Editing Newfoundland and Labrador (section)

===Early history and the Beothuks===
[[File:Port au Choix Artwork.jpg|thumb|An artistic depiction of the [[Maritime Archaic]] culture, at the [[Port au Choix Archaeological Site]]. The Maritime [[Archaic Period (Americas)|Archaic]] peoples were the first to settle Newfoundland.]]

==== Dorset culture ====
Human habitation in Newfoundland and Labrador can be traced back about 9,000 years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.therooms.ca/museum/mnotes12.asp|title=Museum Notes – The Maritime Archaic Tradition|last=Tuck|first=James A.|publisher="The Rooms" Provincial museum|access-date=June 17, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060510135435/http://www.therooms.ca/museum/mnotes12.asp|archive-date=May 10, 2006}}</ref> The [[Maritime Archaic]] peoples were [[marine mammal|sea-mammal]] hunters in the [[subarctic]].<ref name=Bogucki/> They prospered along the [[Arctic Ocean|Atlantic Coast]] of [[North America]] from about 7000&nbsp;BC to 1500&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.therooms.ca/museum/mnotes12.asp|title=Museum Notes-The Maritime Archaic Tradition|work=By James A. Tuck-The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery|access-date=October 5, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060510135435/http://www.therooms.ca/museum/mnotes12.asp|archive-date=May 10, 2006}}</ref> Their settlements included [[longhouses]] and boat-topped temporary or seasonal houses.<ref name=Bogucki/> They engaged in long-distance trade, using as currency white [[chert]], a rock quarried from northern Labrador to [[Maine]].<ref>{{cite book
|last=Tuck
|first=J. A.
|title=The excavation of an Archaic Indian Cemetery in Newfoundland. Newfoundland Social and Economic Studies 17
|year=1976
|publisher=Institute of Social and Economic Research
|location=St. John's
|chapter=Ancient peoples of Port au Choix
|isbn=978-0-919666-12-2
}}
</ref> The southern branch of these people was established on the north peninsula of Newfoundland by 5,000 years ago.<ref name="pastore"/> The Maritime Archaic period is best known from a [[mortuary]] site in Newfoundland at [[Port au Choix]].<ref name=Bogucki>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E_2ZHVg5-3QC&pg=PA139|page=139|title=The Origins of Human Society|first=Peter I|last=Bogucki|publisher=Blackwell|year=1999|isbn=978-1-55786-349-2|access-date=May 2, 2011|archive-date=May 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523120627/https://books.google.com/books?id=E_2ZHVg5-3QC&pg=PA139|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Maritime Archaic peoples were gradually displaced by people of the [[Dorset culture]] (Late [[Paleo-Eskimo]]) who also occupied Port au Choix. The number of their sites discovered on Newfoundland indicates they may have been the most numerous Aboriginal people to live there. They thrived from about 2000 BC to 800 AD. Many of their sites were on exposed [[headland]]s and outer islands. They were more oriented to the sea than earlier peoples, and had developed sleds and boats similar to [[kayak]]s. They burned seal [[blubber]] in soapstone lamps.<ref name="pastore">[http://www.heritage.nf.ca/aboriginal/palaeo.html Ralph T. Pastore, "Aboriginal Peoples: Palaeo-Eskimo Peoples"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923033457/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/aboriginal/palaeo.html |date=September 23, 2013 }}, Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage: Newfoundland and Labrador Studies Site 2205, 1998, Memorial University of Newfoundland</ref>

<blockquote>Many of these sites, such as [[Port au Choix]], recently excavated by Memorial archaeologist, Priscilla Renouf, are quite large and show evidence of a long-term commitment to place. Renouf has excavated huge amounts of [[harp seal]] bones at Port au Choix, indicating that this place was a prime location for the hunting of these animals.<ref name="pastore"/></blockquote>

The people of the Dorset culture (800 BC – 1500 AD) were highly adapted to a cold climate, and much of their food came from hunting sea mammals through holes in the ice.<ref name="Wonders">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHsyINzEEgEC&pg=PA88|pages=88–89|title=Canada's Changing North|first=William C|last=Wonders|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0-7735-2590-0|access-date=May 23, 2022|archive-date=May 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523120626/https://books.google.com/books?id=PHsyINzEEgEC&pg=PA88|url-status=live}}</ref> The massive decline in sea ice during the [[Medieval Warm Period]] would have had a devastating effect upon their way of life.<ref name="Wonders"/>

==== Beothuk settlement ====
[[File:Labrador Eskimoindianer, nach den Berichten eines Herrnhuter Missionars, 1812.jpg|thumb|upright|Depiction of the [[Inuit]] of Labrador, {{circa|1812}}]]
The appearance of the [[Beothuk]] culture is believed to be the most recent cultural manifestation of peoples who first migrated from Labrador to Newfoundland around 1 AD.<ref name="Marshall">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ckOav3Szu7oC&pg=PA13|page=13|title=A History and Ethnography of the Beothuk|first=Ingeborg|last=Marshall|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|year=1998|isbn=978-0-7735-1774-5|access-date=November 18, 2020|archive-date=August 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815185014/https://books.google.com/books?id=ckOav3Szu7oC&pg=PA13|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Inuit]], found mostly in Labrador, are the descendants of what [[anthropologist]]s call the [[Thule people]], who emerged from western Alaska around 1000 AD and spread eastwards across the [[High Arctic tundra]] reaching Labrador around 1300–1500.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/nativeamericanen0000prit|url-access=registration|quote=Inuit migration to labrador.|page=[https://archive.org/details/nativeamericanen0000prit/page/535 535]|title=A Native American encyclopedia: history, culture, and peoples|first=Barry |last=Pritzker|publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000|isbn=978-0-19-513877-1}}</ref> Researchers believe the Dorset culture lacked the dogs, larger weapons and other technologies that gave the expanding Inuit an advantage.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P69EpMJ-C_8C&q=Dorset%20culture%20lacked%20dogs&pg=PA101|page=101|title=Inujjuamiut foraging strategies : evolutionary ecology of an arctic hunting economy|last=Smith|first=Eric Alden|publisher=A. de Gruyter|year=1991|isbn=978-0-202-01181-3|access-date=November 18, 2020|archive-date=August 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814132645/https://books.google.com/books?id=P69EpMJ-C_8C&q=Dorset%20culture%20lacked%20dogs&pg=PA101|url-status=live}}</ref>

The inhabitants eventually organized themselves into small [[Band society|bands]] of a few families, grouped into larger [[tribe]]s and [[chieftainship]]s. The [[Innu]] are the inhabitants of an area they refer to as ''[[Nitassinan]]'', i.e. most of what is now referred to as northeastern [[Quebec]] and Labrador. Their subsistence activities were historically centered on hunting and trapping [[caribou]], [[deer]] and small game.<ref name="Luebering">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bnabh4i3ppMC&q=Innu+traditional+diet&pg=PA37|page=37|title=Native American History|publisher=Educational Britannica Educational|first=J E|last=Luebering|year=2011|isbn=978-1-61530-265-9|access-date=November 18, 2020|archive-date=August 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814103130/https://books.google.com/books?id=Bnabh4i3ppMC&q=Innu+traditional+diet&pg=PA37|url-status=live}}</ref> Coastal clans also practiced agriculture, fished and managed [[maple sugar]] bush.<ref name="Luebering"/> The Innu engaged in tribal warfare along the coast of Labrador with Inuit groups that had large populations.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GkAuYRVjlE8C&q=Innu%20and%20Inuit%20warfare&pg=PA102|page=102|title=Aboriginal peoples of Canada: a short introduction|first=Paul R|last=Magocsi|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-8020-3630-8|access-date=November 18, 2020|archive-date=August 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815022128/https://books.google.com/books?id=GkAuYRVjlE8C&q=Innu%20and%20Inuit%20warfare&pg=PA102|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Miꞌkmaq]] of southern Newfoundland spent most of their time on the shores harvesting seafood; during the winter they would move inland to the woods to hunt.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-PRUMG5Ukx4C&q=Mi'kmaq&pg=PA4|page=4|title=Mi'kmaq landscapes: from animism to sacred ecology|first=Anne-Christine|last=Hornborg|publisher=Burlington, VT : Ashgate|year=2007|isbn=978-0-7546-6371-3|access-date=July 16, 2022|archive-date=August 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816163958/https://books.google.com/books?id=-PRUMG5Ukx4C&q=Mi%27kmaq&pg=PA4|url-status=live}}</ref> Over time, the Miꞌkmaq and Innu divided their lands into traditional "districts". Each district was independently governed and had a district chief and a council. The council members were band chiefs, elders and other worthy community leaders.<ref name="William">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UAvyE0pN5akC&q=Place%20names%20of%20Atlantic%20Canada&pg=PA3|page=3|title=Place names of Atlantic Canada|last=William|first=Baillie Hamilton|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=1996|isbn=978-0-8020-0471-0|access-date=November 18, 2020|archive-date=August 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817225141/https://books.google.com/books?id=UAvyE0pN5akC&q=Place%20names%20of%20Atlantic%20Canada&pg=PA3|url-status=live}}</ref> In addition to the district councils, the Miꞌkmaq tribes also developed a Grand Council or ''Santé Mawiómi'', which according to oral tradition was formed before 1600.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0MEQyYggQE8C&pg=PA53|page=53|title=Mi'kmaq Treaties on Trial: History, Land and Donald Marshall Junior|first=William|last=Wicken|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-8020-0718-6|access-date=July 16, 2022|archive-date=August 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814214226/https://books.google.com/books?id=0MEQyYggQE8C&q=Mi%27kmaq%20%20Grand%20Council%20formation&pg=PA53|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== European contact ====
[[File:Beothuk camp.jpg|thumb|A [[Beothuk]] encampment in Newfoundland, {{circa|18th century}}]]

The oldest confirmed accounts of European contact date from a thousand years ago as described in the [[Viking]] (Norse) [[Icelandic Sagas]]. Around the year 1001, the sagas refer to [[Leif Erikson]] landing in three places to the west,<ref name="Pálsson 1965 28">{{cite book
| last = Pálsson
| first = Hermann
| title = The Vinland sagas: the Norse discovery of America
| publisher = Penguin Classics
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=m-4rb_GhQ5EC&morning&pg=PA28
| page = 28
| year = 1965
| isbn = 978-0-14-044154-3
| access-date = April 15, 2010
| archive-date = August 12, 2021
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210812210827/https://books.google.com/books?id=m-4rb_GhQ5EC&q=The%20Vinland%20sagas%3A%20the%20Norse%20discovery%20of%20America&pg=PA28
| url-status = live
}}</ref> the first two being [[Helluland]] (possibly [[Baffin Island]]) and [[Markland]] (possibly [[Labrador]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sagadb.org/eiriks_saga_rauda.en|title=Eiríks saga rauða |trans-title=The Saga of Erik the Red|year=1880|translator-first1=J.|translator-last1=Sephton|publisher=Icelandic Saga Database|access-date=August 11, 2010|archive-date=May 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504211747/http://sagadb.org/eiriks_saga_rauda.en|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga">{{cite web|url=http://www.mnh.si.edu/vikings/voyage/subset/markland/history.html|title=Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga|publisher=National Museum of Natural History, Arctic Studies Centre- (Smithsonian Institution)|year=2008|access-date=August 11, 2010|archive-date=December 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151224040949/http://www.mnh.si.edu/vikings/voyage/subset/markland/history.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
|title=Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail Or Succeed
|first=Jared M
|last=Diamond
|url=https://archive.org/details/collapse00jare
|url-access=registration
|quote=Vikings Settle Helluland Markland.
|page=[https://archive.org/details/collapse00jare/page/207 207]
|year= 2006
|publisher=Penguin Books
|isbn= 978-0-14-303655-5
|access-date=April 16, 2010}}</ref> Leif's third landing was at a place he called [[Vinland]] (possibly Newfoundland).<ref>{{cite web|title=Was Vinland in Newfoundland?|url=http://www.capecod.net/~nmgood/|first=Einar|last=Haugen|publisher=Originally published in Proceedings of the Eighth Viking Congress, Arhus (August 24–31, 1977). Republished [[University Press of Southern Denmark|Odense University Press]], 1981|date=1977|editor1-first=Hans|editor1-last=Bekker-Nielsen|editor2-first=Peter|editor2-last=Foote|editor3-first=Olaf|editor3-last=Olsen|access-date=June 21, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010515202742/http://www.capecod.net/~nmgood/|archive-date=May 15, 2001|url-status=dead}}</ref> Archaeological evidence of a Norse settlement was found in [[L'Anse aux Meadows]], [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]], which was declared a [[World Heritage Site]] by [[UNESCO]] in 1978.<ref>{{cite web|title=L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/4|publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre (United Nations)|year=2010|access-date=April 15, 2010|archive-date=June 16, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060616164041/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/4|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| title = L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site of Canada
| publisher = Parks Canada
| year = 2007
| url = http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/nl/meadows/index_e.asp
| access-date = April 15, 2010
| archive-date = December 16, 2008
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081216063635/http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/nl/meadows/index_E.asp
| url-status = dead
}}</ref>

There are several other unconfirmed accounts of European discovery and exploration, one tale of men from the [[Channel Islands]] being blown off course in the late 15th century into a strange land full of fish,<ref>{{cite web |last1=LE MESSURIER |first1=H. W. |title=THE EARLY RELATIONS BETWEEN NEWFOUNDLAND AND THE CHANNEL ISLANDS |url=https://archive.org/stream/jstor-207514/207514_djvu.txt |date=December 1916 |publisher=Geographical Review}}</ref> and another from Portuguese maps that depict the [[Terra do Bacalhau]], or land of [[cod]]fish, west of the [[Azores]]. The earliest, though, is the [[Brendan the Navigator|Voyage of Saint Brendan]], the fantastical account of an Irish monk who made a sea voyage in the early 6th century. While the story became a part of myth and legend, some historians believe it is based on fact.<ref name="Timothy Severin 1977 p. 768–97"/><ref name="Tim Severin 1978"/><ref name="voices.nationalgeographic.com"/>
[[File:Bonavista Cabot 2.jpg|thumb|A statue of [[John Cabot]] at [[Cape Bonavista]]. The cape is officially cited as the area where Cabot landed in 1497, by the governments of Canada, and the United Kingdom.{{clarify |reason=muddled grammar makes meaning unclear|date=September 2019}}]]
In 1496, [[John Cabot]] obtained a charter from English [[King Henry VII]] to "sail to all parts, countries and seas of the East, the West and of the North, under our banner and ensign and to set up our banner on any new-found-land" and on June 24, 1497, landed in [[Cape Bonavista]]. Historians disagree on whether Cabot landed in [[Nova Scotia]] in 1497 or in Newfoundland, or possibly Maine, if he landed at all, but the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom recognise Bonavista as being Cabot's "official" landing place. In 1499 and 1500, Portuguese mariners [[João Fernandes Lavrador]] and [[Pero de Barcelos]] explored and mapped the coast, the former's name appearing as "Labrador" on topographical maps of the period.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZtMBLJ7GgC&q=The%20name%20%22Labrador%22%20and%20Jo%C3%A3o%20Fernandes%20Lavrador&pg=PA464 |title=Foundations of the Portuguese empire |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |author1=Bailey W. Diffie |author2=George D. Winius |name-list-style=amp |page=464 |year=1977 |isbn=978-0-8166-0782-2 |access-date=August 13, 2010 |archive-date=August 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813214351/https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZtMBLJ7GgC&q=The%20name%20%22Labrador%22%20and%20Jo%C3%A3o%20Fernandes%20Lavrador&pg=PA464 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Based on the [[Treaty of Tordesillas]], the [[List of Portuguese monarchs|Portuguese Crown]] claimed it had territorial rights in the area [[John Cabot]] visited in 1497 and 1498.<ref>{{cite web|title=John Cabot's voyage of 1498|url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/exploration/cabot1498.html|publisher=Memorial University of Newfoundland (Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage)|year=2000|access-date=April 12, 2010|archive-date=August 5, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805084234/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/exploration/cabot1498.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Subsequently, in 1501 and 1502, the [[Corte-Real family|Corte-Real brothers]], [[Miguel Corte-Real|Miguel]] and [[Gaspar Corte-Real|Gaspar]], explored Newfoundland and Labrador, claiming them as part of the [[Portuguese Empire]].<ref name=joao>{{cite DCB |first=L.-A. |last=Vigneras |title=Corte-Real, Miguel |volume=1 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/corte_real_miguel_1E.html |access-date=April 12, 2010}}</ref><ref name=Bailey>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZtMBLJ7GgC&q=The%20name%20%22Labrador%22%20and%20Jo%C3%A3o%20Fernandes%20Lavrador&pg=PA464|title=Foundations of the Portuguese empire|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|first1=Bailey W|last1=Diffie|first2=George D|last2=Winius|pages=464–465|year=1977|isbn=978-0-8166-0782-2|access-date=August 13, 2010|archive-date=August 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813214351/https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZtMBLJ7GgC&q=The%20name%20%22Labrador%22%20and%20Jo%C3%A3o%20Fernandes%20Lavrador&pg=PA464|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1506, king [[Manuel I of Portugal]] created taxes for the cod fisheries in Newfoundland waters.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Sixteenth century North America : the land and the people as seen by the Europeans|last=Sauer |first=Carl Ortwin |date=1971|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-01854-9|location=Berkeley|oclc=215780}}</ref> [[João Álvares Fagundes]] and [[Pero de Barcelos]] established seasonal fishing outposts in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia around 1521, and older Portuguese settlements may have existed.<ref>{{cite book
|title=Chronology of world history: a calendar of principal events from 3000 BC to..
|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield
|year=1975
|page=387
|isbn=978-0-87471-765-5
|author=Freeman-Grenville}}</ref> 

By the time regular European contact with Newfoundland began in the early 16th century, the Beothuk were the only Indigenous group living permanently on the island.<ref name="Marshall"/> Unlike other groups in the Northeastern area of the Americas, the [[Beothuk]] never established sustained trading relations with European settlers. Their interactions were sporadic, and they largely attempted to avoid contact.<ref name="Beothuk Eve of Extinction">{{cite journal|last1=Holly|first1=Donald H. Jr.|title=The Beothuk on the Eve of Their Extinction|journal=Arctic Anthropology|date=2000|volume=37|issue=1|pages=79–95|pmid=17722364}}</ref> The establishment of English fishing operations on the outer coastline of the island, and their later expansion into bays and inlets, cut off access for the Beothuk to their traditional sources of food.<ref name="Timothy Severin 1977 p. 768–97">Timothy Severin, "The Voyage of the 'Brendan'", ''National Geographic Magazine'', 152: 6 (December 1977), p. 768–97.</ref><ref name="Tim Severin 1978">Tim Severin, ''The Brendan Voyage: A Leather Boat Tracks the Discovery of America by the Irish Sailor Saints'', McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1978, {{ISBN|0-07-056335-7}}.</ref><ref name="voices.nationalgeographic.com">Tim Severin, "Atlantic Navigators:  The Brendan Voyage", 2005 presentation at Gresham College, [https://web.archive.org/web/20150210223018/http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2013/05/16/did-st-brendan-reach-north-america-500-years-before-the-vikings/ video posted on ''National Geographic Voices'' by Andrew Howley May 16, 2013].</ref>

In the 18th century, as the Beothuk were driven further inland by these encroachments, violence between Beothuk and settlers escalated, with each retaliating against the other in their competition for resources. By the early 19th century, violence, starvation, and exposure to [[tuberculosis]] had decimated the Beothuk population, and they were extinct by 1829.<ref name="Marshall"/>

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