In 1764 King Louis appointed d'Estaing governor general of the French Leeward Islands, a post he held until 1766. Based principally in Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), he recruited Acadians to settle there. They had been expelled from their homeland in present-day Canada by the British during the war, as they had refused to take loyalty oaths to the British. These efforts were largely unsuccessful, as many Acadians died of tropical disease. Others sought to resettle elsewhere because of the hot climate and poor land.