Cajun History

Cajun History From The Beginning To Present

Southern Louisiana's population is made up of the original Native Indians, and the descendants of the many peoples who settled here including French, Spanish, English, German, Acadians, West Indians and Africans, all of whom have contributed to Cajun History, as well as Cajun Food History. The Cajun's are proud. They come from a long line of hard-working and tenacious group of people.

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The Events That Inspired Cajun History

Cajun History actually started in Canada in the 17th century. These Cajun forefathers were French settlers that arrived by boat to a new continent in the Maritime Provinces, which is in modern day Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. In the 17th century this area was commonly referred to as Acadia. Acadians living in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were mainly farmers, growing barley, wheat, oats, cabbage and turnips. They had plenty of wild game to hunt, plenty of water to fish from, and with the help of the local Indians, the know how to make life more enjoyable. Cajun food history derived from these basic food groups and over the course of time, mixed marriages and new territory, the Cajun food history was changed forever.

Cajun History Evolving From Exile

In the 17th century, France, Great Britain, and Spain were expanding feverishly into North America by colonizing coastal areas of this new-found territory. These Three Countries had been fighting with each other off and on for the last previous century. It is a given that they did not like nor trust each other. They were determined to expand into this new land where they could rule without consequence.

Great Britain had control of North America's North-East Coast, around New York, Maryland, Virginia, Maine and New Hampshire. France, settled farther north into Canada, where they controlled most of the land north of the Big Lakes. France also controlled a vast area surrounding the Gulf of Mexico, from Florida to Texas, From Texas as far north as the Dakotas. Spain once controlled a vast amount of land area west of the Rocky Mountains and also around the Gulf of Mexico.

As time went on, squabbles between France and Great Britian become more and more heated. Between 1755 - 1763, war broke out between France and England (Great Britain), in Canada. England exiled the French Acadians from their lands in Canada. The Acadians were scattered throughout the eastern seaboard.

Families were split and put on ships with different destinations. Many ended up in what was then French-colonized Louisiana, reaching as far north as Dakota territory. This has become known as the Great Upheaval or Le Grand Dérangement. This war is known in the United States as the French and Indian War, though it was only one theater of the Seven Years' War.

Cajun History in Louisiana

The migration from Canada was spurred by the Treaty of Paris (1763) which ended the war. The treaty terms provided 18 months for unrestrained emigration from Canada. Only after many of the Cajuns had moved to Louisiana did they discover France had secretly ceded Louisiana to Spain in the Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762).

France had ceded the colony to Spain in 1762, prior to their defeat by Britain, and two years before the first Acadians began settling in Louisiana. The interim French officials provided land and supplies. The Spanish governor, Bernardo de Gálvez, later proved to be hospitable, permitting the Acadians to continue to speak their language, practice Roman Catholicism—which was also the official religion of Spain—and otherwise pursue their livelihoods with minimal interference.

The Cajuns who settled in southern Louisiana originally did so in the area just west of what is now New Orleans, mainly along the Mississippi River. Later, they were moved by the Spanish colonial government to areas west and southwest of New Orleans, in a region later named Acadiana, where they shared the swamps and prairies with the Attakapa and Chitimacha Native American tribes. This area of Louisiana comprised about 22 Parishes (considered the same as Counties). It forms a triangle from Lake Charles at the west, to Grand Isle at the east, with Pointe Coupee at the apex.

The Acadians were the largest group to settle in this area from 1765 to 1785. Although other nationalities were living there also, the Acadian culture was dominate in many places. When cultures of different groups of people live together over a period of time, a variation of the Acadian culture was created. These people, and this culture, became known as Cajun - a derivation of the word Acadia. This mixing of cultures is known as Cajun History.

Geography and Cajun History

Geography had a strong correlation to Cajun lifestyles. The Cajuns were a much tougher people, more used to arduous conditions. Originally called Acadians, Cajuns were in effect refugees from the Acadia region in Canada. The poorer Cajuns settled along bayous and wetlands of the Atchafalaya Basin. They adapted a water-based lifestyle that was a hard life to live. Here they couldn’t raise the crops which they were used to back in Acadia such as wheat, barley, oats, turnips and cabbage, so their attentions were soon turned to mere survival.

The swamps and woods did provide them with a variety of wild foods including squirrel, wild turkey, alligator, frogs, fish and shellfish. Hunting and trapping became part of the survival process. These Cajuns became well adapted in the swamps. They relied upon each other for survival. They did not associate with other peoples in these areas. They generally kept to themselves and kept their culture and family heritage pure. They spoke broken-french.

The Cajuns who settled in the prairies of southwest Louisiana soon discovered that the area was ideally suited for cattle, and for them it was a boom time. A dual-class system soon became established within the Cajun populous, with the farmers and planters becoming the elite and adopting slavery in order to run their ranches and plantations. The land was more suited to raising cattle, farming rice and sugar cane, and other agricultural pursuits. These Cajuns became well suited to large cattle ranches when the Creoles were first brought here as slaves by the Europeans. Sugarcane along with rice and soybeans were the main crops these Cajuns grew. Cajun ranchers became wealthy where as their cousins in the swamps remained poor and mostly uneducated.

Since most Cajuns were farmers, they were known for not wasting any part of a butchered animal. Cracklins are a popular snack made by frying pork skins and boudin is created from the ground-up leftover parts of a hog after the best meat is taken. It is usually formed into a sausage but can also be mixed with rice, rolled in a ball, and deep fried.

Cajun History In Present Day Louisiana

The descendants of the original Cajuns have grown into a diverse, educated and provocative group of people. They tend to be headstrong and stubborn. They also are fun-loving and spirited. They take care of their own kind as if they were appointed guardians. Most of them are as productive in the kitchen or grill as they are to their own occupation. They learn how to peel and eat boiled crawfish before they start school and most Cajuns are LSU Tigers football fans. They are a happy group of people most of the time. Like an old saying around Louisiana, "when you find more than two Cajuns together at one time, food is usually involved."

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