Pre-Confederation Nova Scotia

former colony in North America, part of Great Britain

Portuguese explorer

Acadia (; ) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the Maritime provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula in Eastern Canada, and the U.S. state of Maine to the Kennebec River. Settlers primarily came from what is now known as Nouvelle-Aquitaine, a southwestern region of France, specifically from Poitou-Charentes, the Aquitaine region, as well as Poitou and Anjou. The territory was originally inhabited by various First Nations of the Wabanaki Confederacy who referred to the region as Dawnland.