French-Cajun Timeline
1605
La Cadie, later called Acadia, founded by the French in Nova Scotia.
1620
King James I of Great Britain issues a Royal Decree claiming Acadia.
1629
Great Britain sends Scottish settlers to Acadia, whereupon they rename it Nova Scotia
1632
Acadia returned to French possession by the Treaty of Saint-Germaine-en-Laye
1636
First French families arrive in Acadia
1654
War between Great Britain and France puts Acadia under British rule again
1667
Treaty of Breda gave Acadia back to France
1682
Robert Cavalier, Salle de La Salle claims Louisiana for France
1688
War between Great Britain and France puts Acadia in an unstable position
1692
Treaty of Ryswick extends official control of Acadia to France.
1713
Acadia ceded to the British under the Treaty of Utrecht
1718
City of New Orleans founded.
1755
The English colonial governor, Charles Lawrence, orders the expulsion of the Acadians from
Nova Scotia.
1762
Treaty of Fontainebleu secretly relinquishes Louisiana to Spain
1764
First documented arrival of Acadians in Louisiana
1776
United States declares its independence from Great Britain
1785
Final mass migration to Louisiana by Acadians exiled in Europe.
1789
French revolution brings waves of French immigrants to Louisiana
1791
Revolt of enslaved Africans in Haiti brings more than 10,000 Creoles of French, African, and
mixed decent to Louisiana
1800
Spain signs Louisiana over to France
1803
Napoleon Bonaparte sells Louisiana to the United States for $15 million
1812
Louisiana acquires statehood and is the only state in the union to base its laws on the Napoleonic
model.
1843
Alexander Mouton elected as Louisiana’s first Cajun governor
1847
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow publishes his epic poem Evangeline
1901
Oil discovered near Jennings, Louisiana
1914
World War I begins - Creole and Cajun men serve as interpreters in Europe
1916
Compulsory Education Act passed requiring every child to attend school
1921
Louisiana Constitution prohibits the use of French in the school system
1928
Louisiana governor Huey P. Long begins extensive road paving projects
Joe Falcon and Cléoma Breaux make first recording of a Cajun song – Allons à Lafayette
1941
World War II begins; young Cajun and Creole men serve as interpreters once again
1968
Council for the Development of French Louisiana (CODOFIL) is created
1971
Edwin Edwards elected as the first French speaking governor of the 20th century.
1974
First Acadian music festival held in Lafayette
1976
Revon Reed publishes “Lâche pas la patate,” the first book in Cajun-French
1977
First Cajun French course offered at Louisiana State University by Ulysse Ricard
1980
U.S. District Court Judge Edwin Hunter of Louisiana declared the Cajuns a minority protected
by the Civil Rights Act of 1964
1981
First Zydeco Festival takes place in the town of Plaisance located in St. Landry Parish
1988
Opening of the Louisiana Creole Heritage Center at Northwestern State University
1990
Census reports 668,271 Acadians residing in the U.S., with 61% being Louisiana residents.
Census also notes 262,000 French speakers in Louisiana, the largest in the U.S.
1998
Louisiana Creole Dictionary published.
2002
Pelican Publishing, in conjunction with CODOFIL Consortium of Louisiana Universities and
Colleges, publishes Tante Cydette, the first in a series of Louisiana French literature from the
19th century.
2005
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita change the topography of coastal Louisiana and cause the
evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Louisianans to every corner of the U.S.
* Timeline taken in part from Council for the Development of French in Louisiana website:
http://www.codofil.org/english/lafrenchhistory.html