Editing Labrador (section)

===Early history===
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Early settlement in Labrador was tied to the sea as demonstrated by the Innu (formerly called Montagnais) and Inuit, although these peoples also made significant forays throughout the interior.

It is believed that the [[Norsemen]] were the first Europeans to sight Labrador around 1000 AD. The area was known as ''[[Markland]]'' in [[Greenlandic Norse]] and its inhabitants were known as the ''[[Skrælings]]''.[[File:Fours de fonte d'huile de baleine.jpg|thumb|right|Model of [[History of the Basques#Basque sailors|Basque]] whale oil melting factory at [[Red Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador|Red Bay]]]]In 1499 and 1500, the Portuguese explorers [[João Fernandes Lavrador]] and [[Pero de Barcelos]] reached what was probably now Labrador, which is believed to be the origin of its name.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZtMBLJ7GgC&pg=PA464 |title=Foundations of the Portuguese empire |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |author=Bailey W. Diffie and George D. Winius |page=464 |year=1977 |isbn=0-8166-0782-6 |access-date=August 13, 2010}}</ref> [[Visconte Maggiolo|Maggiolo's World Map]], 1511, shows a solid Eurasian continent running from Scandinavia around the North Pole, including Asia's arctic coast, to Newfoundland-Labrador and Greenland. On the extreme northeast promontory of North America, Maggiolo place names include ''Terra de los Ingres'' (Land of the English), and ''Terra de Lavorador de rey de portugall'' (Land of Lavrador of the King of Portugal). Farther south are the phrases ''Terra de corte real e de rey de portugall'' (Land of the Royal Court and of the King of Portugal) and ''Terra de pescaria'' (Land for Fishing). In the 1532 Wolfenbüttel map, believed to be the work of [[Diogo Ribeiro (cartographer)|Diogo Ribeiro]], along the coast of Greenland, the following legend was added: ''As he who first sighted it was a farmer from the Azores Islands, this name remains attached to that country.'' This is believed to be João Fernandes. For the first seven decades or so of the sixteenth century, the name Labrador was sometimes also applied to what is now known as Greenland.<ref>See {{cite book |first=James A. |last=Williamson |title=The Cabot Voyages and Bristol Discovery under Henry VII |location=London |year=1962 |pages=98, 120–1, 312–17 |oclc=808696}}</ref> Labrador ("lavrador" in Portuguese) means husbandman or farmer of a tract of land (from "labor" in Latin) – the land of the labourer. European settlement was largely concentrated in coastal communities, particularly those south of St. Lewis and Cape Charles, and are among Canada's oldest European settlements.

In 1542, Basque mariners came ashore at a natural harbour on the northeast coast of the Strait of Belle Isle. They gave this "new land" its Latin name ''Terranova''. A whaling station was set up around the bay, which they called ''Butus'' and is now named Red Bay after the red terracotta roof tiles they brought with them. A whaling ship, the ''San Juan'', sank there in 1565 and was raised in 1978.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/north-america/canada/articles/Red-Bay-a-corner-of-Canada-that-is-forever-Basque |last=Richardson |first=Nigel |title=A corner of Canada that is forever Basque |date=1 June 2015 |newspaper=Daily Telegraph |location=London |access-date=12 January 2017 |archive-date=16 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116154257/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/north-america/canada/articles/Red-Bay-a-corner-of-Canada-that-is-forever-Basque/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Moravian Church, Nain, NL, exterior.JPG|thumb|[[Nain, Newfoundland and Labrador|Nain]] was established in 1771 by [[Moravian Church|Moravian]] missionaries]]The [[Moravian Brethren]] of [[Herrnhut]], [[Saxony]], first came to the Labrador Coast in 1760 to minister to the migratory Inuit tribes there. They founded Nain, Okak, Hebron, Hopedale and Makkovik. Quite poor, both European and First Nations settlements along coastal Labrador came to benefit from cargo and relief vessels that were operated as part of the [[Grenfell Mission]] (see [[Wilfred Grenfell]]). Throughout the 20th century, coastal freighters and ferries operated initially by the [[Newfoundland Railway]] and later [[Canadian National Railway]]/[[CN Marine]]/[[Marine Atlantic]] became a critical lifeline for communities on the coast, which for the majority of that century did not have any road connection with the rest of North America.

Labrador was part of [[New France]] until the [[French and Indian War]]. By the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)]], which ended the war, New France (including Labrador, though excluding the islands of [[Saint Pierre and Miquelon]] southwest of Newfoundland) was transferred to the British, who administered the northern portion of it as the [[Province of Quebec (1763-1791)|Province of Quebec]] until splitting it in two in 1791, with Labrador located in [[Lower Canada]]. However, in 1809, the British Imperial government detached Labrador from Lower Canada for transfer to the separate, self-governing [[Newfoundland Colony]].