Introduction
To "Island Roots"
Prince Edward Island’s ethnic heritage combines a
melting pot of European ancestries with a complementary mosaic of Aboriginal peoples and cultures from Africa,
Asia, South America, and Australia. The Island’s first inhabitants lived close to the land
deriving their nutrition and their spiritual life from the Island’s waters and forests. They
were joined, in the seventeenth century, by Acadian and European immigrants—relatively uneducated, poor rural tenants and farm
laborers.
Many had suffered religious persecution and economic difficulties in their homelands and were lured to the island colony with hopes of making a
better life for themselves on the fertile soil and unspoiled landscape that was to become Prince Edward Island. In more recent years, immigrants
from other parts of the globe have added their cultural traditions to
contribute to an ever-changing and diverse “Island Way of Life.”
Created by: Charlene Bertram and Shelly Ling