Your Location: Great Big Sea Home
>
About Newfoundland
"The tropical island of Newfoundland" |
|
|||||||||||
"Newfoundland is not like any other province of Canada. It has the oldest history, the richest music and folklore ... and the most relaxed life-style, born of a colourful and romantic cultural heritage."
"But above all, there is the famous sense of humour. Newfoundlanders have the divine gift of being able to laugh at their troubles, at their triumphs, and at themselves."
Taken from Al Clouston's "When I Grow Too Old to Laugh...shoot me!"
- History of Newfoundland & Labrador.
- Provincial Facts & Figures.
- The Newfoundland Screech Story.
- Songs from Newfoundland & Labrador.
- A Brief History of Newfoundland currency.
- Things to do in Newfoundland.
- Things to know when visiting Newfoundland.
- Newfoundland Dictionary
Although Newfoundland is one of the oldest place names on the eastern seaboard, its evolution may be easily followed. It was the "new founde isle" of John Cabot who sailed westward from Bristol in 1497; although Norsemen, Basques, and Bretons (among others) had undoubtedly preceded him. By 1502 "New found launde" was being used in official English documents with the French version "Terre Neuve" appearing as early as 1510 - a clear indication of the acceptance of the designation. Giovanni da Verrazano used the term "Terra Nova" on his map of 1529.
Other quick facts:
The pattern of settlement in Newfoundland was mainly determined by the fishing industry, and this population distribution has persisted to today. The Avalon Peninsula and northeastern Newfoundland are the traditional bases for the fisheries and continue to be the most heavily populated areas. St. John's is the province's largest city, with a metropolitan area population of 177,000 (19th largest in the nation). Other major centers are Grand Falls, Windsor, and Corner Brook. The smaller communities - called outports - remain a major element in Newfoundland society in spite of their size. The towns of Labrador City and Wabush, which together form the largest urban community of Labrador, are based on the iron ore mining industries of the area.
As of 1996:
Labrador: 29,190 Newfoundland: 522,602 Total: 551,792
The province consists of two sections, the island of Newfoundland and the mainland portion of Labrador separated by the Strait of Belle Isle. The island is situated at the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and is the most easterly Canadian province. The province lies between the 46th and 61st parallels; most of the island lies below the 50th parallel. Newfoundland & Labrador is the seventh largest province of Canada.
The province's coastline, stretching over more than 17,000 kilometers (10,625 miles), is varied and scenic with its bold headlands, deep fjords (narrow water passages with steep shores on either side), and countless small coves and offshore islands. The interior of Newfoundland & Labrador has a rolling, rugged topography, deeply etched by glacial activity and broken by lakes and swift-flowing rivers. Northern Labrador is marked by the spectacular Torngat Mountains, which rise abruptly from the sea to heights of up to 1,652 meters (5,420 feet). Almost all of the province has infertile soils with peat and rock outcroppings.
About 60 percent of Newfoundland is forested, although only about one-half the forest is of commercial value. The province lies in the boreal forest zone, or taiga, and the dominant trees are conifers, primarily black spruce and balsam fir. Other species include birch, larch, white spruce, aspen, and occasionally white and red pine.
The total land area of Newfoundland & Labrador is 405,720 km², more than three times the total area of the other Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island).
Newfoundland would rank fourth in size behind Alaska, Texas and California if it were one of the United States. It is almost one-and-three-quarters times the size of Great Britain.
Area of the Island of Newfoundland: 111,390 km² Area of Labrador: 294,330 km² Total - 405,720 km²
Water Area: 34,030 km²
Coast of Island of Newfoundland: 9,656 km Coast of Labrador: 7,886 km Total - 17,542 km
| AREA (km²) | ELEVATION (m) | ||
| Lake Melville | 2939 | sea level | |
| Grand Lake | 352 | 82.3 | |
| Churchill River | 93 | 415 |
| ELEVATION (m) | |
| Caubuick | 1652 |
| Torngat Mountains | 1650 |
| Cirque Mountain | 1567 |
| Mount Caledonia | 1440 |
| Mount Eliot | 1387 |
| Mount Tetragona | 1372 |
| Bishops Metre | 1237 |
| Quartzite Mountain | 1198 |
| Mealy Mountains | 1190 |
| Blow me down Mountain | 1183 |
| Finger Hill | 1033 |
| Red Wine Mountain | 892 |
| Black Hills | 529 |
Clocks are turned forward by one hour on the first Sunday in April and turned back on the last Sunday of October. The entire Island of Newfoundland is on Newfoundland Time while in Labrador, Paradise River, and all communities south of Cartwright, are also on Newfoundland Time. Cartwright, and everything north and inland, is on Atlantic Time. At one time, Wabush (5 km east) was on Newfoundland Time (one half hour later). To get more confusing, Fermont, Québec (27 km west) is in the Eastern Time zone. That meant that three time zones were represented in less than 30 km. Labrador City and Wabush are now on the same time zone.
People wonder why the Province of Newfoundland has a time zone that varies by the half hour rather than the standard one hour. While the system of Standard Time employs 24 meridians, and each are theoretically the centres of 24 Standard Time zones, some adjustments have been made to the time zones for the convenience of inhabitants that lie within the zones. Newfoundland, (but not Labrador), lies squarely in the eastern half of its time zone, exactly three and a half hours from Greenwich. The Newfoundland government attempted to bring the province into conformity with the other Atlantic provinces in 1963, but withdrew in the face of stiff public opposition. Other countries that operate on the half hour time difference are: Suriname, Iran, India, Sri Lanka, and Central Australia.
Newfoundland has several landmarks commemorating early inhabitants. Port au Choix contains a Native American burial ground approximately 4000 years old. The only authenticated Viking site in North America is located at L'Anse aux Meadows, north of St. Anthony, on Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula. The remains of the sod houses used by the Vikings from about AD 1000 can still be seen there, along with some of their artifacts. The site where Sir Humphrey Gilbert took possession of Newfoundland for England is marked by a memorial in St. John's. Cabot Tower, erected in 1897 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's first voyage to the region in 1497, stands in the Signal Hill National Historic Site at the entrance to St. John's Harbor.
Other landmarks include Ferryland, the site of a settlement established in the 1620s by Lord Baltimore, the founder of Maryland; Castle Hill National Historic Site at Placentia, with a fort from the 1670s; and Cape Spear National Historic Site, the easternmost point of North America.
On March 31, 1949, Newfoundland became the tenth Canadian province. The Liberal party, under Premier Joseph R. Smallwood, held power in the province for 23 years. In 1972 the Liberal party lost control, and a new government under Premier Frank Duff Moores was formed by the Progressive Conservative party, the first such administration in the history of the province.
The Smallwood regime had embarked on numerous projects intended to spur the growth of modern industry in Newfoundland. One of the more successful was the hydroelectric power development at Churchill Falls, Labrador, which began operating in 1971. By the mid-1970s the project was generating about 78 percent of the hydroelectricity produced in the province. Most of the power from the Churchill Falls project was exported from Newfoundland under an agreement with Hydro Québec. The success at Churchill Falls contrasted with the failure of a planned oil refinery at Come-by-Chance, in the upper reaches of Placentia Bay. The refinery was built and began operations, only to go bankrupt; it was finally bought by the federal energy corporation, Petro Canada, in 1981.
Despite a degree of economic growth, Newfoundland continues to depend heavily on the government for subsidies. In the 1970s and 1980s many Newfoundlanders were compelled to migrate to other parts of Canada in search of opportunity. The Moores government was more conservative in economic matters than its predecessor, concerning itself with the preservation of the province's fishing industry and other natural resources. When Moores resigned, in 1979, he was succeeded by A. Brian Peckford, another Progressive Conservative, who later that year won his own mandate; he was reelected in 1983 and 1985. Initially Peckford secured support as a strong advocate of provincial interests in battles with the federal government over offshore resources, the sale of Labrador's hydroelectric power, and the management of the fisheries. Continued economic troubles in Newfoundland bred discontent, however, and in the 1989 election a new Liberal leader, Clyde K. Wells, became premier, ending Conservative rule in the province. On February 22, 1996 Premier Wells was succeeded by another Liberal, Brian Tobin.
| Danny Williams | Progressive Conservative | 2003 - |
| Roger Grimes | Liberal | 2001 - 2003 |
| Beaton Tulk | Liberal | 2000 - 2001 |
| Brian Tobin | Liberal | 1996 - 2000 |
| Clyde K. Wells | Liberal | 1989 - 1996 |
| Thomas Rideout | Progressive Conservative | March 22 - May 5, 1989 |
| A. Brian Peckford | Progressive Conservative | 1979 - 1989 |
| Frank D. Moores | Progressive Conservative | 1972 - 1979 |
| Joseph R. Smallwood | Liberal | 1949 - 1972 |
GOVERNORS AND LIEUTENANT GOVERNORS
| Hon. Edward M. Roberts | 2002 | Sir Henry Maxse | 1881 | Rear-Admiral Robert Duff | 1775 | ||
| Hon. A. M. House | 1997 | Sir John H. Glover | 1876 | Commodore Molyneux Shuldham | 1772 | ||
| Hon. Frederick W. Russell | 1991 | Sir Stephen Hill | 1869 | Capt. John Byron | 1769 | ||
| Hon. James A. McGrath | 1986 | Sir Anthony Musgrave | 1864 | Capt. Hugh Palliser | 1764 | ||
| Hon. W. Anthony Paddon | 1981 | Sir Alexander Bannerman | 1857 | Capt. Thomas Graves | 1761 | ||
| Hon. Gordon A. Winter | 1974 | Charles Henry Darling | 1855 | Capt. James Webb | 1760 | ||
| Hon. E. John A. Harnum | 1969 | Ker Baillie Hamilton | 1852 | Capt. Richard Edwards | 1757 | ||
| Hon. Fabian O'Dea | 1963 | Col. Sir John G. LeMarchant | 1847 | Capt. Richard Dorrill | 1755 | ||
| Hon. Campbell MacPherson | 1957 | Major General Sir John Harvey | 1841 | Capt. Hugh Bonfoy | 1753 | ||
| Sir Leonard C. Outerbridge | 1949 | Capt. Henry Prescott | 1834 | Capt. Francis William Drake | 1750 | ||
| Sir Albert J. Walsh | 1949 | Capt. Sir Thomas John Cochrane | 1825 | Capt. George-Bridges Rodney | 1749 | ||
| Sir Gordon MacDonald | 1946 | Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Hamilton | 1818 | Rear-Admiral Charles Watson | 1748 | ||
| Vice-Admiral Sir Humphrey Walwyn | 1936 | Admiral Francis Pickmore | 1816 | Vacancy | 1746 | ||
| Admiral Sir David M. Anderson | 1932 | Vice-Admiral Sir Richard G. Keats | 1813 | Capt. Richard Edwards | 1745 | ||
| Sir John Middleton | 1928 | Admiral Sir John T. Duckworth | 1810 | Capt. Charles Hardy | 1744 | ||
| Sir William Allardyce | 1922 | Admiral John Holloway | 1807 | Capt. Thomas Smith | 1743 | ||
| Sir Charles A. Harris | 1917 | Vice-Admiral Sir Erasmus Gower | 1804 | Capt. John Byng | 1742 | ||
| Sir Walter E. Davidson | 1913 | Vice-Admiral James Gambier | 1802 | Capt. Thomas Smith | 1741 | ||
| Sir Ralph C. Williams | 1909 | Vice-Admiral Charles Morice Pole | 1800 | Capt. Lord George Graham | 1740 | ||
| Sir William MacGregor | 1904 | Vice-Admiral William Waldegrave | 1797 | Capt. Henry Medley | 1739 | ||
| Sir Cavendish Boyle | 1901 | Vice-Admiral Sir James Wallace | 1794 | Capt. Philip Vanbrugh | 1738 | ||
| Sir Henry E. McCallum | 1898 | Vice-Admiral Sir Richard King | 1792 | Capt. Fitzroy Heney Lee | 1735 | ||
| Sir Herbert H. Murray | 1895 | Vice-Admiral Mark Milbanke | 1789 | Capt. Robert McCarthy Visc. Muskerry | 1733 | ||
| Sir John T. N. O'Brien | 1889 | Rear-Admiral John Elliott | 1786 | Capt. Edward Falkingham | 1732 | ||
| Sir Henry Blake | 1887 | Vice-Admiral John Campbell | 1782 | Capt. The Hon. George Clinton | 1731 | ||
| Sir. G. W. DesVoeux | 1886 | Capt. Richard Edwards | 1779 | Capt. Henry Osborn | 1729 | ||
| Sir John H. Glover | 1884 | Vice-Admiral John Montague | 1776 |
| Era of Commission of Government | 1934 | Sir William F. Lloyd | 1918 | Sir William Vallance Whiteway | 1878 | |
| Frederick Charles Alderdice | 1932 | Sir Edward Morris | 1909 | Sir Frederick Bowker Terrington Carter | 1874 | |
| Sir Richard Anderson Squires | 1928 | Sir Robert Bond | 1900 | Charles Fox Bennett | 1870 | |
| Frederick Charles Alderdice | 1928 | Sir James Spearman Winter | 1897 | Sir Frederick Bowker Terrington Carter | 1865 | |
| Walter Stanley Monroe | 1924 | Sir William Vallance Whiteway | 1895 | Sir Hugh William Hoyles | 1861 | |
| Albert Edgar Hickman | 1924 | Daniel Joseph Greene | 1894 | John Kent | 1858 | |
| William Robertson Warren | 1923 | Augustus F. Goodridge | 1894 | Philip Francis Little | 1855 | |
| Sir Richard Anderson Squires | 1919 | Sir William Vallance Whiteway | 1889 | |||
| Sir Michael P. Cashin | 1919 | Thorburn, Sir Robert T. | 1885 |
Since its first settlement, Newfoundland & Labrador has been highly dependent on its resource sector, especially fisheries. Coastal towns provided support for the vessels fishing the Grand Banks. The main industries today are mining, manufacturing, fishing, pulp and paper, and hydroelectricity. Other natural resources important to the local economy include iron ore from Labrador and the development of substantial offshore oil and natural gas reserves.
The coastal waters of Newfoundland are one of the world's best fisheries, and many harbors shelter small fishing fleets. Cod was the primary catch,but a 1992 ban on northern cod fishing was passed by the federal government because of overfishing. Atlantic salmon, flounder, turbot, halibut, crab, lobster, shrimp, and herring are the mainstay of the Newfoundland fishery.
After World War II the government allotted funds to expand Newfoundland's fishing fleet, and the fishermen prospered until the late 1960s. Fish stocks began to decline due to overfishing by the domestic fishing fleet and foreigners. In the mid-1970s higher fuel prices increased operating costs which was a direct blow to the incomes of the fishermen of Newfoundland. The creation of a 200-nautical-mile Canadian fishing zone in 1977, kept foreign fishing fleets 200 miles from the Canadian coast. By 1983 the province's large fishing companies, which rely on deep-sea trawlers, were nearly bankrupt. The government stepped in and created a restructuring plan where all the deep-sea fishing companies were combined in 1984 into a single company, Fisheries Products International Ltd., owned mostly by the federal government. The company reported its first profit in 1986.
About one-third of Newfoundland is forested, and most of the rest of the island is made up of barren areas of moss and lichens. The forests consist almost entirely of conifers. Plants include the pitcher plant (Provincial flower), blueberry, and snakehead.
Animals native to the island are the black bear, woodland caribou, otter, muskrat, fox, and lynx. Moose were introduced onto the island early in the 20th century, and can be found in large numbers. Most animals found on the island are also found in Labrador. Additionally, Labrador has mink, wolverine, wolf, and caribou. Birds found in the province are the spruce partridge, ptarmigan, and osprey. Many varieties of ducks and geese make the province home in summer.
Black flies and mosquitos are very common in Labrador. Mosquitos can be seen as early as May until late September. Insect repellents are necessary and should be worn when visiting all wooded areas.
The Aurora Borealis lights result from solar electrons and protons striking molecules high in the Earth's atmosphere. Planetary aurora activity can sometimes be predicted after particularly active solar coronal mass ejections.
The province has two national parks: Gros Morne National Park, on Newfoundland's west coast, and Terra Nova National Park, in Bonavista Bay. There are three national historic parks: Signal Hill, at the entrance to St. John's harbor, where the first transatlantic wireless message was received in 1901; Castle Hill, at Placentia; and L'Anse aux Meadows, on the Northern Peninsula, where the first authentic Norse site was found in North America.
With Confederation in 1949, Newfoundland adopted the stamps of Canada but, prior to that time, this British Colony produced its own stamps. Newfoundland stamps are still fairly common, especially those of the past 100 years. The variety is rich, the stamps are colourful and the story they tell is a fascinating one. They are also legal postage if mailed from within Canada. Newfoundland stamps may be purchased from most stamp dealers.
There are two kinds of public holidays. New Year's Day, Good Friday, Canada Day, Labour Day, Remembrance Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day are traditional holidays when most stores and offices are required to close under the Shops Closing Act. They are celebrated on their calendar date.
On other holidays - St. Patrick's Day, St. George's Day, Victoria Day, Orangemen's Day, Thanksgiving Day - stores are not required to close, although many offices do under the terms of collective agreements. In these instances, the holiday is usually celebrated on the nearest Monday. If you are planning to travel on a holiday, check to see that any stores or offices you plan to visit are open.
Here are some quick facts about Newfoundland & Labrador:
Go here for more sites related to Newfoundland.
 |
Back to Main Page |
|
MAIN LINKS: About Great Big Sea | The Music | Tour Dates | Awards | Articles | About Newfoundland Home | Guest Book | Site Map | Help |
Last Updated:
Disclaimer: Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information on these pages, all transcriptions are subject to human error, and researchers should always check the original source of any list.
