Madawaska County

Administrative district in eastern New Brunswick; area 3,422 sq km/1,321 sq mi; population (1991) 36,600. It borders on the north with Québec and on the east and south with the US state of Maine, and has its seat at Edmundston. The Madawaska area was the scene of the ‘Aroostook War’ in the early 1840s, a territorial conflict between the USA and Canada.

In the late 18th century, Madawaska County became home to many French-speaking settlers from Acadia (Nova Scotia), who had been driven north by the huge influx of Loyalists into the Sainte Anne (Fredericton) area after the American Revolution. Working at lumbering and farming, these francophone refugees were known as ‘Brayons’ (a name derived from an agricultural tool), and asserted their fierce sense of separate identity by declaring the ‘Madawaska Republic’, with its own flag and capital. Madawaska remains to this day a strong French-speaking enclave, and its colourful history draws visitors to the area.