Early history Early settlement in Labrador was tied to the sea as demonstrated by the Innu (formerly called Montagnais) and Inuit, although these peoples also made significant forays throughout the interior. It is believed that the
Norsemen were the first Europeans to sight Labrador around 1000 AD. The area was known as
Markland in
Greenlandic Norse and its inhabitants were known as the
Skrælings. whale oil melting factory at
Red BayIn 1499 and 1500, the Portuguese explorers
João Fernandes Lavrador and
Pero de Barcelos reached what was probably now Labrador, which is believed to be the origin of its name.
Maggiolo's World Map, 1511, shows a solid Eurasian continent running from Scandinavia around the North Pole, including Asia's arctic coast, to Newfoundland-Labrador and Greenland. On the extreme northeast promontory of North America, Maggiolo place names include
Terra de los Ingres (Land of the English), and
Terra de Lavorador de rey de portugall (Land of Lavrador of the King of Portugal). Farther south are the phrases
Terra de corte real e de rey de portugall (Land of the Royal Court and of the King of Portugal) and
Terra de pescaria (Land for Fishing). In the 1532 Wolfenbüttel map, believed to be the work of
Diogo Ribeiro, along the coast of Greenland, the following legend was added:
As he who first sighted it was a farmer from the Azores Islands, this name remains attached to that country. This is believed to be João Fernandes. For the first seven decades or so of the sixteenth century, the name Labrador was sometimes also applied to what is now known as Greenland. Labrador ("lavrador" in Portuguese) means husbandman or farmer of a tract of land (from "labor" in Latin) – the land of the labourer. European settlement was largely concentrated in coastal communities, particularly those south of St. Lewis and Cape Charles, and are among Canada's oldest European settlements. In 1542, Basque mariners came ashore at a natural harbour on the northeast coast of the Strait of Belle Isle. They gave this "new land" its Latin name
Terranova. A whaling station was set up around the bay, which they called
Butus and is now named Red Bay after the red terracotta roof tiles they brought with them. A whaling ship, the
San Juan, sank there in 1565 and was raised in 1978. was established in 1771 by
Moravian missionariesThe
Moravian Brethren of
Herrnhut,
Saxony, first came to the Labrador Coast in 1760 to minister to the migratory Inuit tribes there. They founded Nain, Okak, Hebron, Hopedale and Makkovik. Quite poor, both European and First Nations settlements along coastal Labrador came to benefit from cargo and relief vessels that were operated as part of the
Grenfell Mission (see
Wilfred Grenfell). Throughout the 20th century, coastal freighters and ferries operated initially by the
Newfoundland Railway and later
Canadian National Railway/
CN Marine/
Marine Atlantic became a critical lifeline for communities on the coast, which for the majority of that century did not have any road connection with the rest of North America. Labrador was part of
New France until the
Seven Years' War. By the
Treaty of Paris (1763), which ended the war, New France (including Labrador, though excluding the islands of
Saint Pierre and Miquelon southwest of Newfoundland) was transferred to the British, who administered the northern portion of it as the
Province of Quebec until splitting it in two in 1791, with Labrador located in
Lower Canada. However, in 1809, the British Imperial government detached Labrador from Lower Canada for transfer to the separate, self-governing
Newfoundland Colony.
20th century As part of
Newfoundland since 1809, Labrador was still being disputed by
Quebec until the British
Privy Council resolved their border in 1927. In 1949,
Newfoundland entered into confederation, becoming part of Canada. Labrador played strategic roles during both
World War II and the
Cold War. In October 1943, a German
U-boat crew installed an automated weather station on the northern tip of Labrador near Cape Chidley, code-named
Weather Station Kurt; the installation of the equipment was the only-known armed German military operation on the North American mainland during the war. The station broadcast weather observations to the German navy for only a few days, but was not discovered until 1977 when a historian, working with the
Canadian Coast Guard, identified its location and mounted an expedition to recover it. The station is now exhibited in the
Canadian War Museum. The Canadian government built a major air force base at
Goose Bay, at the head of
Lake Melville during the Second World War, a site selected because of its topography, access to the sea, defensible location, and minimal fog. During the Second World War and the Cold War, the base was also home to American, British, and later German, Dutch, and Italian detachments. Today, Serco, the company contracted to operate
CFB Goose Bay is one of the largest employers for the community of
Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Additionally, both the
Royal Canadian Air Force and
United States Air Force built and operated a number of radar stations along coastal Labrador as part of the
Pinetree Line,
Mid-Canada Line and
DEW Line systems. Today, the remaining stations are automated as part of the
North Warning System; however, the military settlements during the early part of the Cold War surrounding these stations have largely continued as local Innu and Inuit populations have clustered near their port and airfield facilities. During the first half of the 20th century, some of the largest
iron ore deposits in the world were discovered in the western part of Labrador and adjacent areas of Quebec. Deposits at
Mont Wright,
Schefferville, Labrador City, and Wabush drove industrial development and human settlement in the area during the second half of the 20th century. The present community of
Labrador West is entirely a result of the iron ore mining activities in the region. The Iron Ore Company of Canada operates the
Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway to transport ore concentrate south to the port of
Sept-Îles, Quebec, for shipment to steel mills in North America and elsewhere. During the 1960s, the
Churchill River (Labrador name: Grand River) was diverted at
Churchill Falls, resulting in the flooding of an enormous area – today named the Smallwood Reservoir after
Joey Smallwood, the first premier of Newfoundland. The flooding of the reservoir destroyed large areas of habitat for the threatened Woodland Caribou. A hydroelectric generating station was built in Labrador as well as a transmission line to the neighbouring province of Quebec. Construction of a large
hydroelectric dam project at
Muskrat Falls began in 2012 by
Nalcor Energy and the Province of Newfoundland. Muskrat Falls is 45 km (30 miles) west of
Happy Valley-Goose Bay on the Grand River (Newfoundland name: Churchill River). A transmission line began construction in October 2014 and was completed in 2016 that delivers power down to the southern tip of Labrador and underwater across the Strait of Belle Isle to the Province of Newfoundland in 2018. From the 1970s to early 2000s, the
Trans-Labrador Highway was built in stages to connect various inland communities with the North American highway network at
Mont Wright, Quebec (which in turn is connected by a highway running north from
Baie-Comeau, Quebec). A southern extension of this highway has opened in stages during the early 2000s and is resulting in significant changes to the coastal ferry system in the Strait of Belle Isle and southeastern Labrador. These "highways" are so called only because of their importance to the region; they would be better described as roads, and were not completely paved until July 2022. A study on a
fixed link to Newfoundland, in 2004, recommended that a tunnel under the
Strait of Belle Isle, being a single railway that would carry cars, buses and trucks, was technologically the best option for such a link. However, the study also concluded that a fixed link was not economically viable. Conceivably, if built with federal aid, the 1949 terms of union would be amended to remove ferry service from
Nova Scotia to
Port aux Basques across the
Cabot Strait. Although a
highway link has, as of December 2009, been completed across Labrador, this route is somewhat longer than a proposed
Quebec North Shore highway that presently does not exist. Part of the "highway",
Route 389, starting approximately from Baie-Comeau to , is of an inferior alignment, and from there to , the provincial border, is an accident-prone section notorious for its poor surface and sharp curves. Quebec in April 2009 announced major upgrades to Route 389 to be carried out. Route 389 and the Trans-Labrador Highway were added to Canada's
National Highway System in September 2005.
Labrador constitutes a federal electoral district electing one member to the
House of Commons of Canada. Due to its size, distinct nature, and large Aboriginal population, Labrador has one seat despite having the smallest population of any electoral district in Canada. Formerly, Labrador was part of a riding that included part of the Island of Newfoundland. Labrador is divided into four provincial electoral districts in the
Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly. ==Geography==