|
1497 |
Norman, Breton and Basque fishermen begin
visiting Newfoundland's Grand Banks. |
|
1507 |
A Norman fisherman brings seven Indians
with him when he returns to Rouen after fishing the Grand Banks.
|
|
1509 |
Henry VIII becomes King of England.
|
|
1519 |
French, Portuguese and British fishing
outposts are found on the shores of Newfoundland, the Acadian
peninsula, Cape Breton Island, and the St. Lawrence River.
|
|
1524 |
Italian
explorer Giovanni Verrazano stops at a place on the Atlantic
coast so lovely that he names it Arcadia, for a place of
beauty in ancient Greece. |
|
1534 |
Jacques Cartier makes his first voyage to
New France. |
|
1547 |
Henry II becomes King of France; Edward VI
becomes King of England. |
|
1558 |
Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England.
|
|
1574 |
Henry III becomes King of France.
|
|
1578 |
Queen Elizabeth gives a charter to Sir
Humphrey Gilbert, granting him the right to "inhabit and possess
all remote and heathen lands not in the actual possession of any
Christian prince." Gilbert is lost at sea, and his half-brother,
Sir Walter Raleigh, inherits the claim. |
|
1584 |
Raleigh lands in present-day North
Carolina and names the land Virginia in honor of the "Virgin
Queen." |
|
1585 |
Raleigh sends a colonizing expedition to
Roanoke Island, Virginia. The settlement lasts less than a year.
|
|
1588 |
A British
fleet defeats the Spanish Armanda and opens the Atlantic to
ships from other nations.
The French monarchy begins to
grant fur trading monopolies to groups of merchants in
Acadia.
|
|
1589 |
Henry IV becomes King of France.
|
|
1598 |
Henry IV proclaims the Edit of Nantes,
which established religious tolerance in France. |
|
1603 |
Pierre du
Gua, Sieur de Monts, is given exclusive fur trading rights in
the region of Acadia.
James I becomes King of
England. |
|
1604 |
On April 7,
Pierre du Gua, Sieur de Monts, sails from France with Samuel
Champlain and a tiny fleet to establish a tiny settlement on
Saint Croix Island in the Bay of Fundy. |
|
1605 |
The Saint Croix habitation is moved to the
Acadian peninsula and renamed Port Royal. |
|
1606 |
Settlers at
Port Royal present the first theater performance in North
America, Le The tre de Neptune, and Samuel Champlain
founds the Ordre du Bon Temps (Order of Good Cheer), in
which settlers had to take turns providing game and fish for the
table.
Queen Elizabeth grants royal charters to the
Company of London and to the Virginia Company of Plymouth.
The first expedition by the Plymouth Company is waylaid by
the Spanish in the Caribbean. |
|
1607 |
On May 24, de
Monts receives the news that his fur trading monopoly in
Acadia has been rescinded.
The London Company founds
Jamestown, Virginia. |
|
1608 |
Champlain
establishes Quebec.
Pilgrims flee England to escape
religious persecution; they end up in the Netherlands.
|
|
1609 |
Henry Hudson
sails up the river bearing his name in search for a Northwest
Passage to China.
Virginia is incorporated and many new
settlers arrive.
The Spanish found Santa Fe, New Mexico.
|
|
1610 |
King Henry IV
of France is assassinated.
Louis XIII becomes King of
France.
Jean de Biencourt, Sieur de Poutrincourt, sails
to France in hopes of finding backing to revitalize the Acadian
colony. |
|
1612 |
The Dutch settle what will become New York
City. |
|
1613 |
When disputes
arise over ownership of the Acadian colonial rights, Antoinette
de Pons, Marquise de Guercheville, sends a ship to Port Royal to
carry away anything that can be transported. Port Royal is left
to fend for itself without any backing from France.
Samuel Argall attacks Dutch and French settlements in New
England. |
|
1617 |
Claude de La Tour sails to France to try
to recruit colonists for the Acadian colony. |
|
1619 |
The Pilgrims are granted a charter to
settle Virginia. Samuel Argall is sent from Virginia on another
raid of the Acadian settlements. |
|
1620 |
The Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower land at
Plymouth Rock. Basing his claim upon exploration by John Cabot
in the 1400s, King James I declares that Massachusetts includes
all of New France and the Acadian peninsula. |
|
1621 |
The British
crown gives title to "Nova Scotia" to Scotsman William
Alexander, formally establishing rival claims for the land the
French call Acadia. |
|
1624 |
Cardinal Richelieu becomes the chief
minister to King Louis XIII of France. |
|
1625 |
Charles I becomes King of England. |
|
1628 |
The Kirke
brothers, sailing for England, destroy several French posts in
North America. |
|
1629 |
The
Massachusetts Bay Colony is formed in England with John Winthrop
as governor.
William Alexander begins a Scottish
settlement in Nova Scotia, names former Poutrincourt ally Claude
de La Tour as Baronet of Nova Scotia, and gives him a large land
grant there. La Tour tries to convince his son, Charles, who in
in command of the Acadian settlement, to join the English.
Charles refuses. |
|
1630 |
Father and
son, Claude and Charles de La Tour, take up arms against each
other in Acadia.
Puritans settle Salem,
Massachusetts.
Boston is founded. |
|
1631 |
Sir Fernando Gorges begins settlement of
the Maine and New Hampshire areas for the English. |
|
1632 |
The Treaty of
Saint-Germain-en-Laye returns New France and
Acadia to
French control.
Isaac de Razilly is named governor of
Acadia. He travels to the colony with 300 people, livestock,
seeds, tools, arms, and everything needed to maintain a
permanent agricultual community. |
|
1633 |
Charles de La
Tour attacks the English settlement at Machias, Maine, because
he fears traders there will poach profits from his operations at
Jemseg on the Bay of Fundy. |
|
1635 |
French
traders from Acadia attempt to oust English traders from
the Penobscot Bay area. |
|
1636 |
In April, the
ship Saint-Jehan sailes from France bringing the first
families to Acadia.
Charles de Menou, Sieur
d'Aulnay et de Charnisay, and Charles de La Tour begin fighting
for supremancy in Acadia. |
|
1641 |
Ministers in
France cancel Charles de La Tour's trading concession and tell
him to come to France to explain his fight against d'Aulnay. La
Tour refuses to go. |
|
1642 |
Civil war breaks out in England between
the Puritans and the supporters of King Charles I. |
|
1643 |
Louis XIV
becomes King of France.
Charles de La Tour attacks the
fort held by d'Aulnay at Port Royal. |
|
1644 |
The French government declares Charles de
La Tour an outlaw. |
|
1651 |
After
d'Aulnay's death, fights erupt again over ownership of rights in
Acadia.
England tries to block Dutch trade with
North America. |
|
1653 |
Oliver Cromwell takes power in England. |
|
1654 |
An English
force from Boston heads for Acadia with instructions from
Cromwell to clear the French from the place. The British capture
Port Royal and some other Acadian settlements. |
|
1660 |
The monarchy is restored, as Charles II
becomes King of England. |
|
1664 |
England and the Netherlands renew an old
war. Part of the dispute is over the English king's gift to the
British Duke of York of all Dutch holdings in North America.
France allies with the Dutch. |
|
1667 |
The Treaty of
Breda ends fighting between Dutch and English.
Acadia is
restored to French hands. |
|
1671 |
The first
census is taken in Acadia.
|
|
1672 |
The French
and Dutch begin fighting in Europe. This time, the English ally
with France. For a brief time, the Dutch claim title to
Acadia. Acadian settlements begin at Beaubassin. |
|
1682 |
Acadians
begin to settle the Grand Pré
region. |
|
1685 |
James II becomes King of England.
|
|
1689 |
William and Mary become King and Queen of
England. |
|
1690 |
King
William's War begins in North America as the French and their
Indian allies stage attacks on bordering British colonies.
British retaliate with an expedition against Port Royal, which
is forced to surrender. |
|
1691 |
New
Englanders elect Edward Tyng of Maine as their governor of
Acadia. He flees Port Royal when the Acadians tell him they
will stand aside when the Indians attack and kill him.
|
|
1697 |
King
William's War ends. the Treaty of Ryswick restores
Acadia
to French control. |
|
1702 |
Queen Anne assumes the British throne. |
|
1704 |
In May, during Queen Anne's War, British
from New England again attack Acadian settlements but Port Royal
holds out against the first assaults. |
|
1707 |
New Englanders attack Port Royal again.
The Acadians resist successfully. |
|
1710 |
The Acadians are finally starved into
submission at Port Royal. British commanders change the name of
the settlement to Annapolis Royal to honor Queen Anne. On
October 16, the banner of France is raised for the last time at
the Port Royal fort. |
|
1713 |
The Nova
Scotia peninsula, part of the original Acadia, is ceded
from France to Great Britain by the Treaty of Utrecht. This time
it will stay in British hands. |
|
1714 |
Queen Anne dies, and King George takes the
throne in England. His new governor requires that the Acadians
take an oath of allegiance to the British crown. They refuse. |
|
1715 |
Louis XV becomes King of France.
|
|
1717 |
Colonel Richard Phillips becomes governor
of Acadia. He will remain governor for 32 years. One of his
first actions is to try to get the Acadians to take an oath of
allegiance. They refuse. |
|
1718 |
A British study shows they need the
Acadians to farm the lands and feed the men in British forts in
Acadia. |
|
1724 |
A French
priest is killed and scalped during a British raid on an Abenaki
Indian village on the coast of Maine. Micmac Indians and some
Frenchmen retaliate. The English burn Acadian homes and villages
in retaliation of the retaliation. |
|
1726 |
Major Lawrence Armstrong becomes
provincial administrator in Acadia. He tries to get the Acadians
to take an unconditional oath of allegiance. They refuse. |
|
1739 |
The Acadians finally take an oath, but
only upon the condition that they will not be required to bear
arms against either the French or the British. They claim
themselves to be "French Neutrals." |
|
1745 |
The French
fortress at Louisbourg falls to the British. |
|
1746 |
Governor William Shirley of Massachusetts
writes to the Board of Trade in London: "the (French) will soon
find a way to wrest Acadia from us if we do not remove the most
dangerous French inhabitants and replace them with English
families." |
|
1749 |
Edward
Cornwallis replaces Richard Phillips as governor of Acadia. He
tries to get the Acadians to take an unconditional oath of
allegiance. They refuse.
Acadians begin fleeing in large
numbers to New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and other
French-held areas. |
|
1752 |
Captian Peregrine Hopson replaces
Cornwallis as Acadia's governor. |
|
1754 |
Charles
Lawrence replaces Hopson as governor of Acadia. He demands that
the "French Neutrals" take an unconditional oath of allegiance
to the British crown.
In September, Lawrence prohibits
the Acadians from shipping grain out of the province. |
|
1755 |
In June,
British troops are ordered to seize the arms and boats of the
Acadians. Acadians who protest the action are sent to jail.
In July, Acadian leaders tell Lawrence they will leave the
area before they take an unconditional oath.
On July 28,
Lawrence presents the idea of expelling the Acadians to his
chief advisors.
On July 31, Lawrence sends orders to his
commanders at the principal places in Acadia that the (Acadians)
"shall be removed out of the country as soon as possible."
On August 9, The Acadians of the Chignecto Isthmus are told
to meet at Fort Cumberland. They are suspicious and don't go.
The meeting is reset for the next day and the Acadians are told
its purpose is innocuous. All 400 who attend the meeting are
arrested.
On September 5, Acadian men of the Grand Pré
area are told to meet at their church. The 418 who gather are
arrested.
The first transport ships arrive at Grand Pre
on September 10 and the British began loading the Acadians
aboard almost immediately.
The first of the deportation
ships sails for Delaware on October 13. |
|
1758 |
The government of Nova Scotia tries to
entice New Englanders to settle on former Acadian lands. |
|
1759 |
In April, a committee from Connecticut
looks over the best Acadian lands. |
|
1760 |
On May 21, a
fleet of 22 ships sets sail from Connecticut bringing setters
from New England to old Acadia.
|
|
1762 |
The British try to deport Acadians who had
not been caught during the first round-ups. Massachusetts
refuses to accept the deportees. |
|
1764 |
The British
deportation order for Acadia is canceled. Acadians are
given the right to own land once more in Nova Scotia. |
