Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador, the youngest of the Canadian provinces, joined Confederation at midnight on March 31, 1949. Some portion of the coast of this easternmost part of Canada was assuredly one of the first parts of the continent seen by Europeans. Tenth-century Viking explorers from Iceland and Greenland saw Labrador and settled briefly in the northern part of the Island of Newfoundland. In the late 15th century the Grand Banks southeast of Newfoundland were known to Basque, French and Portuguese fishermen.

Newfoundland and Labrador
Flag
Capital	St. John's
Largest City	St. John's
Official Languages	English
Area	405,212 km2 (Ranked 10th)
Population (2009)	509,739 (est.) (Ranked 9th)
GDP per capita	C$61,670 (Ranked 4th)
Abbreviation	NL
Web Site	www.gov.nl.ca

Newfoundland, often called "the Rock," is a large island off the east coast of Canada. The province has had astronomically high unemployment ever since the cod fisheries were shut down in 1992. Overfishing and climatic change have been blamed for the absence of cod in a part of the ocean that used to be teeming with them. Former Premier Brian Tobin, then the federal Minister of Fisheries, was the most prominent Canadian involved in Canada's seizure of a Spanish fishing trawler in 1995.

Newfoundland and Labrador is the only province to have its own breed of dog. Around the turn of the century, these dogs, harnessed to sleds, transported mail to remote areas of the province. These large dogs are noted for intelligence, docility, loyalty, and webbed feet that enable them to swim with ease. Another oddity of the province is its language - Newfoundland has its own dictionary: The Dictionary of Newfoundland English.

• Immigration to Newfoundland and Labrador
• Jobs in Newfoundland and Labrador
• Newfoundland and Labrador Universities and Colleges

Newfoundland and Labrador Facts

• This most easterly province is made up of Newfoundland (island) and Labrador (mainland).
• Thousands of small islands are also included. 
• Labrador is larger and is bordered by Quebec. The North Atlantic Ocean is to the east. 
• The island of Newfoundland is surrounded by the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean. 
• The capital city and largest city is St. John's.
• Flower - Pitcher Plant, tree - Black Spruce, bird - Atlantic Puffin. 
• Motto - "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God."
  

The People

• About 509,000 people live in Newfoundland and Labrador (2009).
• Most of the population lives on the island of Newfoundland.
• People live in fishing villages along the coast and small rural communities.
• About 60% of the people live in towns and cities.
• Early settlers mainly came from England, Ireland and Scotland.
• About 96% are British and Irish, and about 2% are of French descent
• Aboriginal ancestry include Micmac, Inuit, Innu and Métis.

History

• The first people of Newfoundland were the Beothuk (now extinct) who hunted caribou and fished. 
• For thousands of years ancestors of the Inuit hunted seal and polar bears along the Labrador coast.
• Vikings (Norsemen) were the first to visit Newfoundland and Labrador.
• Five hundred years later (in 1497) the explorer John Cabot arrived .
• He claimed the "new found isle" for the King of England. 
• Fishermen from France, England, Spain and Portugal fished in the waters of the Grand Banks.
• English, Irish and Scottish settlers built small villages along the coast.
• In 1949 Newfoundland became a Canada's tenth province.

Land and Water

• There are many bays and deep fiords along the coastlines.
• Pack ice and icebergs can be seen off the coastline.
• Much of the island, south and central Labrador - covered with thick forests, many rivers and lakes. 
• Torngat Mountains in Labrador - the most spectacular mountains east of the Rockies.
• Gros Morne National Park (west coast of Newfoundland) - mountains, forests, lakes, sand dunes
• Terra Nova National Park (east coast of Newfoundland) - rocky cliffs, rolling hills, forests, lakes, ponds
• Continental Shelf off the coast - includes shallow areas (banks) and deeper areas (troughs and channels)
• The Grand Banks - a shallow part of the Continental Shelf (less than 50 metres deep) that lie off the coast of Newfoundland. 

Climate

• In northern Labrador the climate is subarctic.
• The Atlantic Ocean affects the climate. 
• Summers are cool and winters are long.
• There are many storms, fog, strong winds, heavy precipitation and cold temperatures.
• Newfoundland experiences more fog than any of the other Atlantic Provinces.

Resources/Industries

• Main exports are oil, fish products, newsprint, iron ore and electricity.
• Newfoundland and Labrador are part of the Canadian Shield. 
• Iron ore is produced in Labrador. (Steel is made from iron ore.)
• Oil and gas are found under the Grand Banks.
• Churchill Falls in Labrador is the second largest hydroelectric power plant in the world. 
• Fishermen catch cod, herring, Atlantic salmon, flounder, turbot, halibut, tuna and haddock.
• Lobster, scallops, shrimp, and crab are also caught.
• Overfishing caused a severe decline of fish in the Grand Banks.
• Fish processing is an important industry. 
• Forests ( mostly coniferous trees ) cover one third of Newfoundland. 
• Summers are cool and the growing season is short. 

People and Places

• Signal Hill is a high cliff where Italian inventor Marconi received the first wireless signal (1901) from across the Atlantic Ocean.
• Titanic, a large passenger ship, sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg south of Newfoundland. 
• A transatlantic telegraph cable was laid on the bottom of the ocean from Ireland to Heart's Content, Newfoundland in 1866.
• Joey Smallwood - first premier of Newfoundland, the main force for bringing Newfoundland into Confederation in 1949
• Kevin Major - a Canadian children's author lives in St.John's.
• W.Grenfell - a doctor and missionary in the early 1900s, who visited fishing villages along the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland to care for the sick.