Newfoundland

Newfoundland is an island in the northeast Atlantic located near the North Atlantic fisheries. Originally settled by Native Americans, Europeans initially arrived there about 1000 B. c., when Viking explorers settled Vinland. Viking colonies lasted only a few years, and it was not until John Cabot “discovered” the island in 1497 that the region came into the imperial purview of western Europe.

Sir Humphrey Gilbert formally claimed Newfoundland for England in 1583. Interest in the island centered on the seasonal exploitation of the productive fisheries of the Grand Banks (particularly cod) rather than on permanent settlement. Thus, a fishing monopoly in the hands of merchant “adventurers” resulted, in which the island’s shores were only seasonally inhabited in order to cure and dry the cod catch. With passage of the Western Charter in 1634, Parliament formalized its anticolonization policy and helped to usher in the era of the “fishing admirals” under which ship masters ruled the few island inhabitants.

Unsuited to widespread agriculture due to a lack of topsoil and poor climate, Newfoundland depended almost totally on the offshore fishery as the basis of its economy. Beginning in the 16th century, fishermen built temporary structures in Newfoundland to provide facilities for the processing of fish. The settlements were hierarchical: capital was controlled in England by West Country merchants, a small class of planters owned much of the land, and bound servants carried out a great deal of the labor. Most work was performed by men; women made up only about 20 percent of the population in the 18th century. English merchants in the West Country attempted to restrict permanent settlements in order to protect their share of the fish trade and on grounds that migratory fishermen would form a base of trained seamen for the navy. The permanent population remained small, amounting to 3,000 settlers in 1720 and only about 6,000 by 1750.

Limited, simple rule characterized government in Newfoundland. By tradition, the master of the first ship to reach a harbor served as the fishing admiral, who exercised jurisdiction over property disputes. No governor or civil officers were appointed for Newfoundland until 1729, and when they were appointed, those officials were primarily naval officers from the offshore fleet.

France established a settlement at Placentia in 1662, which set into motion a series of conflicts among the French, British, and Dutch that resulted in the continual destruction of British settlements on the island. The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) forced the French to leave the island, although France continued to hold fishing rights around Newfoundland, which were reinforced by terms of the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Newfoundland did not become fully open to European settlement and the island did not receive a full-time resident governor until the early 19th century.

Further reading: Jerry Bannister, The Rule of the Admirals: Law, Custom, and Naval Government in Newfoundland, 1699-1832 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003); John Chadwick, Newfoundland: Island into Province (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967).

—Patrick Callaway and E. Jerry Jessee