During the French and Indian War, the British expelled some 11,500 Acadians from the Canadian Maritimes, dispersing them among the North American colonies and to France. Four ships carrying over 900 exiles arrived in Maryland in November 1755. Acadians were settled around the Chesapeake, in such places as Baltimore, Port Tobacco, Oxford, and Princess Anne. Facing hardship and discrimination, most had left the lower Eastern Shore for Louisiana by 1770.