Acadia. [French Acadie, said to be derived from Shubenacadie, the name of one of the principal rivers of Nova Scotia; in old grants called L'Acadie, and La Cadie. The original and now the poetic, name of Nova Scotia, or rather of a tract extending from the fortieth to the forty-sixth degree of north latitude, which was granted, Nov. 8, 1603, to De Monts, by Henry IV. of France. The present province of Nova Scotia extends from lat. 43° 26' to 45° 55' N. In 1621, Acadia was granted by charter to Sir William Alexander, and its name changed to Nova Scotia.

In the numerous disputes between the English and French colonists previous to 1763, this territory changed masters ten or a dozen times, and the boundaries were widened or narrowed according to the respective views of the opposing parties. In 1755, the French inhabitants were seized, forcibly removed, and dispersed among the English colonists on the Atlantic coast. Longfellow has made this event the subject of his poem of "Evangeline."

Acadia (i.e. Nova Scotia), so called by the French from the river Shubenacadie. In 1621 Acadia was given to sir William Alexander, and its name changed; and in 1755 the old French settlers were driven into exile by George II. Longfellow has made this the subject of a poem in hexameter verse, called Evangeline.