French and Indian Wars

Acadia was also claimed by England, on the basis of John Cabot's voyages, and the territory changed hands between England and France repeatedly during the 17th and 18th centuries. During King William's War, 1689-97, the French built forts on the St. John River at Jemsig and opposite the site of present Fredericton. The St. John became the major route from Quebec to Port Royal and Fortress Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island. In 1750 the French constructed Fort Beauséjour on the Isthmus of Chignecto, but it fell to the British in only five years.

When France relinquished Canada to Britain by the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the St. Croix River was made the boundary between Maine, then part of Massachusetts, and Nova Scotia, as the British had renamed Acadia. A number of settlers from New England and Pennsylvania moved to the northern section and started a timber trade. A New England group founded a trading post at the site of Fort La Tour. Acadians who had been expelled by the British in 1755 returned, settling in the Restigouche River region and making fishing their main occupation.