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From: "John H.Merz" <>
Subject: [ANNAPOLIS] Re: Acadian - origin of name.
Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2002 18:17:04 -0400
References: <000d01c24c63$e1f37fa0$162a1ad0@0016055505>


Dear Janet;
According to Hurtig's "Canadian Encyclopedia":

ACADIA, name given to the first permanent French colony
in N America. The name originated with Giovanni da Verrazzano,
an Italian explorer, serving the king of France. In 1524 he
made his first trip to the New World and gave the name Arcadie
to a region stretching along the Atlantic coast near Delaware,
explaining the choice in his diary with a reference to "the beauty
of its trees." Sixteenth-century cartographers mistakenly gave the
name Arcadia to the region of the Maritime provinces of Canada.
The letter "r" eventually disappeared, leaving the present name
of ACADIA.

Hope this explains it, in other words, the first French settlers
in the Maritime Provinces of Canada were called Acadians.

Cheers,
John Merz

From: "Michael/Janet Olive" <>
To: "John H.Merz" <>
Sent: Sunday, August 25, 2002 2:18 PM

Hi John,
I have been off this list for a little while due to illnesses, but I
was hoping you could answer this question for me:

Where did the word Acadian derived from?
I know it has something to do with early french settlers in Canada,
but I would like to know for sure.
Thank
Janet





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