Cajun Migration to Louisiana

The migration of the French Acadian people to Nova Scotia, their deportation back to Europe, and in many cases imprisonment in England, and their second mass migration to Louisiana, is one of the most enduring stories in world history.

An epic story that begins two centuries before the Louisiana Purchase, the Acadian people, or Cajuns, who settled the Gulf Coast, are among the most enduring cultures to migrate to the New World.

Timeline of Cajun Migration to Louisiana

1604	King Henry IV permits Pierre du Gua de Monts to settle lands in New France between the St. Lawrence River and Tadoussac River, to trade with indigenous people and convert them to Christianity. His Company of Acadia is funded by French merchants based in ports on the English Channel. The expedition leaves from Le Havre france on April 7, 1604 and arrives at Baie Francaise (French Bay, now Bay of Fundy), and lands on Ile Ste. Croix (Dotchet Island).
1621	Seeking religious freedom, pilgrims with the Virginia Company settle in Massachusetts during an era that is highly competitive between colonizers, England, Holland and France, in the New World.
1632	Isaac de Razilly becomes the first governor of Acadia.
1636	Settlement of Acadia begins with families from La Rochelle, France.
1682	La Salle claims the vast Louisiana territory for France.
1713	Unde the Treaty of Utrect, France losses Acadia.
1715	Cavalier St. Denis founds Natchitoches, Louisiana. France constructs Fort St. Denis on the Cane River to defend its frontier against Spain, which is approaching from Texas to build a fort only miles away at Los Adaes in the Louisiana territory.
1718	Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville establishes the port of New Orleans on the Mississippi River.
1755	During the Grand Derangement, thousands of Acadians are deported from Nova Scotia.
1759	Following the fall of Quebec and death of Montcalm, Acadians arrive in France, expelled from French forts at Louisbourg, Ile Ste. Jean, and Ile Royale.
1763	With the end of the French and Indian War between Great Britain and France (called the Seven Years War in Europe), the Treaty of Paris returns 800 Acadians who were held prisoner for seven years in England to French ports of Ste. Malo and Morlaix.
1775	1,300 Acadians reunite in Nantes, France (many from Poitou) awaiting permission to emigrate to Louisiana (a pocession of Spain since 1772).
1785	25 years after the fall of Quebec and their expulsion to France, 1,600 Acadians leave Nantes, France, in seven convoys from May to October bound for New Orleans
1803	With the Louisiana Purchase, France transfers its vast claims in the Mississippi Valley and Great Plains, including Louisiana, to the United States.
1812	Louisiana becomes the 18th state of the United States (April 30).

See other Regional Timelines.


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