Battleground: Nova Scotia

Th e colonial wars that raged in northeastern America from 1688 until 1760

pitted France, her colonists in New France and Acadia, and her aboriginal First

Nations allies against the might of the British Empire, her colonists, militias,

and aboriginal allies. One of the most frequently contested areas during these

confl icts was the French colony of Acadia and, aft er its capture by Great Britain

in 1710, the new British colony of Nova Scotia. Acadia was the launchpad

for frequent French and First Nations raids into Maine and New England.

Th e British sought to stop these attacks by capturing Port-Royal, the capital

of French Acadia, and subduing or winning the favor of the First Nations

tribes. Th e British, with the support of their New England militia, captured and

held Port-Royal beginning in 1710 and renamed the place Annapolis Royal.

Yet British control over the remainder of old Acadia proved elusive. Time

aft er time, the French and First Nations struck at Annapolis and the British

fi shing settlement at Canso, Nova Scotia, hoping to reclaim the territory for

the French Crown. Th e eff ort was in vain. Beginning in 1755, Great Britain

mustered a signifi cant force that not only drove the French military from

Nova Scotia but was used to expel the remaining majority French Acadian

population from the British colony. By 1760, Great Britain was victorious in

Nova Scotia, and the First Nations were required to come into a fi nal series of

treaty and trade accommodations with the English. Th e Acadians trickled back

to their old homeland to begin a new life under an uncontested British rule.