The Expulsion of the Acadians occurred when Great Britain attempted an ethnic cleansing of French-speaking Catholic inhabitants of an area of the eastern seaboard historically known as Acadia between 1755 and 1764. Acadia included the modern Canadian Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, along with part of the US state of Maine. The expulsion occurred during the French and Indian War, the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War.
Of an estimated 14,100 Acadians, approximately 11,500 were deported, of whom 5,000 died of disease, starvation or shipwrecks. Their land was given to settlers loyal to Britain, mostly immigrants from New England and Scotland. The event is largely regarded as a crime against humanity, though the modern-day use of the term "genocide" is debated by scholars. According to a 1764 census, 2,600 Acadians remained in Nova Scotia at that time, having eluded capture.