the Canadian Shield , a large area of Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rock that forms the core of the North American continent. The Avalon and Bras d'Or terranes were pushed together about 500 million years ago when the supercontinent Gondwana was formed. The Blair River inlier was sandwiched in between

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7688-423: The Removals. There is significant evidence in the correspondence of military and civil leaders for Anti-Catholicism . Faragher writes, "The first session of the Nova Scotia Assembly ... passed a series of laws intended to institutionalize Acadian dispossession" including an act titled "An Act for the Quieting of Possessions to Protestant Grantees of land formerly occupied by the French." In it and two subsequent acts,

7812-410: The St Lawrence Estuary. Italian explorer (sailing for the British crown) John Cabot reportedly visited the island in 1497. However, European histories and maps of the period are of too poor quality to be sure whether Cabot first visited Newfoundland or Cape Breton Island. This discovery is commemorated by Cape Breton's Cabot Trail , and by the Cabot's Landing Historic Site & Provincial Park, near

7936-434: The accommodation that Acadians and Anglo-Americans reached." As well, the British were clearly not concerned that the Acadians were French, given the fact that they were recruiting French " foreign Protestants " to settle in the region. Further, the New Englanders of Boston were not banishing Acadians from the Atlantic region; instead, they were actually deporting them to live in the heart of New England: Boston and elsewhere in

8060-478: The adoption of orphaned children and provided subsidies for housing and food for a year. The Colony of Connecticut prepared for the arrival of 700 Acadians. Like Maryland, the Connecticut legislature declared that "[the Acadians] be made welcome, helped and settled under the most advantageous conditions, or if they have to be sent away, measures be taken for their transfer." The Colony of Pennsylvania accommodated 500 Acadians. Because they arrived unexpectedly,

8184-421: The area's coal mines. Although winter conditions prevented the freeing of the prisoners, the mission did result in the capture of Mellish , a vessel carrying a vital supply of winter clothing intended for John Burgoyne 's troops in Canada. Major Timothy Hierlihy and his regiment on board HMS Hope worked in and protected the coal mines at Sydney Cape Breton from privateer attacks. Sydney, Cape Breton provided

8308-411: The bottom of the river, raiding Kennebecais and Managoueche ( City of Saint John ), where they built Fort Frederick . Then they moved up the river and raided Grimross ( Arcadia, New Brunswick ), Jemseg , and finally reached Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas. Contrary to Governor Lawrence's direction, New England Ranger Lieutenant Hazen engaged in frontier warfare against the Acadians in what has become known as

8432-481: The cape and sent his men through it. One hundred Acadians and Father Jean Baptistee de Gray surrendered, while about 130 Acadians and seven Miꞌkmaq escaped. The Acadian prisoners were taken to Georges Island in Halifax Harbour. En route to the St. John River Campaign in September 1758, Monckton sent Major Roger Morris of the 35th Regiment, in command of two men-of-war and transport ships with 325 soldiers, to deport more Acadians. On October 28, Monckton's troops sent

8556-460: The central eastern part at Sainte Anne . As the harbour at Sainte Anne experienced icing problems, it was decided to build a much larger fortification at Louisbourg to improve defences at the entrance to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and to defend France's fishing fleet on the Grand Banks . The French also built the Louisbourg Lighthouse in 1734, the first lighthouse in Canada and one of the first in North America. In addition to Cape Breton Island,

8680-476: The church located just west of Old Government House, Fredericton . The leader of the Acadian militia on the St. John river, Joseph Godin-Bellefontaine , refused to swear an oath despite the Rangers torturing and killing his daughter and three of his grandchildren in front of him. The Rangers also took six prisoners. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence Campaign, also known as the Gaspee Expedition, British forces raided French villages along present-day New Brunswick and

8804-426: The close conditions, while others were allowed to join communities and live normal lives. In France, 78 Acadian families were repatriated to Belle-Île-en-Mer off the western coast of Brittany after the Treaty of Paris. The most serious resettlement attempt was made by Louis XV , who offered 2 acres (8,100 m ) of land in the Poitou province to 626 Acadian families each, where they lived close together in

8928-527: The colony and served from 1795 to 1798. From 1799 to 1807, the military commandant was John Despard , brother of Edward . An order forbidding the granting of land in Cape Breton, issued in 1763, was removed in 1784. The mineral rights to the island were given over to the Duke of York by an order-in-council. The British government had intended that the Crown take over the operation of the mines when Cape Breton

9052-591: The deportation orders, Acadian land tenure had been forfeited to the British crown and the returning Acadians no longer owned land. Beginning in 1760 much of their former land was distributed under grant to the New England Planters . The lack of available farmland compelled many Acadians to seek out a new livelihood as fishermen on the west coast of Nova Scotia, known as the French Shore. The British authorities scattered other Acadians in groups along

9176-650: The edges of the plateau and rise to more than 500 metres at the centre. The area has broad, gently rolling hills bisected with deep valleys and steep-walled canyons. A majority of the land is a taiga of balsam fir, with some white birch, white spruce, mountain ash, and heart-leaf birch. The northern and western edges of the plateau, particularly at high elevations, resemble arctic tundra . Trees 30–90 high, overgrown with reindeer lichens , can be 150 years old. At very high elevations some areas are exposed bedrock without any vegetation apart from Cladonia lichens. There are many barrens, or heaths , dominated by bushy species of

9300-558: The expulsion in the popular 1847 poem, Evangeline , about the plight of a fictional character, which spread awareness of the expulsion. After the British gained control of Acadia in 1713, the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of loyalty to become British subjects. Instead, they negotiated a conditional oath that promised neutrality. They also worried that signing the oath might commit male Acadians to fight against France during wartime and that it would be perceived by their Mi'kmaq neighbours and allies as an acknowledgement of

9424-450: The expulsion. Historian John Grenier asserts that Faragher overstates the religious motivation for the expulsion and obscures the fact that the British accommodated Acadians by providing Catholic priests for forty years prior to the Expulsion. Grenier writes that Faragher "overstates his case; his focus on the grand dérangement as an early example of ethnic cleansing carries too much present-day emotional weight and in turn overshadows much of

9548-409: The faster shipping, expanding fishery and industrialization of the island, exchanges of people between the island of Newfoundland and Cape Breton increased, beginning a cultural exchange that continues to this day. The 1920s were some of the most violent times in Cape Breton. They were marked by several severe labour disputes. The famous murder of William Davis by strike breakers, and the seizing of

9672-405: The first British-sanctioned settlers on the island following the Seven Years' War were Irish, although upon settlement they merged with local French communities to form a culture rich in music and tradition. From 1763 to 1784, the island was administratively part of the colony of Nova Scotia and was governed from Halifax . The first permanently settled Scottish community on Cape Breton Island

9796-560: The first incarnation of "New Scotland" at Port Royal ( Annapolis Royal ). These claims, and larger ideals of European colonization were the first time the island was incorporated as European territory, though it would be several decades later that treaties would actually be signed. However, no copies of these treaties exist. These Scottish triumphs, which left Cape Sable as the only major French holding in North America, did not last. Charles I's haste to make peace with France on

9920-450: The following decades some participated in French military operations and helped maintain supply lines to the French fortresses of Louisbourg and Beauséjour . As a result, the British sought to eliminate any future military threat posed by the Acadians and to permanently cut the supply lines they provided to Louisbourg by removing them from the area. Without differentiating between those who had remained neutral and those who took up arms,

10044-678: The following weeks, Hardy took four sloops or schooners, destroyed about 200 fishing vessels, and took about 200 prisoners. The Acadians took refuge along the Baie des Chaleurs and the Restigouche River . Boishébert had a refugee camp at Petit-Rochelle, which was probably located near present-day Pointe-à-la-Croix, Quebec . The year after the Battle of Restigouche , in late 1761, Captain Roderick Mackenzie and his force captured over 330 Acadians at Boishebert's camp. After

10168-552: The foot of Citadel Hill. Pierre went on to participate in the Battle of Restigouche. Arriving on the provincial vessel King George, four companies of Rogers Rangers (500 rangers) were at Dartmouth April 8 until May 28 awaiting the Siege of Louisbourg (1758) . While there they scoured the woods to stop raids on Dartmouth. In July 1759, Miꞌkmaq and Acadians killed five British in Dartmouth, opposite McNabb's Island. By June 1757,

10292-542: The fort at New Gloucester . During this period, the Wolastoqiyik and Miꞌkmaq were the only tribes of the Wabanaki Confederacy who were able to fight. On August 13, 1758, Boishebert left Miramichi, New Brunswick with 400 soldiers, including Acadians whom he led from Port Toulouse . They marched to Fort St. George ( Thomaston ) and unsuccessfully laid siege to the town, and raided Munduncook ( Friendship ) where they wounded eight British settlers and killed others. This

10416-427: The fort. During the expulsion, French Officer Charles Deschamps de Boishébert led the Miꞌkmaq and the Acadians in a guerrilla war against the British. According to Louisbourg's account books, by late 1756 the French had regularly dispensed supplies to 700 natives. From 1756 to the fall of Louisbourg in 1758, the French made regular payments to Chief Jean-Baptiste Cope and other natives for British scalps . Once

10540-469: The highest numbers of fatalities during the expulsion. By the time the second wave of the expulsion had begun, the British had discarded their policy of relocating the Acadians to the Thirteen Colonies, and had begun deporting them directly to France. In 1758, hundreds of Île Royale Acadians fled to one of Boishebert's refugee camps south of Baie des Chaleurs. The Petitcodiac River Campaign

10664-640: The influence of Henri Peyroux de la Coudreniere , to settle in Louisiana , which was then a colony of Spain. Louisiana was transferred to the Spanish government in 1762. Because of the good relations which existed between France and Spain, and because of their common Catholic religion, some Acadians chose to take oaths of allegiance to the Spanish government. Soon the Acadians composed the largest ethnic group in Louisiana. First, they settled in areas along

10788-523: The island was tropical forest which later formed coal deposits. Much later, the land was shaped by repeated ice ages which left striations , till , U-shaped valleys , and carved the Bras d'Or Lake from the bedrock . Examples of U-shaped valleys are those of the Chéticamp , Grande Anse , and Clyburn River valleys. Other valleys have been eroded by water, forming V-shaped valleys and canyons . Cape Breton has many fault lines but few earthquakes. Since

10912-538: The island's geography to his advantage in transmitting the first North American trans-Atlantic radio message from a station constructed at Table Head in Glace Bay to a receiving station at Poldhu in Cornwall, England. Marconi's pioneering work in Cape Breton marked the beginning of modern radio technology. Marconi's station at Marconi Towers , on the outskirts of Glace Bay, became the chief communication centre for

11036-460: The label "terra q(ue) foy descuberta por Bertomes" in the vicinity of the Gulf of St Lawrence, which means "land discovered by Bretons". The name "Cape Breton" first appears on a map of 1516, as C(abo) dos Bretoes , and became the general name for both the island and the cape toward the end of the 16th century. Cape Breton Island's first residents were likely archaic maritime natives, ancestors of

11160-551: The mainland with its northern and western coasts fronting on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with its western coast forming the eastern limits of the Northumberland Strait . The eastern and southern coasts front the Atlantic Ocean with its eastern coast also forming the western limits of the Cabot Strait . Its landmass slopes upward from south to north, culminating in the highlands of its northern cape. One of

11284-483: The most 'obnoxious' Acadians and replace them with Protestant immigrants. In time the Protestants would come to dominate their new communities." Shirley wanted "peaceable [loyal] subjects" and specifically, in his own words, "good Protestant ones." Faragher compared the expulsion of the Acadians to contemporary acts of ethnic cleansing . In contrast, some leading historians have objected to this characterization of

11408-748: The most reckless and brutal" of the Rangers. Colonel Robert Monckton led a force of 1,150 British soldiers to destroy the Acadian settlements along the banks of the Saint John River until they reached the largest village of Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas ( Fredericton, New Brunswick ) in February 1759. Monckton was accompanied by New England Rangers led by Joseph Goreham, Captain Benoni Danks, Moses Hazen and George Scott. The British started at

11532-467: The near-loss of this culture to assimilation into Anglophone Canadian culture. In the 1960s, the Fortress of Louisbourg was partially reconstructed by Parks Canada , using the labour of unemployed coal miners. Since 2009, this National Historic Site of Canada has attracted an average of 90,000 visitors per year. The irregularly-shaped rectangular island is about 100 km wide and 150 long, for

11656-524: The neighbouring towns destroying the plantations. On May 13, they raided Frankfort ( Dresden ), where two men were killed and a house burned. The same day they raided Sheepscot (Newcastle) and took five prisoners. Two people were killed in North Yarmouth on May 29 and one taken captive. The natives shot one person at Teconnet, now Waterville , took prisoners at Fort Halifax and two prisoners at Fort Shirley (Dresden). They also captured two workers at

11780-512: The northern half of the island is on the Bras d'Or terrane (part of the Ganderia terrane). It contains volcanic and sedimentary rock formed off the coast of what is now South America . The third terrane is the relatively small Blair River inlier on the far northwestern tip. It contains the oldest rock in the Maritimes, formed up to 1.6 billion years ago. These rocks, which can be seen in

11904-528: The offspring of such unions to be sent to English schools and raised as "English Protestants" (quote from a letter by Shirley). This was linked to larger anxieties in the realm over the loyalty of Catholics in general—as Charles Stuart 's Jacobite Rebellion was a Catholic-led rebellion as was Le Loutre's rebellion in Nova Scotia. Shirley, who in part was responsible for the Removals, according to historian Geoffrey Plank, "recommended using military force to expel

12028-599: The peninsula. Peat bogs are found in the Shippagan and Lameque areas. Major towns on the Acadian Peninsula include: 47°30′N 65°10′W  /  47.500°N 65.167°W  / 47.500; -65.167 This New Brunswick location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Expulsion of the Acadians The Expulsion of the Acadians was

12152-552: The province, as they wanted no repeat of Le Loutre and his type of war . In addition to other anti-Catholic measures, Faragher concludes "These laws—passed by a popular assembly, not enacted by military fiat—laid the foundation for the migration of Protestant settlers." In the 1740s, William Shirley had hoped to assimilate Acadians into the Protestant fold. He did so by trying to encourage (or force) Acadian women to marry English Protestants and statutes were passed which required

12276-463: The region. The Wabanaki Confederacy and Acadians fought against the British in six wars, including the French and Indian Wars , Father Rale's War and Father Le Loutre's War , over a period of 75 years. In 1753, French troops from Canada marched south and seized and fortified the Ohio Valley . Britain protested the invasion and claimed Ohio for itself. On May 28, 1754, the war began with

12400-592: The remaining Acadians and killed two hundred head of livestock to deprive the French of supplies. Acadians tried to escape the expulsion by retreating to the St. John and Petitcodiac rivers, and the Miramichi in New Brunswick. The British cleared the Acadians from these areas in the later campaigns of Petitcodiac River , Saint John River , and the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1758. The Acadians and Miꞌkmaq resisted in

12524-399: The settlers had to be completely withdrawn from Lawrencetown (established 1754) because the number of Indian raids prevented settlers from leaving their houses. In nearby Dartmouth , in the spring of 1759, another Miꞌkmaw attack was launched on Fort Clarence , located at the present-day Dartmouth Refinery , in which five soldiers were killed. Before the deportation, the Acadian population

12648-404: The ship Moncton and chased it for five hours down the Bay of Fundy. Although Moncton escaped, one of its crew was killed and two were wounded. In September 1756, a group of 100 Acadians ambushed a party of thirteen soldiers who were working outside Fort Edward at Piziquid. Seven were taken prisoner and six escaped back to the fort. In April 1757, a band of Acadian and Miꞌkmaw partisans raided

12772-412: The shores of eastern New-Brunswick and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It was not until the 1930s, with the advent of the Acadian co-operative movements, that the Acadians became less economically disadvantaged. According to historian John Mack Faragher , the religious and ethnic dimensions of the Expulsion of Acadians are in addition to, and deeply connected with, the military exigencies cited as causes for

12896-426: The sort of communities Britain's colonial officials tried to discourage. More worryingly for the British authorities, some Acadians threatened to migrate north to French-controlled regions, including the Saint John River, Île Royale ( Cape Breton Island ), the coasts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Canada. Because the British believed their policy of sending the Acadians to the Thirteen Colonies had failed, they deported

13020-469: The spring, such as Dutchman's breeches and spring beauty . In ravines, shade tolerant trees like hemlock , white pine, red spruce are found. Less well-drained areas are forested with balsam fir and black spruce. The Highlands comprise a tableland in the northern portions of Inverness and Victoria counties. An extension of the Appalachian mountain chain , elevations average 350 metres at

13144-496: The telephone and being relatively wealthy, Bell acquired land near Baddeck in 1885. He chose the land, which he named Beinn Bhreagh , largely due to its resemblance to his early surroundings in Scotland . He established a summer estate complete with research laboratories, working with deaf people including Helen Keller , and continued to invent. Baddeck would be the site of his experiments with hydrofoil technologies as well as

13268-715: The terms most beneficial to him meant the new North American gains would be bargained away in the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye , which established which European power had laid claim over the territories. The French quickly defeated the Scots at Baleine , and established the first European settlements on Île Royale, which is present-day Englishtown (1629) and St. Peter's (1630). These settlements lasted only one generation, until Nicolas Denys left in 1659. The island did not have any European settlers for another fifty years before those communities along with Louisbourg were re-established in 1713, after which point European settlement

13392-652: The two when Laurussia was formed 450-360 million years ago, at which time the land was found in the tropics . This collision also formed the Appalachian Mountains . Associated rifting and faulting is now visible as the canyons of the Cape Breton Highlands . Then, during the Carboniferous period, the area was flooded, which created sedimentary rock layers such as sandstone , shale , gypsum , and conglomerate . Later, most of

13516-399: The uncolonized northern part of Acadia, Île Saint-Jean (now Prince Edward Island ), and Île Royale (now Cape Breton Island ). During the second wave of the expulsion, these Acadians were either imprisoned or deported. Along with the British achieving their military goals of destroying the fortress of Louisbourg and weakening the Mi'kmaq and Acadian militias, the result of the Expulsion

13640-464: The village of Dingwall . The local Mi'kmaq peoples began trading with European fishermen when the fishermen began landing in their territories as early as the 1520s. In about 1521–22, the Portuguese under João Álvares Fagundes established a fishing colony on the island. As many as two hundred settlers lived in a village, the name of which is not known, located according to some historians at what

13764-412: The way, they were captured and imprisoned. Only 900 managed to return to Acadia, less than half of those who had begun the voyage. Others also tried to return home. The South Carolina Gazette reported that in February, about 30 Acadians fled the island to which they were confined and escaped their pursuers. Alexandre Broussard, brother of the famed resistance leader Joseph Broussard, dit Beausoleil ,

13888-566: The women and children to Georges Island. The men were kept behind and forced to work with troops to destroy their village. On October 31, they were also sent to Halifax. In the spring of 1759, Joseph Gorham and his rangers arrived to take prisoner the remaining 151 Acadians. They reached Georges Island with them on June 29. November 1759 saw the deportation to Britain of 151 Acadians from Cape Sable who had been prisoners on George's Island since June. In July 1759 on Cape Sable, Captain Cobb arrived and

14012-452: The world's larger saltwater lakes, Bras d'Or ("Golden Arm" in French), dominates the island's centre. The total population at the 2016 census numbered 132,010 Cape Bretoners, which is approximately 15% of the provincial population. Cape Breton Island has experienced a decline in population of approximately 2.9% since the 2011 census. Approximately 75% of the island's population is in

14136-594: Was Judique , settled in 1775 by Michael Mor MacDonald. He spent his first winter using his upside-down boat for shelter, which is reflected in the architecture of the village's Community Centre. He composed a song about the area called "O 's àlainn an t-àite", or "O, Fair is the Place." During the American Revolution , on 1 November 1776, John Paul Jones , the father of the American Navy, set sail in command of Alfred to free hundreds of American prisoners working in

14260-568: Was Boishébert's last Acadian expedition; from there he and the Acadians went to Quebec and fought in the Battle of Quebec (1759) . In the first wave of the expulsion, most Acadian exiles were assigned to rural communities in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and South Carolina. In general, they refused to stay where they were put and large numbers migrated to the colonial port cities where they gathered in isolated, impoverished French-speaking Catholic neighbourhoods,

14384-418: Was a series of British military operations that occurred from June to November 1758 to deport the Acadians who either lived along the river or had taken refuge there from earlier deportations. Benoni Danks and Gorham's Rangers carried out the operation. Contrary to Governor Lawrence's direction, New England Ranger Danks engaged in frontier warfare against the Acadians. On July 1, 1758, Danks began to pursue

14508-759: Was among them. About a dozen are recorded to have returned to Acadia after an overland journey of 1,400 leagues (4,200 miles (6,800 km)). After the siege of Louisbourg , the British began to deport the Acadians directly to France rather than to the British colonies. Some Acadians deported to France never reached their destination. Almost 1,000 died when the transport ships Duke William , Violet , and Ruby sank in 1758 en route from Île Saint-Jean ( Prince Edward Island ) to France. About 3,000 Acadian refugees eventually gathered in France's port cities and went to Nantes . Many Acadians who were sent to Britain were housed in crowded warehouses and subject to plagues due to

14632-731: Was deported to France after each siege. While French settlers returned to their homes in Île Royale after the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed in 1748, the fortress was demolished after the second siege in 1758. Île Royale remained formally part of New France until it was ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. It was then merged with the adjacent British colony of Nova Scotia (present-day peninsular Nova Scotia and New Brunswick ). Acadians who had been expelled from Nova Scotia and Île Royale were permitted to settle in Cape Breton beginning in 1764, and established communities in northwestern Cape Breton, near Chéticamp , and southern Cape Breton, on and near Isle Madame . Some of

14756-477: Was estimated at 14,000. Most were deported, but some Acadians escaped to Quebec, or hid among the Miꞌkmaq or in the countryside, to avoid deportation until the situation settled down. In present-day Maine, the Miꞌkmaq and the Wolastoqiyik raided numerous New England villages. At the end of April 1755, they raided Gorham , killing two men and a family. Next they appeared in New Boston ( Gray ) and went through

14880-491: Was fired upon by 100 Acadians and Miꞌkmaq. The second wave of the expulsion began with the French defeat at the Siege of Louisbourg (1758) . Thousands of Acadians were deported from Île Saint-Jean ( Prince Edward Island ) and Île Royale ( Cape Breton Island ). The Île Saint-Jean Campaign resulted in the largest percentage of deaths of the deported Acadians. The sinking of the ships Violet (with about 280 persons aboard) and Duke William (with over 360 persons aboard) marked

15004-451: Was made a colony, but this was never done, probably because of the rehabilitation cost of the mines. The mines were in a neglected state, caused by careless operations dating back at least to the time of the final fall of Louisbourg in 1758. Large-scale shipbuilding began in the 1790s, beginning with schooners for local trade, moving in the 1820s to larger brigs and brigantines , mostly built for British ship owners. Shipbuilding peaked in

15128-460: Was permanently established on the island. Known as Île Royale ("Royal Island") to the French, the island also saw active settlement by France. After the French ceded their claims to Newfoundland and the Acadian mainland to the British by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the French relocated the population of Plaisance, Newfoundland , to Île Royale and the French garrison was established in

15252-573: Was sold or traded to the French, taken to Quebec and was held until late in 1759 and the Battle of the Plains of Abraham , when General Wolfe's forces prevailed. Approximately 55 Acadians, who escaped the initial deportation at Annapolis Royal, are reported to have made their way to the Cape Sable region—which included south western Nova Scotia—from where they participated in numerous raids on Lunenburg, Nova Scotia . The Acadians and Miꞌkmaq raided

15376-590: Was the devastation of both a primarily civilian population and the economy of the region. Thousands of Acadians died in the expulsions, mainly from diseases and drowning when ships were lost. On July 11, 1764, the British government passed an order-in-council to permit Acadians to return to British territories in small isolated groups, provided that they take an unqualified oath of allegiance. Today Acadians live primarily in eastern New Brunswick and some regions of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Quebec and northern Maine. American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow memorialized

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