ABSTRACT
CAJUN COMMUNITIES Cajuns are descendants of the Acadians, who settled Acadie (present-day Nova Scotia) in 1604. The Acadians were from France and established the first French settlement in North America. In 1755, they were exiled from Nova Scotia by the British, who had taken control of the North Atlantic settlements in the French and Indian War, and by 1765 about three thousand Acadians were settled in Louisiana, a colony established by France in 1699. The majority of Cajuns in Louisiana today live in a twenty-two-parish (i.e., county) area in southern Louisiana, officially designated by the state legislature in 1970 as Acadian Louisiana, or Acadiana. The area forms a triangle, with the base bordering the Gulf of Mexico west of New Orleans and the apex in central Louisiana near Marksville. The Acadian parishes are considered the heart of Cajun culture in Louisiana, though many Cajuns live in bordering parishes and cities, including Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
