In the beginning of the 16th century, French settlers cross the Atlantic to settle in a French colony located in the new world.

That colony wasn't modern day Quebec, however. The colony was known as Acadia.

When the British took control of Acadia in 1713, the Acadians were allowed

to stay, but eventually that privilege was revoked by the British and those people were

scattered to the winds. Today the descendants of the Acadians can still be found all over the world.

Learn more about Acadia and the Acadian expulsion on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. The Before we get into the details of the Acadian expulsion and its aftermath

we need to know the events which led up to it. The French like the British

had set up several colonies in the new world.

Collectively, all of the French lands in North America were referred to as New France.

The French had beaten the English to the punch and had laid claim to an enormous amount of land in North America

which included what is today Canada's Atlantic provinces, everything around the southern shore of Hudson

Bay, all of the Great Lakes, and all of the Great Plains going down to the Gulf of Mexico.

New France was made up of five colonies.

The first was Canada, which is today most of southern Quebec and Ontario, the Great Lakes

and much of the Midwest going up to Lake Winnipeg.

The second was Hudson Bay, which was the land around the southern part of Hudson Bay.

Third was Louisiana, which consisted of much of the Mississippi River Basin and the Great Plains.

Fourth was Plaisance, which was most of the island of Newfoundland,

and finally fifth, Acadia, which consisted of what is today the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick, as well as the

northern half of the state of Maine.

When most people think of French Canadians, their thoughts turn immediately to

Quebec, which is where most French Canadians live today.

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