Acadia - Economy

Economy

Most Acadian households were self-sufficient, with families engaged in subsistence farming supplemented by means of fishing and hunting. In the early days of the colony, Acadia was an "economic backwater", with few trade goods and little money to attract merchants. Acadia was not near the sea lanes which brought ships to Quebec and Boston, and transportation within the peninsula was difficult. Farms tended to remain small plots of land worked by individual families rather than slave labor. Farmers grew wheat, peas, cabbage, turnips, and apples, and raised maize as a secondary crop. Barley, oats, and potatoes were also planted as feed for the livestock, including cattle, pigs, and poultry. These animals provided a steady supply of meat to the Acadians, which they supplemented with fish.

After 1630, the Acadians began to build dikes and drain the sea marsh above Port Royal. The high salinity of the reclaimed coastal marshland meant that the land would need to sit for three years after it was drained before it could be cultivated. The land reclamation techniques that were used closely resembled the enclosures near La Rochelle that helped make solar salt.

As time progressed, the Acadian agriculture improved, and Acadians traded with the British colonies in New England to gain ironware, fine cloth, rum, and salt. During the French administration of Acadia, this trade was illegal, but it did not stop some English traders from establishing small stores in Port Royal. Under English rule, the Acadians often smuggled their excess food to Boston merchants at Baie Verte and to the French at Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island.

Many adult sons who did not inherit land from their parents settled on adjacent vacant lands to remain close to their families. As the Acadian population expanded and available land became limited around Port Royal, new settlements took root to the northeast, in the Upper Bay of Fundy, including Mines, Pisiquid, and Beaubassin. Many of the pioneers into that area persuaded some of their relatives to accompany them, and most of the frontier settlements contained only five to ten interrelated family units.