British authorities deported thousands of French-speaking Acadians from Nova Scotia and neighbouring regions during the Seven Years' War. Families were separated and transported to British colonies, France, Britain and the Caribbean; many later settled in Louisiana. Their villages and farms were confiscated or destroyed.

Acadian songs and oral histories preserved memories of removal and scattered families. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Evangeline transformed the expulsion into an internationally known poetic legend, although its romantic narrative simplified the historical experience.