Port-Royal (Acadia)
Port Royal (1605–1713) was a historic settlement based around the upper Annapolis Basin in Nova Scotia, Canada,[1] and the predecessor of the modern town of Annapolis Royal.
This article is about the settlement of Port Royal in the French, Scottish and English period from 1605 to 1713. For its successor settlement in the British and Canadian period after 1713, see Annapolis Royal. For other uses of the term, see Port Royal (disambiguation).
It was the first successful attempt by Europeans to establish a permanent settlement in what is today known as Canada.[2] Port Royal was a key step in the development of New France and was the first permanent base of operations of the explorer Samuel de Champlain, who would later found Quebec in 1608, and the farmer Louis Hébert, who would resettle at Quebec in 1617.
For most of its existence, it was the capital of the New France colony of Acadia. Over 108 years control would pass between France, Scotland, England and Great Britain until it was formally ceded to Great Britain in 1713 due to the Treaty of Utrecht.
From 1605 to 1613 the settlement was centred around the habitation on the north side of the Annapolis Basin, while from 1629 onwards it was centred around Fort Anne on the south side, at the confluence of the Annapolis River and Allains Creek.
Toponymy[edit]
"Port Royal" principally refers to the Annapolis Basin and was named by cartographer Samuel de Champlain in 1604, writing, "we entered a harbour which is two leagues in length and one in breadth, which I have named 'Port Royal'."[3] In the censuses of Acadia from 1671 to 1707, all inhabitants living around the Annapolis Basin were listed under "Port Royal," with no sub-distinctions.[4] The first official document where "Port Royal" was called a "ville" (i.e. town) appears to be in article 12 of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, where it describes, "la ville de Port-Royal, maintenant appelée Annapolis Royale."[5]
Informal period (1613–1629)[edit]
Poutrincourt returned from France in spring 1614 to find Port-Royal in ruins, settlers living with the Mi'kmaq, and Biencourt and his men remaining in the area of Port-Royal. A mill upstream at present day Lequille, Nova Scotia remained, along with settlers who went into hiding during the battle.[10]
Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour was one of the men who stayed behind. La Tour eventually left Port-Royal and settled by 1620, at Cape Negro - Cape Sable[11] although some settlers remained.
Poutrincourt assigned his holdings to his son and returned to France. The settlement of Port-Royal was re-established on the south bank of the river 8 km (5.0 mi) upstream.[7]
Poutrincourt's son bequeathed the settlement to Charles de la Tour upon his own death in 1623.
English colony (1654–1667)[edit]
Battle of Port Royal (1654)[edit]
In 1654, Colonel Robert Sedgwick led a force made up of one hundred New England volunteers and two hundred professional soldiers sent to New England by Oliver Cromwell, the first professional English soldiers sent to North America. Prior to the battle to capture Port-Royal, Sedgwick captured and plundered present day Castine, Maine and Fort Sainte-Marie at New Brunswick. Sedgwick also took Charles de la Tour prisoner.
The defenders of Port-Royal numbered only about 130. After resisting the English landings and defending the fort during a short siege, the outnumbered Acadians surrendered after negotiating terms that allowed French inhabitants who wished to remain to keep their property and religion.[19] Soldiers and officials were given transport to France while the majority of Port-Royal residents remained unharmed. However, in violation of the surrender terms, Sedgwick's men rampaged through the Port-Royal monastery, smashing windows, doors, paneling and even the floor boards before burning the monastery and the newly constructed Port Royal church. The English occupied Acadia for the next 16 years with a small garrison, leaving the Acadian residents mostly undisturbed.[20]
Colonial context[edit]
The Acadia settlement of Port-Royal was the first permanent European settlement north of St. Augustine, Florida. (Two years later, the English made their first permanent settlement in Jamestown, Virginia.) Approximately seventy-five years after Port-Royal was founded, Acadians spread out from the capital to found the other major Acadian settlements established before the Expulsion of the Acadians: Grand-Pré, Chignecto, Cobequid and Pisiguit.
In the 150 years prior to the founding of Halifax in 1749, Port-Royal/Annapolis Royal was the capital of Acadia and later Nova Scotia for most decades.[c]
During that time the British made six attempts to conquer Acadia by attacking the capital at Port-Royal. They finally defeated the French in 1710 following the Siege of Port-Royal. Over the following fifty years, the French and their allies made six unsuccessful military attempts to regain the capital. Including a raid by Americans in the American Revolution, Port-Royal (at present-day Annapolis Royal) faced a total of thirteen attacks, more than any other place in North America.[33]
Port-Royal was the site of a number of North American firsts: the first resident surgeon; first continuing church services; first social club (named the "Order of Good Cheer"); creation of the first library; first French theatrical performance (titled Neptune); first apothecary; and first weekly Bible class.[34] The author of Neptune, Marc Lescarbot, wrote a popular history of his time in New France, entitled Histoire de la Nouvelle-France (1609).[35]
The north shore of the Annapolis Basin is today the site of the replica reconstruction of the original Habitation at Port-Royal.