Beaubassin was an important Acadian village and trading centre on the Isthmus of Chignecto in what is now Nova Scotia, Canada. The area was a significant place in the geopolitical struggle between the British and French empires. It was established in the 1670s on an upland close to an extensive area of saltwater marsh. Settlers reclaimed the land to engage in cattle ranching and trade. French colony The settlement had strong ties with Port Royal, and Jacques Bourgeois, a farmer, shipbuilder, and merchant at sold a part of his holdings there to settle in the Chignecto Basin, where he built a flour-mill and a saw-mill. Around the same time Michel Leneuf de la Vallière de Beaubassin set up a fur-trading post on the isthmus, while devoting part of his time to the fishing, farming, settlement, and soldiering. Following success in the latter activity, in 1676 governor Frontenac granted him 100 square leagues land which became the Beaubassin seigneury. He established himself on an upland known as Île de la Vallière, later Tonge's Island. The settlement prospered on the fertile Tantramar Marshes and surrounding high ground, suitable for farming. The isthmus was also the site of a portage between the Bay of Fundy and the Northumberland Strait and lay at the heart of a vast trading network encompassing Île Royale, Nova Scotia and New England. The first fruit trees were brought from Port Royal by an Irishman, Roger Kuessey (Caissy or Quessey), who established himself on a highland now known as the Butte à Roger. In 1685 the site was inspected by intendant Jacques de Meulles who reported that the grasslands around the settlement was sufficient to fatten thousands of head of cattle, that there were 22 habitations, of which most had a dozen or more cattle and as many each of pigs and sheep, but that not much land was cultivated. In 1686, Beaubassin was made a parish when Abbot Claude Trouvé built a church. The settlement eventually extended up to Mill Creek, Petitcodiac, Memramcook, and the Shepody Rivers. By 1715, it is thought that Beaubassin was home to 50 families, 32 acres of apple orchards, 1,000 head of cattle, and 800 hogs. There was also a trading post which traded with Louisbourg (in present-day Cape Breton) via Baie Verte and the Northumberland Strait, and New England, via the Bay of Fundy. By 1750, the population was about 2,800. Other