Origins of Acadians |
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"The varied origins of Acadians at the opening of the eighteenth century is captured in a statistical snapshot prepared by the French scholar Geneviève Massignon. In 1707, |
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36.1 percent of the Acadian population could be traced to the Loudunais region of France, southwest of Nantes; |
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11 percent came from the centre-west areas of France, the regions of Poitou, Saintonge, and Angoumois; and a further |
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4.1 percent were from Aunis. |
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Some 2.7 percent originated in Anjou, |
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one family each from Tours, Orléans, and Paris, representing respectively 0.3, 0.2, and 0.5 percent of the total population. |
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The numbers from Normandy (1.2 percent) and Brittany (1.2 percent) were less than half of those who had an anglophone heritage (4.7 percent). |
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There were families from Maine, Bourgogne, Champagne, and Brie, accounting in total for 9.2 percent of the population. |
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A family from Flanders made up 0.4 percent of the population, and Guyenne, Provence, and the Basque country accounted for another 2.5 percent. |
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Almost a quarter of the population, 23.9 percent, left no trace of particular regional affiliation but were of obvious French backgrounds. |
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There was at least one family, accounting for 0.2 percent, from Portugal, and 1.6 came from France’s larger colony along the St Lawrence." |
