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.
-Titanic, a large passenger ship, sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg south 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.
THE PEOPLE
-About 508, 944 people live in Newfoundland and Labrador (2008).
-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.
Trinity Museum Description
Over 1000 items are on display in the historical little trinity Museum and Archives, built in 1880 and open everyday in the summer: includes models of ships and items connected with whale-catching and with handicrafts such as shoe-making
