Port Royal, the capital of French Acadia, falls in a siege by British forces.
The siege of Port Royal (513 October 1710), also known as the Conquest of Acadia, was a military siege conducted by British regular and provincial forces under the command of Francis Nicholson against a French Acadian garrison and the Wabanaki Confederacy under the command of Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, at the Acadian capital, Port Royal. The successful British siege marked the beginning of permanent British control over the peninsular portion of Acadia, which they renamed Nova Scotia, and it was the first time the British took and held a French colonial possession. After the French surrender, the British occupied the fort in the capital with all the pomp and ceremony of having captured one of the great fortresses of Europe, and renamed it Annapolis Royal.
The siege was the third British attempt during Queen Anne's War to capture the Acadian capital, and it had profound consequences over the next 50 years. The conquest was a key element in the framing of the North American issues in French-British treaty negotiations of 17111713. It resulted in the creation of a new colonyNova Scotiaand introduced significant questions concerning the fate of both the Acadians and the Mi'kmaq who continued to occupy Acadia.The Conquest of Acadia was a foundational moment in the history of the Canadian stateit was a precursor to the British conquests of Louisbourg and Quebec in the middle of the century.
Port-Royal National Historic Site (originally built 1605–1613) is a National Historic Site located on the north bank of the Annapolis Basin in the community of Port Royal, Nova Scotia, Canada. The site is the location of the Habitation at Port-Royal.The Habitation at Port-Royal was established by France in 1605 and was that nation's first permanent settlement in North America, as although Fort Charlesbourg-Royal in the future Quebec City had been built in 1541, it did not last long. Port-Royal served as the capital of Acadia until its destruction by British military forces in 1613. France relocated the settlement and capital 8 km (5.0 mi) upstream and to the south bank of the Annapolis River, the site of the present-day town of Annapolis Royal.
The relocated settlement kept the same name of Port-Royal and served as the capital of Acadia for the majority of the 17th century until the 1710 British conquest of the colony, at which time the settlement was renamed Annapolis Royal.