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Cajun CountryCajun Country refers to a region in the US state of Louisiana that has been heavily settled by French Acadians who had lived in the North American, originally-French-controlled province of Acadia. The state of Louisiana's Department of Recreation, Culture, and Tourism defines "Cajun Country" as lying "within a triangle whose base is the Louisiana coast and whose apex is near Alexandria in the central part of the state", and further defines the region as consisting of 22 parishes (equivalent to counties found in most other US states). The area is filled with wooded areas and swamps, as well as fields of rice and sugarcane. Acadia, ancestral home of Cajuns, encompassed the area that comprises the modern Canadian province of Nova Scotia and nearby surrounding regions. Acadia was settled in the 1600s by French colonists, but the area was taken over by the British shortly thereafter. In 1755, with war eminent between France and England, British authorites demanded that the French Acadians renounce their Catholic faith and swear allegiance to the British Crown. This was unacceptable to the French Acadians, who began a migration out of Acadia as a result. While many French Acadians, as a result of the British, went to New England, the West Indies or even back to France, many learned, often after some delay, that they were welcome in Louisiana, and so many eventually migrated there. Cajun Country today is renowned for its unique and highly imaginative food as well as its expressive and unique music. French is still used by a significant number of Cajuns in the area (although, since the 1960s, the use of French in Cajun Country has been in serious decline, althogh Cajun Country elementary schools today do teach French, but not the Cajun dialect of French). The Cajun French dialect is a mixture of French, English, Native American, and African dialects, but is mostly French. See also: Cajuns
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