We follow the tortuous beginnings of Acadia, the first northern European colony in America -- a string of remote fishing and fur trading outposts, Catholic missions, and French farming villages, which had to withstand a harsh, remote environment, religious and political feuding, a near civil war, and frequent privateer attacks, in order to persist through the seventeenth century and finally begin to develop a distinctive Acadian provincial society which would later survive global war and ethnic cleansing.

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My previous lecture on Bourbon France in the same period: https://www.patreon.com/posts/age-of-3-bourbon-44146424

Suggested further reading: N. Griffiths, “The Contexts of Acadian History” & “From Migrant to Acadian: A North American Border People”; Arseneault, “History of the Acadians”

Image: Depiction of Belle-Isle area just outside of Port Royal from French census of 1686

Music: “Danse des Sauvages,” from “Les Indes Galantes” by Rameau, performed by Les Arts Florissants