Les Mines was the name generally applied the Acadian settlements in the western Minas Basin in Nova Scotia. They included the villages of Grand-Pré, New Minas, Rivière-aux-Canards but usually excluded the villages at Pisiguit, Cobequid, and Beaubassin."Les Mines", Acadian Genealogy and History The name originated with early French explorers who identified copper mines at Cape d'Or as "Les Mines" and the name was gradually transferred to identify the Basin beyond Cape d'Or and its settlements. Founded in the 1680s, the communities which comprised Les Mines grew and prospered based on skilled development of dyked marsh lands for agriculture. However the settlements were destroyed in the 1755 Bay of Fundy Campaign of the Deportation of the Acadians.ARSENAULT, Bona, Histoire des Acadiens, Le Conseil de la vie française en Amérique, Québec, 1966.
Evolution of the population
Year Inhabitants 1689 1689 1689 1701 1703 1707 1714 1730 1737 1750 1752 Recensements d'Acadie (1671–1752), Archives des Colonies, Série G1, vol. 466–1, p 228. From the table, one can notice that by 1752, already more than half the population of Les Mines had migrated to Isle Saint-Jean (P.E.I.) and Isle Royale (Cap Breton).
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