Where did Acadians sent to France go next, and did any reach Louisiana?
Research question: What records show where the Acadians repatriated to France after 1758 were sent next, and whether any of them later appear in Louisiana?
The records show that after 1758 the deported French-speaking inhabitants of Nova Scotia were sent to England and France 1, and the large group from Île Saint-Jean that arrived in 1758 stayed in France for nearly 30 years before migrating to Louisiana 15. Before that move, attempts to settle them in France, Corsica, the Falkland Islands, and French Guiana failed, and refugees were also settled on Belle-Île-sur-Mer off Brittany 1618. Yes, some do appear in Louisiana: in 1785 more than 1,600 Acadians exiled to France were transported there by the Spanish 13, and by 1788 the Acadian population in Louisiana had reached about 3,000, partly due to emigration from France 24. The sources do not say which specific French settlement the 1758 group went to first, and the newest dated fact is a 1798 Spanish archival file, about 228 years old as of October 2026 2.
Sources
"After 1758, they were deported to England and France."French language in Canada
"Le projet de Peyroux est de conduire les Acadiens en Louisiane."Chapitre V. Les projets d’établissement : fixer les Acadiens en France (1772-1785) (2012)
"Others were co-opted by the French government to work on colonial labor projects in Saint-Domingue (today’s Haiti) and to settle in outlying parts of French Guiana."Archaeological Dimensions of the Acadian Diaspora (2017)
"Conquered by the British, they suffered massive deportations to the United States and France"French language in Canada
"Peyroux raconte qu’il forma le projet d’organiser l’émigration des Acadiens en Louisiane en 1783."Chapitre V. Les projets d’établissement : fixer les Acadiens en France (1772-1785) (2012)
"Yet others sought to establish New Acadias in Louisiana and along the Saint John River in Maine and New Brunswick."Archaeological Dimensions of the Acadian Diaspora (2017)
"In 1755 the majority of the French-speaking inhabitants of Nova Scotia were deported to the Thirteen Colonies."French language in Canada
"La demande des Acadiens de passer en Louisiane ravivait l’inquiétude du gouvernement"Chapitre V. Les projets d’établissement : fixer les Acadiens en France (1772-1785) (2012)
"They were prevented from returning to their Acadian homeland at the war’s conclusion and many relocated to adjacent Canadian provinces."Archaeological Dimensions of the Acadian Diaspora (2017)
"measures were taken to promote the return of numerous exiled people from Canada and Miquelon"French language in Canada
"Les Acadiens de Nantes à l’ambassadeur d’Espagne, le comte d’Aranda, le 12 juillet 1783"Chapitre V. Les projets d’établissement : fixer les Acadiens en France (1772-1785) (2012)
"After all had been loaded on board, the fieet set sail, and, passing down the coast, deposited the exiles, some here. some there, distributing them through the colonies from Boston to Charleston."Image 1 of Eagle River review (Eagle River, Wis.), January 24, 1895
"In 1785 more than 1,600 were transported to Louisiana by the Spanish (WINZERLING, 1955)."The Acadian Migrations (2005)
"The destitution of the Acadians, the désire of the French government to solve a problem which was a severe drain on the treasury, and the eagerness of Spain to strengthen its claim to Louisiana by active colonization ail lead to the Iast of the major Acadian migrations."The Acadian Migrations (2005)
"The large number of Acadians which arrived from Ile Saint-Jean in 1758 was the nucleus of an exile group which remained in France for nearly 30 years."The Acadian Migrations (2005)
"Various attempts to settle the Acadians in France, Corsica, the Falkland Islands and French Guiana ail failed."The Acadian Migrations (2005)
"The Acadians of Louisiana were well received by the Créoles and achieved there the peace and security which had long eluded them."The Acadian Migrations (2005)
"an extraordinary French experiment in internal colonization — the settlement of Acadian refugees on Belle-Île-sur-Mer, off the coast of Brittany — is examined in Chapter 5."The Acadian Diaspora: An Eighteenth-Century History The Acadian Diaspora: An Eighteenth-Century History . By C hristopher H odson . (Oxford Studies in International History). New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. xiv + 260 pp. (2013)
"Chapters 3 and 4 explore why such schemes ended disastrously in French Guiana, Saint-Domingue, and the Falklands"The Acadian Diaspora: An Eighteenth-Century History The Acadian Diaspora: An Eighteenth-Century History . By C hristopher H odson . (Oxford Studies in International History). New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. xiv + 260 pp. (2013)
"The final chapter documents the Acadian exodus to Spanish Louisiana in the 1780s, a move supported by the Spanish authorities."The Acadian Diaspora: An Eighteenth-Century History The Acadian Diaspora: An Eighteenth-Century History . By C hristopher H odson . (Oxford Studies in International History). New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. xiv + 260 pp. (2013)
"Hodson sets this migration in the context of the chronic lack of white settlers in the New World, which threatened to undermine the European powers' plans for imperial expansion in the late eighteenth century."The Acadian Diaspora: An Eighteenth-Century History The Acadian Diaspora: An Eighteenth-Century History . By C hristopher H odson . (Oxford Studies in International History). New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. xiv + 260 pp. (2013)
"However, about thrity-five hundred Acadians on Isle Saint Jean and Isle Royale were finally deported to France in August of 1758, after the fall of Louisbourg ended French control in those areas."Expulsion of the Acadians
"The French government was anxious to reduce France’s large Acadian population, and Spain agreed to provide them with free land in Louisiana. In 1785, sixteen hundred Acadians took the offer and emigrated from France."Expulsion of the Acadians
"By 1788, there were about three thousand Acadians in Louisiana."Expulsion of the Acadians
"In 1765, Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil led a group of about two hundred Acadians from Saint Dominique to the Attakapas region of Louisiana (now Vermilion, Lafayette, Saint Martins, Iberia, and Saint Mary parishes) to join about twenty Acadians from New York who had traveled there the year before."Expulsion of the Acadians
"In 1763, when the Peace of Paris ended the Seven Years’ War and gave all Acadians eighteen months to emigrate, they established settlements in numerous places, including Saint Pierre, Miquelon, Martinique, Santo Domingo, and Saint Dominique (Haiti)."Expulsion of the Acadians
Ask your own question