Acadia's outpost: Beaubassin before the Deportation
LE3 .A278 2014
2014
Moody, Barry
Acadia University
Bachelor of Arts
Honours
History
History & Classics
Pursuing a continuation of the most recent school of thought on the Acadians, this study reveals that the determining factor in the formation of a distinguishable identity of Acadians at Beaubassin was its setting. First, the separate historiographies of Acadia and Beaubassin are examined. Considering the prominence of geography in these histories, this paper subsequently shows that it extensively affected the character of Beaubassin’s inhabitants. Geography’s relationship with Beaubassin’s residents resulted in the development of attributes which distinguished these colonists in Acadia, such as their much greater obstinacy toward their British rulers. However, the Beaubassin community is demonstrated as complex, for example, in showing both hospitality and a dislike of outsiders. Through an expansion of the geographic peculiarities and distinct traits of Chignecto’s settlers, it is demonstrated that the Beaubassin residents were notably distinct from the inhabitants of the other Acadian settlements of Les Mines and Port-Royal, and also from the British administrators in Acadia after 1713. Considerable emphasis is placed on not only these communities, but also on the separate peoples of rural France and New France. Some parallels are shown to exist between these other regions, such as their inhabitants’ relationship with their environment, their family, the Church and the state. However, it is determined that although they share similarities with all of these separate areas, some differences ultimately existed. Like the greater independence of Beaubassin, this distinctiveness was rooted principally in geography. As these characteristics all derived from geography, the true distinction of Beaubassin was its unique status as Acadia’s outpost.
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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:1090