Question: The Mersey River, is a river in Nova Scotia, Canada, formerly known as what, by the Acadians, descendants of French colonists who settled in Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries, some of whom are also descended from the Indigenous peoples of the region?

 The colony was located in what is now Eastern Canada's Maritime provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island), as well as part of Quebec, and present-day Maine to the Kennebec River.  Although today most of the Acadians and Québécois are French-speaking (francophone) Canadians, Acadia was a distinctly separate colony of New France.  It was geographically and administratively separate from the French colony of Canada (modern-day Quebec). The Acadians (French: "Acadiens" , ] ) are the descendants of French colonists who settled in Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries, some of whom are also descended from the Indigenous peoples of the region.  As a result, the Acadians and Québécois developed two distinct histories and cultures.  They also developed a slightly different French language.  France has one official language and to accomplish this they have an administration in charge of the language.  Since the Acadians were separated from this council, their French language evolved independently, and Acadians retain several elements of 17th-century French that have been lost in France.  The settlers whose descendants became Acadians came from many areas in France, but especially regions such as Île-de-France, Normandy, Brittany, Poitou and Aquitaine.  Acadian family names have come from many areas in France.  For example, the Maillets are from Paris; the LeBlancs of Normandy; the surname Melanson is from Brittany, and those with the surnames Bastarache and Basque came from Aquitaine. <SEP> Indigenous peoples, also known as first peoples, aboriginal peoples, native peoples, or autochthonous peoples, are ethnic groups who are descended from and identify with the original inhabitants of a given region, in contrast to groups that have settled, occupied or colonized the area more recently.  Groups are usually described as indigenous when they maintain traditions or other aspects of an early culture that is associated with a given region.  Not all indigenous peoples share this characteristic, sometimes having adopted substantial elements of a colonising culture, such as dress, religion or language.  Indigenous peoples may be settled in a given locale/region or exhibit a nomadic lifestyle across a large territory, but they are generally historically associated with a specific territory on which they depend.  Indigenous societies are found in every inhabited climate zone and continent of the world. <SEP>  It is named after the River Mersey in Liverpool, England.  The river proper flows from the eastern end of Eleven Mile Lake in Annapolis County southward to Kejimkujik Lake in Kejimkujik National Park, then through Lake Rossignol to empty into the Atlantic Ocean at the town of Liverpool, Nova Scotia.  The true source of the river however is as far northwest as Sandy Bottom Lake (Annapolis County) or Tuskopeake Brook (Annapolis County) on the northern tributary. The Mersey River, formerly known as Rivière Rossignol by the Acadians, is a river in Nova Scotia, Canada. <SEP> The Acadians (French: "Acadiens" ) are the descendants of the French settlers, and sometimes the Indigenous peoples, of parts of Acadia (French: "Acadie") in the northeastern region of North America comprising what is now the Canadian Maritime Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, Gaspé, in Quebec, and to the Kennebec River in southern Maine.