In North America, Seven Years' War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763. As part of the treaty, France ceded all North American land to Britain, except Louisiana and two islands off the shores of Newfoundland, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. Specifically, Britain gained control of a strip of territory along the St. Lawrence River with a population of approximately 54,000 French-speaking, Roman Catholics. Near the beginning of the war, in 1755, the British had expelled French- speaking populations in Acadia to Louisiana, creating the Cajun population, but this would not be repeated in 1763. Many British people (including the American colonies to the south) hoped the French Canadians would be assimilated, but distinct rules of governance for Quebec were set out in the Quebec Act of 1774.