View source for Newfoundland and Labrador

{{short description|Province of Canada}}
{{redirect|Newfoundland|the island|Newfoundland (island)|other uses}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=September 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}{{bots|deny=Citation bot}}
{{Infobox province or territory of Canada
| name                    = Newfoundland and Labrador
| settlement_type         = [[Provinces and territories of Canada|Province]]
| other_name              = {{lang|fr|Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador}} {{no bold|([[Newfoundland French|French]])}}<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Natural Resources Canada |title=Place names – Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador |url=http://www4.rncan.gc.ca/search-place-names/unique/ACPVZ |access-date=November 15, 2021|archive-date=December 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217192112/http://www4.rncan.gc.ca/search-place-names/unique/ACPVZ |url-status=live }}</ref>
| image_flag              = Flag of Newfoundland and Labrador.svg
| image_shield            = Coat of arms of Newfoundland and Labrador.svg
| motto                   = {{nowrap|{{native name|la|Quaerite prime regnum Dei}}<br />"Seek ye first the kingdom of God" ([[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] 6:33)}}
| image_map               = Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada 2.svg
| Label_map               = yes
| coordinates             = {{Coord|53|13|48|N|59|59|57|W|type:adm1st_scale:30000000_region:CA-NL|notes=<ref>{{Cite cgndb|ACPVY|Newfoundland and Labrador}}</ref>|display=inline,title}}
| official_lang           = English (''[[de facto]]'')<ref>{{cite web | title = The Legal Context of Canada's Official Languages | publisher = University of Ottawa | url = https://slmc.uottawa.ca/?q=english_french_legal | access-date = March 7, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161221032458/https://slmc.uottawa.ca/?q=english_french_legal | archive-date = December 21, 2016 | url-status = dead | df = mdy-all }}</ref>
| capital                 = [[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's]]
| largest_city            = [[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's]]
| largest_metro           = [[St. John's metropolitan area|Greater St. John's]]
| government_type         = [[Parliamentary system|Parliamentary]] [[constitutional monarchy]]
| ViceroyType             = Lieutenant governor
| Viceroy                 = [[Joan Marie Aylward]]
| Premier                 = [[Andrew Furey]]
| Legislature             = Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly
| area_rank               = 10th
| area_total_km2          = 405212
| area_land_km2           = 373872
| area_water_km2          = 31340
| PercentWater            = 7.7
| population_demonym      = [[Newfoundland (Island)|Newfoundlander]]<br />[[Labradorian]] <br/>(see notes){{efn|Although the term ''[[Newfie]]'' is sometimes used in casual speech, some Newfoundlanders consider it a [[pejorative]].}}
| population_rank         = 9th
| population_total        = 510550<!--2021 StatCan federal census population only per [[WP:CANPOP]]. Do not update until 2026 census population released. Use "Population_est" below for latest StatCan quarterly estimate.-->
| population_ref          = <ref name=StatCan2021>{{cite web |url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810000101 |title=Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories |publisher=[[Statistics Canada]] |date=February 9, 2022 |access-date=February 9, 2022 |url-status=live |archive-date=February 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209134802/https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810000101 }}</ref>
| population_as_of        = [[2021 Canadian census|2021]]
| population_est          = 545247<!-- Latest StatCan quarterly estimate only. -->
| pop_est_as_of           = Q3 2024
| pop_est_ref             = <ref>{{Cite web |date=September 27, 2023 |title=Population estimates, quarterly |url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1710000901 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928010937/https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1710000901 |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |access-date=September 28, 2023 |publisher=[[Statistics Canada]]}}</ref>
| DensityRank             = 10th
| Density_km2             = 1.4<ref name=2016census/>
| GDP_year                = 2011
| GDP_total               = C$33.624&nbsp;billion<ref name=GDP2011>{{cite web |url=http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/econ15-eng.htm |title=Gross domestic product, expenditure-based, by province and territory (2011) |publisher=Statistics Canada |date=November 19, 2013 |access-date=September 26, 2013 |archive-date=September 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919211233/http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/econ15-eng.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
| GDP_rank                = 8th
| GDP_per_capita          = C$65,556
| GDP_per_capita_rank     = 5th
| Former                  = Dominion of Newfoundland
| AdmittanceOrder         = 12th
| AdmittanceDate          = March 31, 1949
| HouseSeats              = 7
| SenateSeats             = 6
| timezone1_location      = Newfoundland
| timezone1               = [[Newfoundland Time Zone]]
| utc_offset1             = -03:30
| timezone1_DST           =
| utc_offset1_DST         =
| timezone2_location      = Labrador ([[Black Tickle]] and North)
| timezone2               = [[Atlantic Time Zone]]
| utc_offset2             = -04:00
| timezone2_DST           =
| utc_offset2_DST         =
| PostalAbbreviation      = NL (formerly NF)
| PostalCodePrefix         = [[List of A Postal Codes of Canada|A]]
| iso_code                = CA-NL
| website                 = www.gov.nl.ca
| flower                  = [[Sarracenia purpurea|Pitcher plant]]
| tree                    = [[Black spruce]]
| bird                    = [[Atlantic puffin]]
| HDI_year                = 2021
| HDI                     = 0.900<ref>{{cite web|title=Sub-national HDI  |url=https://globaldatalab.org/shdi/shdi/CAN/?levels=1%2B4&interpolation=1&extrapolation=0&nearest_real=0|access-date=July 18, 2021 |publisher=Global Data Lab |archive-date=July 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210718222007/https://globaldatalab.org/shdi/shdi/CAN/?levels=1%2B4&interpolation=1&extrapolation=0&nearest_real=0|url-status=live}}</ref>—<span style="color:#090">Very high</span>
| HDI_rank                = [[List of Canadian provinces and territories by Human Development Index|13th]]
}}

'''Newfoundland and Labrador''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|nj|uː|f|ən|(|d|)|l|æ|n|d|...|'|l|æ|b|r|ə|d|ɔːr|,_|...}} {{respelling|NEW|fən(d)|lənd|_|...|_|LAB|rə|dor|,_|-|land|_...}}, {{IPAc-en|local|ˌ|nj|uː|f|ən|ˈ|l|æ|n|d|...}} {{respelling|NEW|fən|LAND|_...}}; {{lang-fr|Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador}}; frequently abbreviated as '''NL''') is the easternmost [[provinces and territories of Canada|province of Canada]], in the country's [[Atlantic Canada|Atlantic region]]. The province comprises the island of [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]] and the continental region of [[Labrador]], having a total size of {{cvt|405,212|km2}}.  As of 2024 the population of Newfoundland and Labrador was estimated to be 545,247.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Department of Finance |date=January 1, 2024 |title=People |url=https://www.gov.nl.ca/fin/economics/eb-population/ |access-date=April 24, 2024 |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329051247/https://www.gov.nl.ca/fin/economics/eb-population/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The island of Newfoundland (and its smaller neighbouring islands) is home to around 94 per cent of the province's population, with more than half residing in the [[Avalon Peninsula]]. Labrador shares a land border with both the province of [[Quebec]] and the territory of [[Nunavut]] on [[Killiniq Island]]. The French [[overseas collectivity]] of [[Saint Pierre and Miquelon]] lies about {{cvt|20|km}} west of the [[Burin Peninsula]]. 

According to the 2016 census, 97.0% of residents reported English as their native language, making Newfoundland and Labrador Canada's most linguistically homogeneous province. Much of the population is descended from English and Irish settlers, with the majority immigrating from the early 17th century to the late 19th century.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Handcock |first1=Gordon |title=English |url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/english.php |website=Heritage: Newfoundland and Labrador |access-date=2 September 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Mannion |first1=John |title=The Irish in Newfoundland |url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/irish-newfoundland.php |website=Heritage: Newfoundland and Labrador |access-date=2 September 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Handcock |first1=Gordon |title=The West Country |url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/west-country.php |website=Heritage: Newfoundland and Labrador |access-date=3 September 2024}}</ref>
[[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's]], the capital and largest city of Newfoundland and Labrador, is Canada's 22nd-largest [[Census geographic units of Canada|census metropolitan area]] and home to about 40% of the province's population. St. John's is the seat of the [[House of Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador]] as well as the province's highest court, the [[Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal]].

Until 1949, the [[Dominion of Newfoundland]] was a separate [[dominion]] in the British Empire. In 1933, the House of Assembly of the self-governing dominion voted to dissolve itself and to hand over administration of Newfoundland and Labrador to the British-appointed [[Newfoundland Commission of Government|Commission of Government]]. This followed the suffering caused by the [[Great Depression]] and Newfoundland's participation in the [[First World War]]. On March 31, 1949, it became the 10th and most recent province to join the Canadian Confederation as "Newfoundland". On December 6, 2001, the [[Constitution of Canada]] was amended to [[geographical renaming|change the province's name]] from "Newfoundland" to "Newfoundland and Labrador".
{{TOC limit|3}}

==Names==
The name "New founde lande" was uttered by [[King Henry VII]] about the land explored by [[Sebastian Cabot (explorer)|Sebastian]] and [[John Cabot]]. In [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], it is {{lang|pt|Terra Nova}} (while the province's full name is {{lang|pt|Terra Nova e Labrador}}), which literally means "new land" and is also the French name for the province's island region ({{lang|fr|Terre-Neuve}}). The name "Terra Nova" is in wide use on the island (e.g. [[Terra Nova National Park]]). The influence of early Portuguese exploration is also reflected in the name of Labrador, which derives from the surname of the [[History of Portugal (1415–1578)#Chronology of the Portuguese discoveries|Portuguese navigator]] [[João Fernandes Lavrador]].<ref>Hamilton, William B. (1978): ''The Macmillan book of Canadian place names'', Macmillan of Canada, Toronto, p. 105.</ref>

Labrador's name in the [[Inuttitut]]/[[Inuktitut]] language (spoken in [[Nunatsiavut]]) is {{lang|iu-Latn|Nunatsuak}} ({{Lang|iu|ᓄᓇᑦᓱᐊᒃ}}), meaning "the big land" (a common English nickname for Labrador<ref>{{Cite web |title=Four of the best places to visit in The Big Land |url=https://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/trip-ideas/travel-stories/four-of-the-best-places-to-visit-in-the-big-land |access-date=June 18, 2022 |website=Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada – Official Tourism Website |language=en |archive-date=June 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625073039/https://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/trip-ideas/travel-stories/four-of-the-best-places-to-visit-in-the-big-land |url-status=live }}</ref>). Newfoundland's Inuttitut/Inuktitut name is {{lang|iu-Latn|Ikkarumikluak}} ({{Lang|iu|ᐃᒃᑲᕈᒥᒃᓗᐊᒃ}}), meaning "place of many shoals". Newfoundland and Labrador's Inuttitut / Inuktitut name is ''{{lang|iu-Latn|Ikkarumikluak aamma Nunatsuak}}''.

'''{{lang|fr|Terre-Neuve et Labrador}}''' is the French name used in the Constitution of Canada. However, [[French language in Canada|French]] is not widely spoken in Newfoundland and Labrador and is not an official language at the provincial level.

On April 29, 1999, the government of [[Brian Tobin]] passed a motion in the [[Newfoundland House of Assembly]] requesting the federal government amend the ''[[Newfoundland Act]]'' to change the province's name to "Newfoundland and Labrador". A resolution approving the name change was put forward in the [[Canadian House of Commons|House of Commons]] in October 2001, introduced by Tobin who had moved to federal politics. Tobin's successor as premier [[Roger Grimes]] stated: "The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is firmly committed to ensuring official recognition of Labrador as an equal partner in this province, and a constitutional name change of our province will reiterate that commitment".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/2001/exec/1026n03.htm|title=Federal government moves forward with province's request for provincial name change|publisher=Government of Newfoundland and Labrador|date=26 October 2001|access-date=3 December 2023|archive-date=December 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202223334/https://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/2001/exec/1026n03.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Following approval by the House of Commons and the Senate, Governor-General [[Adrienne Clarkson]] officially proclaimed the name change on December 6, 2001.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-s-name-change-now-official-1.279040|title=Newfoundland's name change now official|publisher=CBC News|date=6 December 2001|access-date=3 December 2023|archive-date=October 30, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030230839/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-s-name-change-now-official-1.279040|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Geography==
{{Main|Geography of Newfoundland and Labrador}}
Newfoundland and Labrador is the most easterly province in Canada, situated in the northeastern region of [[North America]].<ref name="Geo">{{cite web|url=http://www.nlimmigration.ca/about-newfoundland-and-labrador/geography-and-climate.aspx|title=Geography and Climate|publisher=Government of Newfoundland and Labrador|access-date=January 10, 2011|archive-date=October 31, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101031113304/http://www.nlimmigration.ca/about-newfoundland-and-labrador/geography-and-climate.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Strait of Belle Isle]] separates the province into two geographical parts: Labrador, connected to mainland Canada, and Newfoundland, an island in the [[Atlantic Ocean]].<ref name="sve">{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/environment/landscape.html|title=Landscape (of Newfoundland and Labrador)|last=Bell|first=Trevor|author2=Liverman, David|publisher=Memorial University of Newfoundland|access-date=June 16, 2008|archive-date=March 15, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315115626/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/environment/landscape.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The province also includes over 7,000 tiny islands.<ref name="atlas">{{cite web|url=http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/learningresources/facts/islands.html|title=Atlas of Canada: Sea islands|publisher=Natural Resources Canada (Government of Canada)|access-date=June 16, 2008|archive-date=January 22, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122002132/http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/learningresources/facts/islands.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The highest point of the province is  [[Mount Caubvick]] with the highest point on Newfoundland being [[Cabox]]. 

Newfoundland has a roughly triangular shape. Each side is about {{cvt|400|km}} long, and its area is {{cvt|108860|km2}}.<ref name="atlas"/> Newfoundland and its neighbouring small islands (excluding French possessions) have an area of {{cvt|111390|km2}}.<ref name="NF gov">{{cite web|url=http://www.gov.nf.ca/aboutnl/area.htm|title=About Newfoundland and Labrador: Land Area|publisher=Government of Newfoundland and Labrador|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061003160224/http://www.gov.nf.ca/aboutnl/area.htm |archive-date=October 3, 2006 |access-date=January 30, 2018 }}</ref> Newfoundland extends between latitudes 46°36′N and 51°38′N.<ref name="abc">{{cite web|url=http://www2.marianopolis.edu/nfldhistory/Newfoundland%20geography.html|title=Newfoundland Geography|last=Bélanger|first=Claude|publisher=Marianopolis College|access-date=June 16, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070412042640/http://www2.marianopolis.edu/nfldhistory/Newfoundland%20geography.html|archive-date=April 12, 2007}}</ref><ref name="cde">{{cite web|url=http://www.nlbusiness.ca/aboutnl/location.html|title=Location and Climate|publisher=Government of Newfoundland and Labrador|access-date=June 16, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080415200111/http://www.nlbusiness.ca/aboutnl/location.html |archive-date = April 15, 2008}}</ref>

Labrador is also roughly triangular in shape: the western part of its border with [[Quebec]] is the [[drainage divide]] of the [[Labrador Peninsula]]. Lands drained by rivers that flow into the Atlantic Ocean are part of Labrador, and the rest belongs to Quebec. Most of Labrador's southern boundary with Quebec follows the 52nd parallel of latitude. Labrador's extreme northern tip, at 60°22′N, shares a short border with [[Nunavut]] on [[Killiniq Island]]. Labrador also has a maritime border with [[Greenland]]. Labrador's land area (including associated small islands) is {{cvt|294330|km2}}.<ref name="NF gov"/> Together, Newfoundland and Labrador make up 4.06 per cent of Canada's area,<ref name="atlas area">{{cite web|url=http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/learningresources/facts/surfareas.html|title=Atlas of Canada: Land and Freshwater Areas|publisher=Natural Resources Canada (Government of Canada)|access-date=June 16, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616053900/http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/learningresources/facts/surfareas.html|archive-date=June 16, 2008}}</ref> with a total area of {{cvt|405720|km2}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=About Newfoundland and Labrador: Land Area |publisher=Province of Newfoundland and Labrador |url=https://www.gov.nl.ca/aboutnl/area.html |access-date=January 30, 2018 |archive-date=January 31, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180131200924/https://www.gov.nl.ca/aboutnl/area.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Geology===
{{Main|Geology of Newfoundland and Labrador}}
[[File:NLW Table2 tango7174.jpg|thumb|The [[Long Range Mountains]] on Newfoundland's west coast are the northernmost extension of the [[Appalachian Mountains]].]]
Labrador is the easternmost part of the [[Canadian Shield]], a vast area of ancient [[metamorphic rock]] making up much of northeastern [[North America]]. Colliding [[plate tectonic|tectonic]] plates have shaped much of the geology of Newfoundland. [[Gros Morne National Park]] has a reputation as an outstanding example of tectonics at work,<ref name="just">{{cite web|url=http://www.pc.gc.ca/docs/pm-wh/rspm-whsr/rapports-reports/r3_e.asp|title=Report on the State of Conservation of Gros Morne National Park|publisher=Parks Canada|access-date=June 16, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050805075101/http://www.pc.gc.ca/docs/pm-wh/rspm-whsr/rapports-reports/r3_e.asp|archive-date=August 5, 2005}}</ref> and as such has been designated a [[World Heritage Site]]. The [[Long Range Mountains]] on Newfoundland's west coast are the northeasternmost extension of the [[Appalachian Mountains]].<ref name="sve"/>

The north-south extent of the province (46°36′N to 60°22′N), prevalent westerly winds, cold ocean currents and local factors such as mountains and coastline combine to create the various climates of the province.<ref name="tre">{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/environment/climate.html|title=Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Web Site: Climate|publisher=Memorial University of Newfoundland|access-date=June 16, 2008|archive-date=November 19, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141119144357/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/environment/climate.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Climate===
Newfoundland, in broad terms, has a cool summer subtype, with a [[humid continental climate]] attributable to its proximity to water — no part of the island is more than {{cvt|100|km}} from the [[Atlantic Ocean]].<ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last=Bornstein |first=Stephen |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1223011941 |title=Newfoundland and Labrador : a health system profile |date=2021 |others=John Abbott, Victor Maddalena, Aimee Letto, Melissa Sullivan, Pablo Navarro |isbn=978-1-4875-0840-1 |location=Toronto |oclc=1223011941|publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]]}}</ref> However, Northern Labrador is classified as a [[Polar region|polar]] [[tundra]] climate, and southern Labrador has a [[subarctic climate]].<ref name="ses">{{cite web |title=Climate Characteristics |url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/environment/seasonal.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080618214933/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/environment/seasonal.html |archive-date=June 18, 2008 |access-date=June 17, 2008 |publisher=Memorial University of Newfoundland}}</ref> Newfoundland and Labrador contain a range of climates and weather patterns, including frequent combinations of high winds, snow, rain, and fog, conditions that regularly made travel by road, air, or ferry challenging or impossible.<ref name=":10"/>
[[File:Newfoundland and Labrador Köppen.svg|thumb|[[Köppen climate classification|Köppen climate types]] of Newfoundland and Labrador]]
Monthly average temperatures, rainfall levels, and snowfall levels for four locations are shown in the attached graphs. [[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's]] represents the east coast, [[Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador|Gander]] the interior of the island, [[Corner Brook]] the west coast of the island and [[Wabush, Newfoundland and Labrador|Wabush]] the interior of Labrador. Climate data for 56 places in the province is available from [[Environment Canada]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_normals/stnselect_1981_2010_e.html?lang=e&province=NL&provSubmit=go|title=Station Results – 1981–2010 Climate Normals and Averages|publisher=Environment Canada|access-date=May 9, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316212407/http://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_normals/stnselect_1981_2010_e.html?lang=e&province=NL&provSubmit=go|archive-date=March 16, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The data for the graphs is the average over 30 years. Error bars on the temperature graph indicate the range of daytime highs and night time lows. Snowfall is the total amount that fell during the month, not the amount accumulated on the ground. This distinction is particularly important for St. John's, where a heavy snowfall can be followed by rain, so no snow remains on the ground.

Surface water temperatures on the Atlantic side reach a summer average of {{cvt|12|C}} inshore and {{cvt|9|C}} offshore to winter lows of {{cvt|-1|C}} inshore and {{cvt|2|C}} offshore.<ref name="ghi"/> Sea temperatures on the west coast are warmer than Atlantic side by 1–3&nbsp;°C (approximately 2–5&nbsp;°F). The sea keeps winter temperatures slightly higher and summer temperatures a little lower on the coast than inland.<ref name="ghi"/> The maritime climate produces more variable weather, ample precipitation in a variety of forms, greater [[humidity]], lower visibility, more clouds, less sunshine, and higher winds than a continental climate.<ref name="ghi">{{cite web|url=http://atlantic-web1.ns.ec.gc.ca/climatecentre/default.asp?lang=En&n=83846147-1|title=The Climate of Newfoundland|publisher=Environment Canada|access-date=June 17, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080519102701/http://atlantic-web1.ns.ec.gc.ca/climatecentre/default.asp?lang=En&n=83846147-1 |archive-date = May 19, 2008}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin:auto;"
|+Average daily maximum and minimum temperatures for selected locations in Newfoundland and Labrador<ref name="Canadian Climate Normals or Averages 1971–2000">{{cite web|url=http://climate.weatheroffice.gc.ca/Welcome_e.html|title=National Climate Data and Information Archive|publisher=Environment Canada|access-date=September 2, 2010|archive-date=December 11, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091211013802/http://climate.weatheroffice.gc.ca/Welcome_e.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
!Location
!July (°C)
!July (°F)
!January (°C)
!January (°F)
|-
|[[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's]] || 20/11 || 68/52 || −1/−9 || 30/16
|-
|[[Grand Falls-Windsor]] || 23/11 || 73/52 || −2/–12 || 27/9
|-
|[[Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador|Gander]] || 21/11 || 71/51 || −3/−12 || 26/11
|-
|[[Corner Brook]] || 22/13 || 71/55 || −3/−10 || 28/15
|-
|[[Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador|Stephenville]] || 20/12 || 68/54 || −2/−9 || 27/15
|-
|[[Fogo Island, Newfoundland and Labrador|Fogo Island]] || 19/10 || 66/50 || −3/–9 || 26/16
|-
|[[Labrador City]] || 19/8 || 66/47 || −16/–27 || 2/–18
|-
|[[Happy Valley-Goose Bay]] || 21/10 || 69/50 || −12/−22 || 9/−8
|-
|[[Nain, Newfoundland and Labrador|Nain]] || 15/5 || 59/41 || −14/−23 || 7/−10
|}

==History==
{{Main|History of Newfoundland and Labrador}}
{{See|Monarchy in Newfoundland and Labrador#History}}

===Early history and the Beothuks===
[[File:Port au Choix Artwork.jpg|thumb|An artistic depiction of the [[Maritime Archaic]] culture, at the [[Port au Choix Archaeological Site]]. The Maritime [[Archaic Period (Americas)|Archaic]] peoples were the first to settle Newfoundland.]]

==== Dorset culture ====
Human habitation in Newfoundland and Labrador can be traced back about 9,000 years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.therooms.ca/museum/mnotes12.asp|title=Museum Notes – The Maritime Archaic Tradition|last=Tuck|first=James A.|publisher="The Rooms" Provincial museum|access-date=June 17, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060510135435/http://www.therooms.ca/museum/mnotes12.asp|archive-date=May 10, 2006}}</ref> The [[Maritime Archaic]] peoples were [[marine mammal|sea-mammal]] hunters in the [[subarctic]].<ref name=Bogucki/> They prospered along the [[Arctic Ocean|Atlantic Coast]] of [[North America]] from about 7000&nbsp;BC to 1500&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.therooms.ca/museum/mnotes12.asp|title=Museum Notes-The Maritime Archaic Tradition|work=By James A. Tuck-The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery|access-date=October 5, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060510135435/http://www.therooms.ca/museum/mnotes12.asp|archive-date=May 10, 2006}}</ref> Their settlements included [[longhouses]] and boat-topped temporary or seasonal houses.<ref name=Bogucki/> They engaged in long-distance trade, using as currency white [[chert]], a rock quarried from northern Labrador to [[Maine]].<ref>{{cite book
|last=Tuck
|first=J. A.
|title=The excavation of an Archaic Indian Cemetery in Newfoundland. Newfoundland Social and Economic Studies 17
|year=1976
|publisher=Institute of Social and Economic Research
|location=St. John's
|chapter=Ancient peoples of Port au Choix
|isbn=978-0-919666-12-2
}}
</ref> The southern branch of these people was established on the north peninsula of Newfoundland by 5,000 years ago.<ref name="pastore"/> The Maritime Archaic period is best known from a [[mortuary]] site in Newfoundland at [[Port au Choix]].<ref name=Bogucki>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E_2ZHVg5-3QC&pg=PA139|page=139|title=The Origins of Human Society|first=Peter I|last=Bogucki|publisher=Blackwell|year=1999|isbn=978-1-55786-349-2|access-date=May 2, 2011|archive-date=May 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523120627/https://books.google.com/books?id=E_2ZHVg5-3QC&pg=PA139|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Maritime Archaic peoples were gradually displaced by people of the [[Dorset culture]] (Late [[Paleo-Eskimo]]) who also occupied Port au Choix. The number of their sites discovered on Newfoundland indicates they may have been the most numerous Aboriginal people to live there. They thrived from about 2000 BC to 800 AD. Many of their sites were on exposed [[headland]]s and outer islands. They were more oriented to the sea than earlier peoples, and had developed sleds and boats similar to [[kayak]]s. They burned seal [[blubber]] in soapstone lamps.<ref name="pastore">[http://www.heritage.nf.ca/aboriginal/palaeo.html Ralph T. Pastore, "Aboriginal Peoples: Palaeo-Eskimo Peoples"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923033457/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/aboriginal/palaeo.html |date=September 23, 2013 }}, Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage: Newfoundland and Labrador Studies Site 2205, 1998, Memorial University of Newfoundland</ref>

<blockquote>Many of these sites, such as [[Port au Choix]], recently excavated by Memorial archaeologist, Priscilla Renouf, are quite large and show evidence of a long-term commitment to place. Renouf has excavated huge amounts of [[harp seal]] bones at Port au Choix, indicating that this place was a prime location for the hunting of these animals.<ref name="pastore"/></blockquote>

The people of the Dorset culture (800 BC – 1500 AD) were highly adapted to a cold climate, and much of their food came from hunting sea mammals through holes in the ice.<ref name="Wonders">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHsyINzEEgEC&pg=PA88|pages=88–89|title=Canada's Changing North|first=William C|last=Wonders|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0-7735-2590-0|access-date=May 23, 2022|archive-date=May 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523120626/https://books.google.com/books?id=PHsyINzEEgEC&pg=PA88|url-status=live}}</ref> The massive decline in sea ice during the [[Medieval Warm Period]] would have had a devastating effect upon their way of life.<ref name="Wonders"/>

==== Beothuk settlement ====
[[File:Labrador Eskimoindianer, nach den Berichten eines Herrnhuter Missionars, 1812.jpg|thumb|upright|Depiction of the [[Inuit]] of Labrador, {{circa|1812}}]]
The appearance of the [[Beothuk]] culture is believed to be the most recent cultural manifestation of peoples who first migrated from Labrador to Newfoundland around 1 AD.<ref name="Marshall">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ckOav3Szu7oC&pg=PA13|page=13|title=A History and Ethnography of the Beothuk|first=Ingeborg|last=Marshall|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|year=1998|isbn=978-0-7735-1774-5|access-date=November 18, 2020|archive-date=August 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815185014/https://books.google.com/books?id=ckOav3Szu7oC&pg=PA13|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Inuit]], found mostly in Labrador, are the descendants of what [[anthropologist]]s call the [[Thule people]], who emerged from western Alaska around 1000 AD and spread eastwards across the [[High Arctic tundra]] reaching Labrador around 1300–1500.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/nativeamericanen0000prit|url-access=registration|quote=Inuit migration to labrador.|page=[https://archive.org/details/nativeamericanen0000prit/page/535 535]|title=A Native American encyclopedia: history, culture, and peoples|first=Barry |last=Pritzker|publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000|isbn=978-0-19-513877-1}}</ref> Researchers believe the Dorset culture lacked the dogs, larger weapons and other technologies that gave the expanding Inuit an advantage.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P69EpMJ-C_8C&q=Dorset%20culture%20lacked%20dogs&pg=PA101|page=101|title=Inujjuamiut foraging strategies : evolutionary ecology of an arctic hunting economy|last=Smith|first=Eric Alden|publisher=A. de Gruyter|year=1991|isbn=978-0-202-01181-3|access-date=November 18, 2020|archive-date=August 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814132645/https://books.google.com/books?id=P69EpMJ-C_8C&q=Dorset%20culture%20lacked%20dogs&pg=PA101|url-status=live}}</ref>

The inhabitants eventually organized themselves into small [[Band society|bands]] of a few families, grouped into larger [[tribe]]s and [[chieftainship]]s. The [[Innu]] are the inhabitants of an area they refer to as ''[[Nitassinan]]'', i.e. most of what is now referred to as northeastern [[Quebec]] and Labrador. Their subsistence activities were historically centered on hunting and trapping [[caribou]], [[deer]] and small game.<ref name="Luebering">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bnabh4i3ppMC&q=Innu+traditional+diet&pg=PA37|page=37|title=Native American History|publisher=Educational Britannica Educational|first=J E|last=Luebering|year=2011|isbn=978-1-61530-265-9|access-date=November 18, 2020|archive-date=August 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814103130/https://books.google.com/books?id=Bnabh4i3ppMC&q=Innu+traditional+diet&pg=PA37|url-status=live}}</ref> Coastal clans also practiced agriculture, fished and managed [[maple sugar]] bush.<ref name="Luebering"/> The Innu engaged in tribal warfare along the coast of Labrador with Inuit groups that had large populations.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GkAuYRVjlE8C&q=Innu%20and%20Inuit%20warfare&pg=PA102|page=102|title=Aboriginal peoples of Canada: a short introduction|first=Paul R|last=Magocsi|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-8020-3630-8|access-date=November 18, 2020|archive-date=August 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815022128/https://books.google.com/books?id=GkAuYRVjlE8C&q=Innu%20and%20Inuit%20warfare&pg=PA102|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Miꞌkmaq]] of southern Newfoundland spent most of their time on the shores harvesting seafood; during the winter they would move inland to the woods to hunt.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-PRUMG5Ukx4C&q=Mi'kmaq&pg=PA4|page=4|title=Mi'kmaq landscapes: from animism to sacred ecology|first=Anne-Christine|last=Hornborg|publisher=Burlington, VT : Ashgate|year=2007|isbn=978-0-7546-6371-3|access-date=July 16, 2022|archive-date=August 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816163958/https://books.google.com/books?id=-PRUMG5Ukx4C&q=Mi%27kmaq&pg=PA4|url-status=live}}</ref> Over time, the Miꞌkmaq and Innu divided their lands into traditional "districts". Each district was independently governed and had a district chief and a council. The council members were band chiefs, elders and other worthy community leaders.<ref name="William">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UAvyE0pN5akC&q=Place%20names%20of%20Atlantic%20Canada&pg=PA3|page=3|title=Place names of Atlantic Canada|last=William|first=Baillie Hamilton|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=1996|isbn=978-0-8020-0471-0|access-date=November 18, 2020|archive-date=August 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817225141/https://books.google.com/books?id=UAvyE0pN5akC&q=Place%20names%20of%20Atlantic%20Canada&pg=PA3|url-status=live}}</ref> In addition to the district councils, the Miꞌkmaq tribes also developed a Grand Council or ''Santé Mawiómi'', which according to oral tradition was formed before 1600.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0MEQyYggQE8C&pg=PA53|page=53|title=Mi'kmaq Treaties on Trial: History, Land and Donald Marshall Junior|first=William|last=Wicken|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-8020-0718-6|access-date=July 16, 2022|archive-date=August 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814214226/https://books.google.com/books?id=0MEQyYggQE8C&q=Mi%27kmaq%20%20Grand%20Council%20formation&pg=PA53|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== European contact ====
[[File:Beothuk camp.jpg|thumb|A [[Beothuk]] encampment in Newfoundland, {{circa|18th century}}]]
By the time European contact with Newfoundland began in the early 16th century, the Beothuk were the only indigenous group living permanently on the island.<ref name="Marshall"/> Unlike other groups in the Northeastern area of the Americas, the [[Beothuk]] never established sustained trading relations with European settlers. Their interactions were sporadic, and they largely attempted to avoid contact.<ref name="Beothuk Eve of Extinction">{{cite journal|last1=Holly|first1=Donald H. Jr.|title=The Beothuk on the Eve of Their Extinction|journal=Arctic Anthropology|date=2000|volume=37|issue=1|pages=79–95|pmid=17722364}}</ref> The establishment of English fishing operations on the outer coastline of the island, and their later expansion into bays and inlets, cut off access for the Beothuk to their traditional sources of food.<ref name="Timothy Severin 1977 p. 768-97">Timothy Severin, "The Voyage of the 'Brendan'", ''National Geographic Magazine'', 152: 6 (December 1977), p. 768-97.</ref><ref name="Tim Severin 1978">Tim Severin, ''The Brendan Voyage: A Leather Boat Tracks the Discovery of America by the Irish Sailor Saints'', McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1978, {{ISBN|0-07-056335-7}}.</ref><ref name="voices.nationalgeographic.com">Tim Severin, "Atlantic Navigators:  The Brendan Voyage", 2005 presentation at Gresham College, [https://web.archive.org/web/20150210223018/http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2013/05/16/did-st-brendan-reach-north-america-500-years-before-the-vikings/ video posted on ''National Geographic Voices'' by Andrew Howley May 16, 2013].</ref>

In the 18th century, as the Beothuk were driven further inland by these encroachments, violence between Beothuk and settlers escalated, with each retaliating against the other in their competition for resources. By the early 19th century, violence, starvation, and exposure to [[tuberculosis]] had decimated the Beothuk population, and they were extinct by 1829.<ref name="Marshall"/>

The oldest confirmed accounts of European contact date from a thousand years ago as described in the [[Viking]] (Norse) [[Icelandic Sagas]]. Around the year 1001, the sagas refer to [[Leif Erikson]] landing in three places to the west,<ref name="Pálsson 1965 28">{{cite book
| last = Pálsson
| first = Hermann
| title = The Vinland sagas: the Norse discovery of America
| publisher = Penguin Classics
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=m-4rb_GhQ5EC&morning&pg=PA28
| page = 28
| year = 1965
| isbn = 978-0-14-044154-3
| access-date = April 15, 2010
| archive-date = August 12, 2021
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210812210827/https://books.google.com/books?id=m-4rb_GhQ5EC&q=The%20Vinland%20sagas%3A%20the%20Norse%20discovery%20of%20America&pg=PA28
| url-status = live
}}</ref> the first two being [[Helluland]] (possibly [[Baffin Island]]) and [[Markland]] (possibly [[Labrador]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sagadb.org/eiriks_saga_rauda.en|title=Eiríks saga rauða |trans-title=The Saga of Erik the Red|year=1880|translator-first1=J.|translator-last1=Sephton|publisher=Icelandic Saga Database|access-date=August 11, 2010|archive-date=May 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504211747/http://sagadb.org/eiriks_saga_rauda.en|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga">{{cite web|url=http://www.mnh.si.edu/vikings/voyage/subset/markland/history.html|title=Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga|publisher=National Museum of Natural History, Arctic Studies Centre- (Smithsonian Institution)|year=2008|access-date=August 11, 2010|archive-date=December 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151224040949/http://www.mnh.si.edu/vikings/voyage/subset/markland/history.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
|title=Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail Or Succeed
|first=Jared M
|last=Diamond
|url=https://archive.org/details/collapse00jare
|url-access=registration
|quote=Vikings Settle Helluland Markland.
|page=[https://archive.org/details/collapse00jare/page/207 207]
|year= 2006
|publisher=Penguin Books
|isbn= 978-0-14-303655-5
|access-date=April 16, 2010}}</ref> Leif's third landing was at a place he called [[Vinland]] (possibly Newfoundland).<ref>{{cite web|title=Was Vinland in Newfoundland?|url=http://www.capecod.net/~nmgood/|first=Einar|last=Haugen|publisher=Originally published in Proceedings of the Eighth Viking Congress, Arhus (August 24–31, 1977). Republished [[University Press of Southern Denmark|Odense University Press]], 1981|date=1977|editor1-first=Hans|editor1-last=Bekker-Nielsen|editor2-first=Peter|editor2-last=Foote|editor3-first=Olaf|editor3-last=Olsen|access-date=June 21, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010515202742/http://www.capecod.net/~nmgood/|archive-date=May 15, 2001|url-status=dead}}</ref> Archaeological evidence of a Norse settlement was found in [[L'Anse aux Meadows]], [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]], which was declared a [[World Heritage Site]] by [[UNESCO]] in 1978.<ref>{{cite web|title=L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/4|publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre (United Nations)|year=2010|access-date=April 15, 2010|archive-date=June 16, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060616164041/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/4|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| title = L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site of Canada
| publisher = Parks Canada
| year = 2007
| url = http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/nl/meadows/index_e.asp
| access-date = April 15, 2010
| archive-date = December 16, 2008
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081216063635/http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/nl/meadows/index_E.asp
| url-status = dead
}}</ref>

There are several other unconfirmed accounts of European discovery and exploration, one tale of men from the [[Channel Islands]] being blown off course in the late 15th century into a strange land full of fish,<ref>{{cite web |last1=LE MESSURIER |first1=H. W. |title=THE EARLY RELATIONS BETWEEN NEWFOUNDLAND AND THE CHANNEL ISLANDS |url=https://archive.org/stream/jstor-207514/207514_djvu.txt |date=December 1916 |publisher=Geographical Review}}</ref> and another from Portuguese maps that depict the [[Terra do Bacalhau]], or land of [[cod]]fish, west of the [[Azores]]. The earliest, though, is the [[Brendan the Navigator|Voyage of Saint Brendan]], the fantastical account of an Irish monk who made a sea voyage in the early 6th century. While the story became a part of myth and legend, some historians believe it is based on fact.<ref name="Timothy Severin 1977 p. 768-97"/><ref name="Tim Severin 1978"/><ref name="voices.nationalgeographic.com"/>
[[File:Bonavista Cabot 2.jpg|thumb|A statue of [[John Cabot]] at [[Cape Bonavista]]. The cape is officially cited as the area where Cabot landed in 1497, by the governments of Canada, and the United Kingdom.{{clarify |reason=muddled grammar makes meaning unclear|date=September 2019}}]]
In 1496, [[John Cabot]] obtained a charter from English [[King Henry VII]] to "sail to all parts, countries and seas of the East, the West and of the North, under our banner and ensign and to set up our banner on any new-found-land" and on June 24, 1497, landed in [[Cape Bonavista]]. Historians disagree on whether Cabot landed in [[Nova Scotia]] in 1497 or in Newfoundland, or possibly Maine, if he landed at all, but the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom recognise Bonavista as being Cabot's "official" landing place. In 1499 and 1500, Portuguese mariners [[João Fernandes Lavrador]] and [[Pero de Barcelos]] explored and mapped the coast, the former's name appearing as "Labrador" on topographical maps of the period.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZtMBLJ7GgC&q=The%20name%20%22Labrador%22%20and%20Jo%C3%A3o%20Fernandes%20Lavrador&pg=PA464 |title=Foundations of the Portuguese empire |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |author1=Bailey W. Diffie |author2=George D. Winius |name-list-style=amp |page=464 |year=1977 |isbn=978-0-8166-0782-2 |access-date=August 13, 2010 |archive-date=August 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813214351/https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZtMBLJ7GgC&q=The%20name%20%22Labrador%22%20and%20Jo%C3%A3o%20Fernandes%20Lavrador&pg=PA464 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Based on the [[Treaty of Tordesillas]], the [[List of Portuguese monarchs|Portuguese Crown]] claimed it had territorial rights in the area [[John Cabot]] visited in 1497 and 1498.<ref>{{cite web|title=John Cabot's voyage of 1498|url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/exploration/cabot1498.html|publisher=Memorial University of Newfoundland (Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage)|year=2000|access-date=April 12, 2010|archive-date=August 5, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805084234/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/exploration/cabot1498.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Subsequently, in 1501 and 1502, the [[Corte-Real family|Corte-Real brothers]], [[Miguel Corte-Real|Miguel]] and [[Gaspar Corte-Real|Gaspar]], explored Newfoundland and Labrador, claiming them as part of the [[Portuguese Empire]].<ref name=joao>{{cite DCB |first=L.-A. |last=Vigneras |title=Corte-Real, Miguel |volume=1 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/corte_real_miguel_1E.html |access-date=April 12, 2010}}</ref><ref name=Bailey>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZtMBLJ7GgC&q=The%20name%20%22Labrador%22%20and%20Jo%C3%A3o%20Fernandes%20Lavrador&pg=PA464|title=Foundations of the Portuguese empire|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|first1=Bailey W|last1=Diffie|first2=George D|last2=Winius|pages=464–465|year=1977|isbn=978-0-8166-0782-2|access-date=August 13, 2010|archive-date=August 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813214351/https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZtMBLJ7GgC&q=The%20name%20%22Labrador%22%20and%20Jo%C3%A3o%20Fernandes%20Lavrador&pg=PA464|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1506, king [[Manuel I of Portugal]] created taxes for the cod fisheries in Newfoundland waters.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Sixteenth century North America : the land and the people as seen by the Europeans|last=Sauer |first=Carl Ortwin |date=1971|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-01854-9|location=Berkeley|oclc=215780}}</ref> [[João Álvares Fagundes]] and [[Pero de Barcelos]] established seasonal fishing outposts in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia around 1521, and older Portuguese settlements may have existed.<ref>{{cite book
|title=Chronology of world history: a calendar of principal events from 3000 BC to..
|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield
|year=1975
|page=387
|isbn=978-0-87471-765-5
|author=Freeman-Grenville}}</ref> Sir [[Humphrey Gilbert]], provided with [[letters patent]] from [[Queen Elizabeth I]], landed in St. John's in August 1583, and formally took possession of the island.<ref>Brian Cuthbertson, "John Cabot and His Historians: Five Hundred Years of Controversy." ''Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society'' 1998 1: 16–35. {{ISSN|1486-5920}}.</ref><ref>See Samuel Eliot Morison, ''The European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages'' (1971)</ref>

{{anchor|colony}}

===European settlement and conflict ===
{{Main|Newfoundland Colony|Terre-Neuve (New France)}}

Sometime before 1563, [[Basque people|Basque]] fishermen, who had been fishing [[cod]] shoals off Newfoundland's coasts since the beginning of the sixteenth century, founded Plaisance (today [[Placentia, Newfoundland and Labrador|Placentia]]), a seasonal haven which French fishermen later used. In the Newfoundland [[Will and testament|will]] of the Basque seaman Domingo de Luca, dated 1563 and now in an archive in Spain, he asks "that my body be buried in this port of Plazençia in the place where those who die here are usually buried". This will is the oldest-known civil document written in Canada.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://canadashistory.ca/Community/Community-Features/Articles/Basque-Will |title=The 1563 Basque Will |last=Dawson |first=Joanna |website=canadahistory.ca |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301144128/http://canadashistory.ca/Community/Community-Features/Articles/Basque-Will |archive-date=March 1, 2017 |url-status=dead |access-date=July 1, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.placentiahistory.ca/images/pdfs/Basque_will_translation_PDF.pdf |title=The Oldest Original Civil Document Written in Canada: The Last Will of Basque Sailor Domingo de Luca a, Placentia, Newfoundland, 1563 |last=Barkham |first=Michael M. |website=placentia.ca |access-date=July 1, 2018 |archive-date=March 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170316062025/http://placentiahistory.ca/images/pdfs/Basque_will_translation_PDF.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[Image:Gilbert plaque.jpg|thumb|upright|Plaque in [[St. John's, Newfoundland|St. John's]] commemorating the English claim over Newfoundland, and the beginning of the British overseas empire]]
Twenty years later, in 1583, Newfoundland became England's first possession in North America and one of the earliest permanent English colonies in the New World<ref>{{cite book |title= Sir Francis Drake |last= Sugden |first= John |year= 1990 |publisher= Barrie & Jenkins |isbn= 978-0-7126-2038-3 |page= 118 }}</ref> when Sir [[Humphrey Gilbert]] claimed it for [[Elizabeth I]]. European fishing boats had visited Newfoundland continuously since Cabot's second voyage in 1498 and seasonal fishing camps had existed for a century prior. Fishing boats originated from Basque country, England, France, and Portugal.

In 1585, during the initial stages of [[Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)|Anglo-Spanish War]], [[Bernard Drake]] led a [[Newfoundland expedition (1585)|devastating raid]] on the Spanish and Portuguese fisheries. This provided an opportunity to secure the island and led to the appointment of [[Proprietary Governor]]s to establish colonial settlements on the island from 1610 to 1728. [[John Guy (colonial administrator)|John Guy]] became [[List of Newfoundland and Labrador lieutenant-governors|governor]] of the first settlement at [[Cuper's Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador|Cuper's Cove]]. Other settlements included [[Bristol's Hope]], [[Renews]], [[New Cambriol]], [[South Falkland]] and [[Province of Avalon|Avalon]] (which became a province in 1623). The first governor given jurisdiction over all of Newfoundland was Sir [[David Kirke]] in 1638.

Explorers quickly realized the waters around Newfoundland had the best fishing in the North Atlantic.<ref>Grant C. Head, ''Eighteenth Century Newfoundland: A Geographer's Perspective'' (1976)</ref>{{request quotation|date=November 2016}} By 1620, 300 fishing boats worked the [[Grand Banks of Newfoundland|Grand Banks]], employing some 10,000 sailors; many continuing to come from the [[Basque Country (greater region)|Basque Country]], Normandy, or Brittany. They dried and salted [[cod]] on the coast and sold it to Spain and Portugal. Heavy investment by Sir [[George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore]], in the 1620s in wharves, warehouses, and fishing stations failed to pay off. French raids hurt the business, and the weather was terrible, so he redirected his attention to his [[History of Maryland|other colony in Maryland]].<ref>{{cite DCB |first= Allan M. |last= Fraser |title= Calvert, Sir George |volume= 1 |url= http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/calvert_george_1E.html}}</ref> After Calvert left, small-scale entrepreneurs such as Sir David Kirke made good use of the facilities.<ref>Compare: {{cite DCB |first=John S. |last=Moir |title=Kirke, Sir David |volume=1 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/kirke_david_1E.html | quote = In 1639 Sir David, as the first governor of Newfoundland, took possession of Baltimore's "Mansion House" and the other property at Ferryland.}}</ref> Kirke became the first governor of Newfoundland in 1638.

==== Triangular Trade ====

A [[triangular trade]] with New England, the West Indies, and Europe gave Newfoundland an important economic role.<ref name="Pope, Peter Edward 2004">{{cite book |last=Pope |first=Peter Edward |date=2004 |title=Fish into Wine: the Newfoundland Plantation in the Seventeenth Century |location=Chapel Hill |publisher=University of North Carolina Press}}</ref> By the 1670s, there were 1,700 permanent residents and another 4,500 in the summer months.<ref>Gordon W. Handcock, ''"So Longe as There Comes Noe Women": Origins of English Settlement in Newfoundland'' (1989)</ref>

This trade relied upon the labour of enslaved people of African descent.<ref name="cbc.ca">{{cite web |last=Campbell |first=Xavier |title=The Dark Side of Cod, Rum and Molasses: Dispelling the Myths around N.L. Staple Foods |work=CBC News |date=January 8, 2022 |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/opinion-xaiver-campbell-cod-myths-1.6284952 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321052059/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/opinion-xaiver-campbell-cod-myths-1.6284952 |archive-date=March 21, 2023 |access-date=October 3, 2024}}</ref><ref name="Walker, Barrington 2012">{{cite book |last=Walker |first=Barrington |date=2012 |chapter=Jamaicans and the Making of Modern Canada |title=Jamaica in the Canadian Experience: a Multiculturalizing Presence |editor-first1=Carl |editor-last1=James |editor-first2=Andrea |editor-last2=Davis |page=23–34 |publisher=Fernwood Pub}}</ref><ref name="Pope, Peter Edward 2004"/> Salted cod from Newfoundland was used to feed the enslaved persons of African descent on [[Sugar plantations in the Caribbean|plantations]] in the [[British West Indies|West Indies]].<ref name="cbc.ca"/><ref name="Walker, Barrington 2012"/><ref name="Pope, Peter Edward 2004"/> Products typically associated with Newfoundland such as molasses and rum ([[Newfoundland Screech|Screech]]), were produced by the enslaved persons of African descent on plantations in the West Indies, and shipped to Newfoundland and England on merchant ships.<ref name="Pope, Peter Edward 2004"/> Some merchants in Newfoundland enslaved persons of African descent such as St. John's merchant, Thomas Oxford.<ref name="Pope, Peter Edward 2004"/> [[John Ryan (printer)|John Ryan]], merchant and publisher of the Royal Gazette and Newfoundland Advertiser, who resided in New Brunswick and Newfoundland, freed his enslaved servant Dinah, upon his death in Newfoundland in 1847, notably after the [[Slavery Abolition Act 1833|Slavery Abolition Act in 1833]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Whitfield |first=Harvey Amani |date=2012 |title=The Struggle over Slavery in the Maritime Colonies |journal=Acadiensis |volume=41 |issue=2 |pp=17–44}}</ref><ref name="thecanadianencyclopedia.ca">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Henry |first=Natasha |title=Black Enslavement in Canada |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Historica Canada |orig-date=June 13, 2016 |date=February 9, 2022 |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/black-enslavement |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321024440/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/black-enslavement |archive-date=March 21, 2023 }}</ref>

Notably, the Kirke brothers who were merchants in the triangular trade, brought [[Olivier Le Jeune]] to New France, where he was sold in 1629.<ref name="thecanadianencyclopedia.ca"/>

[[File:Les Anglais attaqués par les Français à Terre-Neuve en 1696.jpg|upright|thumb|left|French forces [[Avalon Peninsula campaign|sacking English settlements in Newfoundland]] in 1696]]

In 1655, France appointed a governor in Plaisance (Placentia), the former Basque fishing settlement, thus starting a formal French colonization period in Newfoundland<ref>{{cite web|url= http://collections.mun.ca/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/hist_trust&CISOPTR=242&CISOSHOW=123&REC=5|title= History of Placentia|publisher= Memorial University of Newfoundland|access-date= February 26, 2010|archive-date= October 25, 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111025190440/http://collections.mun.ca/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2Fhist_trust&CISOPTR=242&CISOSHOW=123&REC=5|url-status= live}}</ref> as well as a period of periodic war and unrest between England and France in the region. The Miꞌkmaq, as allies of the French, were amenable to limited French settlement in their midst and fought alongside them against the English. English attacks on Placentia provoked retaliation by [[New France]] explorer [[Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville]] who during [[King William's War]] in the 1690s, destroyed nearly every English settlement on the island. The entire population of the English colony was either killed, captured for ransom, or sentenced to expulsion to England, with the exception of those who withstood the attack at [[Carbonear Island]] and those in the then remote [[Bonavista, Newfoundland and Labrador|Bonavista]].

After France lost political control of the area after the [[Siege of Port Royal (1710)|Siege of Port Royal in 1710]], the Miꞌkmaq engaged in warfare with the British throughout [[Dummer's War]] (1722–1725), [[King George's War]] (1744–1748), [[Father Le Loutre's War]] (1749–1755) and the [[French and Indian War]] (1754–1763). The French colonization period lasted until the [[Treaty of Utrecht]] of 1713, which ended the [[War of the Spanish Succession]]: France ceded to the British its claims to Newfoundland (including its claims to the shores of [[Hudson Bay]]) and to the French possessions in [[Acadia]]. Afterward, under the supervision of the last French governor, the French population of Plaisance moved to Île Royale (now [[Cape Breton Island]]), part of Acadia which remained then under French control.

In the [[Treaty of Utrecht]] (1713), France had acknowledged British ownership of the island. However, in the [[Seven Years' War]] (1756–1763), control of Newfoundland once again became a major source of conflict between Britain, France and Spain, who all pressed for a share in the valuable fishery there. [[Great Britain in the Seven Years' War|Britain's victories around the globe]] led [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt]] to insist nobody other than Britain should have access to Newfoundland. The [[Battle of Signal Hill]] was fought on September 15, 1762, and was the last battle of the North American theatre of the [[Seven Years' War]]. A British force under Lieutenant Colonel [[William Amherst (British Army officer)|William Amherst]] recaptured [[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's]],<ref>{{London Gazette
| issue = 10251
| date = October 9, 1762
| page = 2
}}</ref> which the French had seized three months earlier in a surprise attack.

[[File:Vue de la descente a Terre Neuve par le chevalier de Ternay en 1762.jpg|thumb|A French invasion of the Newfoundland was repulsed during the [[Battle of Signal Hill]] in 1762.]]

From 1763 to 1767, [[James Cook]] made a detailed survey of the coasts of Newfoundland and southern Labrador while commander of {{HMS|Grenville|1754|6}}. (The following year, 1768, Cook began [[First voyage of James Cook|his first circumnavigation of the world]].) In 1796, a Franco-Spanish expedition again [[Newfoundland expedition|succeeded in raiding]] the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador, destroying many of the settlements.

By the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), French fishermen gained the right to land and cure fish on the "French Shore" on the western coast. (They had a permanent base on the nearby [[St. Pierre and Miquelon]] islands; the French gave up their French Shore rights in 1904.) In 1783, the British signed the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] with the United States that gave American fishermen similar rights along the coast. These rights were reaffirmed by treaties in 1818, 1854 and 1871, and confirmed by arbitration in 1910.

=== British colony ===

==== The United Irish Conspiracy and Catholic Emancipation ====
The founding proprietor of the [[Province of Avalon]], [[George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore]], intended that it should serve as a refuge for his persecuted Roman Catholic co-religionists. But like his other colony in the [[Province of Maryland]] on the American mainland, it soon passed out of the Calvert family's control. The majority Catholic population that developed, thanks to [[Irish language in Newfoundland|Irish immigration]], in [[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's]] and the [[Avalon Peninsula]], was subjected to same disabilities that applied elsewhere under the British Crown. On visiting St. John's in 1786, Prince William Henry (the future [[King William IV]]) noted that "there are ten Roman Catholics to one Protestant",<ref>[https://www.mun.ca/rels/ang/texts/pwh.htm Memorial University] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110015234/http://www.mun.ca/rels/ang/texts/pwh.htm |date=January 10, 2011 }}, Note 87: PWH to King, September 21, 1786, Later Correspondence of George III, Vol. 1, 251.</ref> and he counselled against any measure of Catholic relief.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rollman |first=Hans |date=1986 |title=Prince William in Newfoundland |url=http://www.mun.ca/rels/ang/texts/pwh.htm |website=Religion Society and Culture: The Newfoundland and Labrador pages of Dr Hans Rollman, Memorial University, Newfoundland |access-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-date=January 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110015234/http://www.mun.ca/rels/ang/texts/pwh.htm }}</ref>

Following news of [[Irish Rebellion of 1798|rebellion in Ireland]], in June 1798, Governor Vice-Admiral [[William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock|Waldegrave]] cautioned London that the English constituted but a "small proportion" of the locally raised [[Royal Newfoundland Regiment|Regiment of Foot]]. In an echo of an earlier Irish conspiracy during the French occupation of St. John's in 1762, in April 1800, the authorities had reports that upwards of 400 men had taken an oath as [[Society of United Irishmen|United Irishmen]], and that eighty soldiers were committed to killing their officers and seizing their [[Anglican]] governors at Sunday service.<ref name="mannion">{{Cite journal|last=Mannion|first=John|date=January 1, 2000|title="... Notoriously disaffected to the Government..." British allegations of Irish disloyalty in eighteenth-century Newfoundland|url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/NFLDS/article/view/816|journal=Newfoundland and Labrador Studies|language=en|issn=1715-1430|access-date=March 12, 2021|archive-date=July 30, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730211028/https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/NFLDS/article/view/816|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[United Irish Uprising in Newfoundland|abortive mutiny]], for which for which eight men (denounced by Catholic Bishop [[James Louis O'Donel]] as "favourers of the infidel French")<ref name=":82">{{Cite book |last=MacGiollabhui |first=Muiris |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/75x28210 |title=Sons of Exile: The United Irishmen in Transnational Perspective 1791-1827 |publisher=UC Santa Cruz (Thesis) |year=2019 |pages=118 |access-date=January 10, 2023 |archive-date=December 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226131551/https://escholarship.org/uc/item/75x28210 |url-status=live }}</ref> were hanged, may have been less a United Irish plot, than an act of desperation in the face of brutal living conditions and officer tyranny. Many of the Irish reserve soldiers were forced to remain on duty, unable to return to the fisheries that supported their families.<ref>{{cite web|last=Fitzgerald|first=John Edward|date=2001|title=The United Irish Uprising in Newfoundland, 1800|url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/united-irish-uprising.php |url-status=live|access-date=March 11, 2021|website=Heritage: Newfoundland and Labrador|archive-date=February 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209221118/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/united-irish-uprising.php}}</ref><ref name="mannion"/> Yet the Newfoundland Irish would have been aware of the agitation in the homeland for civil equality and political rights.<ref name=":4">{{cite web|date=February 7, 2013|title="The entire island is United..."|url=https://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/the-entire-island-is-united/|access-date=March 11, 2021|website=History Ireland|archive-date=July 31, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210731220850/https://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/the-entire-island-is-united/|url-status=live}}</ref> There were reports of communication with United men in Ireland from before '98 rebellion;<ref name=":4"/> of [[Thomas Paine]]'s pamphlets circulating in St. John's;<ref>Fitzgerald (2001), p. 25</ref> and, despite the war with France, of hundreds of young [[County Waterford]] men still making a seasonal migration to the island for the fisheries, among them defeated rebels, said to have "added fuel to the fire" of local grievance.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pedley|first=Rev. Charles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HGABAAAAQAAJ|title=The History of Newfoundland from the Earliest Times to 1860|publisher=Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green|year=1863|location=London|page=210|language=en|access-date=March 19, 2021|archive-date=August 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814150713/https://books.google.com/books?id=HGABAAAAQAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

When news reached Newfoundland in May 1829 that the UK Parliament had finally conceded [[Catholic emancipation]], the locals assumed that Catholics would now pass unhindered into the ranks of public office and enjoy equality with Protestants. There was a celebratory parade and mass in St. John's, and a gun salute from vessels in the harbour. But the attorney general and supreme court justices determined that as Newfoundland was a colony, and not a province of the [[United Kingdom]], the [[Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829|Roman Catholic Relief Act]] did not apply. The discrimination was a matter of local ordinance.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fitzgerald |first=John Edward |title=Newfoundland and Daniel O'Connell |url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/daniel-oconnell.php |access-date=April 22, 2022 |website=heritage.nf.ca |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112040237/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/daniel-oconnell.php |url-status=live }}</ref>

It was not until May 1832 that the British [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]] formally stated that a new commission would be issued to [[Thomas John Cochrane|Governor Cochrane]] to remove any and all [[Roman Catholic disabilities]] in Newfoundland.<ref>John P. Greene (1999), ''Between Damnation and Starvation: Priests and Merchants in Newfoundland Politics, 1745–1855,'' McGill-Queen's University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-7735-1880-3}}.</ref> By then Catholic emancipation was bound up (as in Ireland) with the call for [[home rule]].

==== Achievement of home rule ====
After the end of the [[Napoleonic Wars]] in 1815, France and other nations re-entered the fish trade and an abundance of cod glutted international markets. Prices dropped, competition increased, and the colony's profits evaporated. A string of harsh winters between 1815 and 1817 made living conditions even more difficult, while fires at St. John's in 1817 left thousands homeless.<ref>{{cite web|last=Higgins|first=Jenny|date=2009|title=Reform Movement|url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/reform-movement.php|url-status=live|website=Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage|access-date=March 12, 2021|archive-date=June 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210619072255/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/reform-movement.php}}</ref> At the same time a new wave of immigration from Ireland increased the Catholic population. In these circumstances much of the English and Protestant proprietor class tended to shelter behind the appointed, and Anglican, "naval government".<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Thomsen|first=Robert Chr.|date=2005|title=Democracy, Sectarianism and Denomi(-)nationalism: The Irish in Newfoundland|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30001517|journal=Nordic Irish Studies|volume=4|pages=13–27, 16|jstor=30001517|issn=1602-124X|access-date=March 12, 2021|archive-date=August 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815134056/https://www.jstor.org/stable/30001517|url-status=live}}</ref>

A broad home-rule coalition of Irish community leaders and ([[Scottish people|Scottish]] and [[Welsh people|Welsh]]) [[Methodists]] formed in 1828. Expressing, initially, the concerns of a new middle class over taxation, it was led by William Carson, a Scottish physician, and Patrick Morris, an Irish merchant. In 1825, the British government granted Newfoundland and Labrador official colonial status and appointed Sir Thomas Cochrane as its first civil governor. Partly carried by the wave of reform in Britain, a colonial legislature in St. John's, together with the promise of Catholic emancipation, followed in 1832. Carson made his goal for Newfoundland clear: "We shall rise into a national existence, having a national character, a nation's feelings, assuming that rank among our neighbours which the political situation and the extent of our island demand".<ref name=":1"/>

Standing as [[Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador|Liberals]], the reformers sought to break the Anglican monopoly on government patronage and to tax the fisheries to fund the judiciary, road-building projects, and other expenses. They were opposed by the [[Conservative Party of Newfoundland|Conservatives]] (the "Tories"), who largely represented the Anglican establishment and mercantile interests. While Tories dominated the governor's appointed Executive Council, Liberals generally held the majority of seats in the elected House of Assembly.<ref>{{cite web|last=Higgins|first=Jenny|date=2009|title=Liberals, Conservatives and Sectarianism|url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/sectarianism.php|url-status=live|access-date=March 13, 2021|website=Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage|archive-date=May 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504135340/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/sectarianism.php}}</ref>

Economic conditions remained harsh. As in Ireland, the potato which made possible a steady growth in population failed as a result of the ''[[Phytophthora infestans]]'' blight. The number of deaths from the [[1846–1848 Newfoundland potato famine]] remains unknown, but there was pervasive hunger. Along with other half-hearted measures to relieve the distress, Governor John Gaspard Le Marchant declared a "Day of Public Fasting and Humiliation" in hopes the Almighty might pardon their sins and "withdraw his afflicting hand."<ref>Castelle, George (2019). "The Newfoundland Potato Famine, 1846–48: An Account from the Colony's Newspapers". ''Journal of Newfoundland and Labrador Studies'', 34 (2). St. John's, Newfoundland, pp. 304, 314–315</ref> The wave of post-famine emigration from Ireland notably passed over Newfoundland.

==== Era of responsible government ====
Fisheries revived, and the devolution of responsibilities from London continued. In 1854, the British government established Newfoundland's first [[responsible government]],<ref>{{cite web
|url= http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/representative.html
|title= Representative Government, 1832–1855
|last= Webb
|first= Jeff
|access-date= October 17, 2008
|archive-date= October 25, 2014
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141025071524/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/representative.html
|url-status= live
}}</ref> an executive accountable to the colonial legislature. In 1855, with an Assembly majority, the Liberals under [[Philip Francis Little]] (the first Roman Catholic to practise law in St. John's) formed Newfoundland's first parliamentary government (1855–1858). Newfoundland rejected [[Canadian Confederation|confederation with Canada]] in the [[1869 Newfoundland general election|1869 general election]]. The Islanders were preoccupied with land issues—the Escheat&nbsp;movement with its call to suppress absentee landlordism in favour of the tenant farmer. Canada offered little in the way of solutions.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Belshaw|first=John Douglas|date=2020|title=Canadian History: Post-Confederation|edition=2nd|chapter=2:13 The Other Dominion|url=https://opentextbc.ca/postconfederation2e/chapter/2-13-the-other-dominion/|url-status=live|via=BCcampus Open Publishing|access-date=April 13, 2021|archive-date=April 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413134227/https://opentextbc.ca/postconfederation2e/chapter/2-13-the-other-dominion/}}</ref>

From the 1880s, as cod fishery fell into severe decline, there was large-scale emigration. While some people, working abroad, left their homes on a seasonal or temporary basis more began to leave permanently. Most emigrants (largely Catholic and of Irish descent) moved to Canada, many to find work in the steel plants and coal mines of [[Nova Scotia]]. There was also a considerable outflow to the United States and, in particular, to [[New England]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Higgins|first=Jenny|date=2008|title=19th Century Migration|url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/19th-century-migration.php|url-status=live|access-date=March 13, 2021|website=Heritage: Newfoundland and Labrador|archive-date=June 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616022310/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/19th-century-migration.php}}</ref>

In 1892, St. John's burned. The [[Great Fire of 1892|Great Fire]] left 12,000 homeless. In 1894, the two commercial banks in Newfoundland collapsed. These bankruptcies left a vacuum that was subsequently filled by Canadian chartered banks, a change that subordinated Newfoundland to Canadian monetary policies.<ref name=":0"/>

Newfoundland lay outside the direct route of world traffic. St. John's, {{cvt|2000|mi|order=flip}} from [[Liverpool]] and about 1,000 miles from the east-coast American cities, was not a port of call for Atlantic liners. But with the co-ordination and extension of the railway system, new prospects for development opened in the interior. Paper and pulp mills were established by the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Co. at [[Grand Falls, Newfoundland|Grand Falls]] for the supply of the publishing empires in the UK of [[Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe|Lord Northcliffe]] and [[Viscount Rothermere|Lord Rothermere]]. Iron ore mines were established at [[Bell Island (Newfoundland and Labrador)|Bell Island]].<ref name=":6">The Times (1918), Newfoundland and the War", ''The Times History of the War, Vol XIV'', (181–216), 184–186.</ref>

===British Dominion ===
{{Main|Dominion of Newfoundland}}
[[File:Town and Harbour of St. John's, Newfoundland (1911).jpg|thumb|center|upright=3|Town and Harbour of St. John's, 1911 by [[John William Hayward]]]]

==== Reform and the Fisherman's Union ====
In 1907, Newfoundland acquired [[dominion]] status, or self-government, within the [[British Empire]] or [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]].<ref name="mapleweb">{{cite web|url=http://www.mapleleafweb.com/old/features/constitution/federalism/newfoundland-labrador/nfld-history.html|publisher=Mapleleafweb|title=Newfoundland & Labrador and Canadian Federalism – History of Newfoundland & Labrador|access-date=February 5, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110602120916/http://www.mapleleafweb.com/old/features/constitution/federalism/newfoundland-labrador/nfld-history.html|archive-date=June 2, 2011}}</ref> Government of Newfoundland was conducted mostly by a cabinet accountable solely to the legislature in St. John's, subject only to occasional policy changes from the British government, for example vetoing a trade agreement Newfoundland had negotiated with the [[United States of America|United States]].<ref name="mapleweb"/> A new reform-minded government was formed under [[Edward Morris, 1st Baron Morris|Edward Morris]], a senior Catholic politician who had split from the Liberals to form the [[Newfoundland People's Party|People's Party]]. It extended education provision, introduced old-age pensions, initiated agriculture and trade schemes and, with a trade union act, provided a legal framework for collective bargaining.<ref name=":6"/>

There had been unions seeking to negotiate wage rates in the shipbuilding trades since the 1850s. Those working the fishing boats were not wage earners but commodity producers, like farmers, reliant on merchant credit. Working in small, competitive, often family, units, scattered in isolated communities, they also had little occasion to gather in large numbers to discuss common concerns.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rennie|first=Rick|date=1996|title=Labour Organization and Unions|url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/economy/labour-movements.php|access-date=January 25, 2022|website=heritage.nf.ca|archive-date=January 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125223539/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/economy/labour-movements.php|url-status=live}}</ref> These obstacles to organization were overcome from 1908 by a new co-operative movement, the [[Fishermen's Protective Union]] (FPU). Mobilizing more than 21,000 members in 206 councils across the island; more than half of Newfoundland's fishermen,<ref name="fpu">[https://www.mun.ca/mha/fpu/fpu18.php Formation of the Fishermen's Protective Union] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305071041/https://www.mun.ca/mha/fpu/fpu18.php |date=March 5, 2016 }}, Maritime History Archive, Memorial University. Retrieved February 20, 2008.</ref> the FPU challenged the economic control of the island's merchantocracy.<ref name=":8">{{cite web|title=1959 Newfoundland and the IWA – Canada's Human Rights History|url=https://historyofrights.ca/encyclopaedia/main-events/1959-iww-strike-newfoundland/|access-date=January 24, 2022|website=historyofrights.ca|archive-date=January 2, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102154558/https://historyofrights.ca/encyclopaedia/main-events/1959-iww-strike-newfoundland/|url-status=live}}</ref> Despite opposition from the Catholic Church which objected to the FPU's oath taking and alleged [[socialism]],<ref name="fpu" /> led by [[William Coaker]] the candidates for the FPU won 8 of 36 seats in the House of Assembly in the 1913 general election.<ref>{{cite web|title=Election Results 1913|url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/fpu_1913_election.html|url-status=dead|work=Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage|publisher=Memorial University|access-date=January 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005061757/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/fpu_1913_election.html|archive-date=October 5, 2012}}</ref>

At the beginning of 1914, economic conditions seemed favourable to reform. In a little over a decade, exports, imports and state revenue had more than doubled. Schemes were afoot for the exploitation of coal and mineral resources, and for the utilisation of peat beds for fuel. Benefiting from the settlement of disputes over fishing rights with France in 1904, and with the New England states in 1910, the fishing industry was looking to develop new markets.<ref name=":7" />

====First World War and its aftermath====
[[File:Somme 1July16 Newfoundlandstjohnsroadtrench watermarked.jpg|thumb|Colourized photo of soldiers in St. John's Road, a support trench, 200 metres behind the British forward line at Beaumont Hamel, 1916]]
In August 1914, Britain [[United Kingdom declaration of war on Germany (1914)|declared war on Germany.]] Out of a total population of about 250,000, Newfoundland offered up some 12,000 men for Imperial service (including 3,000 who joined the [[Canadian Expeditionary Force]]).<ref name=":7" /> About a third of these were to serve in [[Royal Newfoundland Regiment|1st Newfoundland Regiment]], which after service in the [[Gallipoli campaign|Gallipoli Campaign]], was nearly wiped out at [[Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial|Beaumont-Hamel]] on the [[first day on the Somme]], July 1, 1916.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zoktc9xBDvwC&q=.%20History%20of%20Newfoundland%20and%20Labrador%E2%80%8E&pg=PP1|title=Newfoundland and Labrador: a history|first=Sean Thomas|last=Cadigan|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8020-4465-5|access-date=November 18, 2020|archive-date=June 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601214606/https://books.google.com/books?id=Zoktc9xBDvwC&q=.%20History%20of%20Newfoundland%20and%20Labrador%E2%80%8E&pg=PP1|url-status=live}}</ref> The regiment, which the Dominion government had chosen to raise, equip, and train at its own expense, was resupplied and went on to serve with distinction in several subsequent battles, earning the prefix "Royal". The overall fatality and casualty rate for the regiment was high: 1,281 dead, 2,284 wounded.<ref name=":7">{{cite web|title=Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in the First World War|url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/first-world-war/articles/nl-in-the-first-world-war.php |access-date=January 24, 2022|website=heritage.nf.ca|archive-date=January 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124125909/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/first-world-war/articles/nl-in-the-first-world-war.php |url-status=live}}</ref>

The FPU members joined [[Edward Patrick Morris]]' [[World War I|wartime]] [[National unity government|National Government]] of 1917, but their reputation suffered when they failed to abide by their promise not to support military conscription without a referendum.<ref name="fpu2">[https://www.mun.ca/mha/fpu/fpu20.php Union and Politics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418195947/https://www.mun.ca/mha/fpu/fpu20.php |date=April 18, 2021 }}, Maritime History Archive, Memorial University. Retrieved February 20, 2008.</ref> In 1919, the FPU joined with the [[Liberal parties in Newfoundland (pre-Confederation)|Liberals]] to form the [[Liberal Party of Newfoundland|Liberal Reform Party]] whose success in the [[1919 Newfoundland general election|1919 general election]] allowed Coaker to continue as Fisheries Minister. But there was little he could do to sustain the credibility of the FPU in the face of the post-war slump in fish prices, and the subsequent high unemployment and emigration.<ref name="fpu3">[https://www.mun.ca/mha/fpu/fpu21.php Fishermen's Protective Union] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419222254/https://www.mun.ca/mha/fpu/fpu21.php |date=April 19, 2021 }}, Maritime History Archive, Memorial University. Retrieved January 24, 2022</ref><ref name="ce">[https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/fisheries-policy Fisheries Policy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124175632/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/fisheries-policy |date=January 24, 2022 }}, ''Canadian Encyclopedia''. Retrieved January 24, 2022</ref> At the same time the Dominion's war debt due to the regiment and the cost of the trans-island railway, limited the government's ability to provide relief.<ref name=":3">{{cite web|last=Higgins|first=Jenny|date=2007|title=Events Leading up to the Great Depression|url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/depression-origin.php|url-status=live|access-date=May 21, 2021|website=Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage|archive-date=May 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508022405/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/depression-origin.php}}</ref>

In the spring of 1918, in midst of disquiet over wartime inflation and profiteering, there had been protest. The Newfoundland Industrial Workers' Association (NIWA) struck both the rail and steamship operations of the [[Reid Newfoundland Company]], effectively isolating the capital and threatening the annual seal hunt. Central to the eventual settlement were not only wage increases, but "the great principle that employees are entitled to be heard in all matters connected with their welfare".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McInnis|first=Peter|date=1990|title=All Solid along the Line: The Reid Newfoundland Strike of 1918|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25143419|journal=Labour / Le Travail|volume=26|pages=61–84|doi=10.2307/25143419|issn=0700-3862|access-date=January 25, 2022|archive-date=January 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125151701/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25143419|url-status=live}}</ref>

When in January 1919, [[Sinn Féin]] formed the [[Dáil Éireann]] in [[Dublin]], the [[Irish question]] and local sectarian tensions resurfaced in Newfoundland. In the course of 1920 many Catholics of Irish descent in St. John's joined the local branch of the [[Irish Self-Determination League|Self-Determination for Ireland League (SDIL)]].<ref name="Mannion2">{{cite web|last1=Mannion|first1=Patrick|title=The Self-Determination for Ireland League of Canada and Newfoundland|url=https://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/articles/the-self-determination-for-ireland-league-of-canada-and-newfoundland|access-date=December 16, 2020|website=Century Ireland|publisher=RTE|archive-date=December 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201218213844/https://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/articles/the-self-determination-for-ireland-league-of-canada-and-newfoundland|url-status=live}}</ref> Although tempered by expressions of loyalty to the Empire, the League's vocal support for Irish self-government was opposed by the local [[Orange Order in Canada|Orange Order]]. Claiming to represent 20,000 "loyal citizens", the Order was composed almost exclusively of Anglicans or Methodists of English descent.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mannion|first=Patrick|date=January 2015|title=Contested nationalism: The "Irish question" in St. John's, Newfoundland, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1919–1923|url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/acadiensis/article/view/24359/28203|journal=Acadiensis|volume=44|issue=2|pages=27–49|via=UNB Libraries|access-date=April 13, 2021|archive-date=April 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413161932/https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/acadiensis/article/view/24359/28203|url-status=live}}</ref> Tensions ran sufficiently high that Catholic Archbishop [[Edward Patrick Roche|Edward Roche]] felt constrained to caution League organisers against the hazards of "a sectarian war."<ref name="Mannion2" /><ref name="NYT">{{cite news|date=June 4, 1945|title=Lindsay Crawford of Trade Council|work=[[The New York Times]]|issue=19}}</ref>

Since the early 1800s, Newfoundland and Quebec (or Lower Canada) had been in a [[Labrador boundary dispute|border dispute]] over the Labrador region. In 1927, the British [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]] ruled that the area known as modern-day Labrador was to be considered part of the Dominion of Newfoundland.<ref name="mapleweb" />

===Commission government ===

==== The Great Depression and the return of colonial rule ====
[[File:Colonial riot 500.jpg|thumb|left|People in front of the [[Colonial Building]] protesting against economic conditions, 1932. In the next year, the government of Newfoundland collapsed, and the British government resumed direct control over Newfoundland.]]
Following the stock market crash in 1929, the international market for much of Newfoundland and Labrador's goods—saltfish, pulp paper and minerals—decreased dramatically. In 1930, the country earned $40 million from its exports; that number dropped to $23.3 million in 1933. The fishery suffered particularly heavy losses as [[Dried and salted cod|salted cod]] that sold for $8.90 a [[quintal]] in 1929 fetched only half that amount by 1932.<ref name=":3" /> With this precipitous loss of export income, the level of debt Newfoundland carried from the Great War and from construction of the [[Newfoundland Railway]] proved unsustainable. In 1931, the Dominion defaulted.<ref name=":3" /> Newfoundland survived with assistance from the United Kingdom and Canada but, in the summer of 1933, faced with unprecedented economic problems at home, Canada decided against any further support.

Following retrenchment in all the Dominion's major industries, the government laid off close to one third of its civil servants and cut the wages of those it retained. For the first time since the 1880s, malnutrition was facilitating the spread of [[Thiamine deficiency|beriberi]], [[tuberculosis]] and other diseases.<ref>{{cite web|last=Higgins|first=Jenny|date=2007|title=Great Depression – Impacts on the Working Class|url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/depression-impacts.php|access-date=January 25, 2022|website=heritage.nf.ca|archive-date=January 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125153442/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/depression-impacts.php|url-status=live}}</ref>

The British had a stark choice: accept financial collapse in Newfoundland or pay the full cost of keeping the country solvent. The solution, accepted by the legislature in 1933, was to accept a de facto return to direct colonial rule.<ref name="collapse">{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/collapse_responsible_gov.html|title=Collapse of Responsible Government, 1929–1934|publisher=Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador|access-date=February 5, 2011|archive-date=December 20, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220171415/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/collapse_responsible_gov.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In exchange for loan guarantees by the [[British Crown|Crown]] and a promise that self-government would in time be re-established, the legislature in St. John's voted itself out of existence.<ref name="Malone" />{{rp|8–10}}<ref>Peter Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, 1929–1949 (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University  Press, 1988), especially chapter 2</ref> On February 16, 1934, the [[Commission of Government]] was sworn in, ending 79 years of [[responsible government]].<ref name="collapse" /> The Commission consisted of seven persons appointed by the British government. For 15 years, no elections took place, and no legislature was convened.<ref name="commission">{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/commission_gov.html|title=The Commission of Government, 1934–1949|publisher=Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador|access-date=February 6, 2011|archive-date=December 20, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220171931/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/commission_gov.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Between 1934 and 1939, the Commission of Government managed the situation but the underlying problem, world-wide depression, resisted solution. The dispirited state of the country is said to have been evident in "'the lack of cheering and of visible enthusiasm' in the crowds that came out to see King [[George VI]] and Queen Elizabeth during their brief visit in June 1939."<ref name=":9">{{cite web|last=Neary|first=Peter|title=The History of Newfoundland and Labrador during the Second World War {{!}} Dispatches {{!}} Learn {{!}} Canadian War Museum|url=https://www.warmuseum.ca/learn/dispatches/the-history-of-newfoundland-and-labrador-during-the-second-world-war/|access-date=January 25, 2022|language=en-US|archive-date=June 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607175224/https://www.warmuseum.ca/learn/dispatches/the-history-of-newfoundland-and-labrador-during-the-second-world-war/|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Second World War====
The situation changed dramatically, after Newfoundland and Labrador, with no responsible government of its own, was automatically committed to war as a result of Britain's ultimatum to Germany in September 1939. Unlike in 1914–1918, when the Dominion government volunteered and financed a full expeditionary regiment, there would be no separate presence overseas and, by implication, no compulsory enlistment. Volunteers filled the ranks of Newfoundland units in both the Royal Artillery and the Royal Air Force, and of the largest single contingent of Newfoundlanders to go overseas, the [[Newfoundland Overseas Forestry Unit]]. As a result, and taking into account service in the Newfoundland Militia, and in the merchant marine, as in the First World War<ref name=":7" /> about 12,000 Newfoundlanders were at one time or another directly or indirectly involved in the war effort.<ref name=":9" />

In June 1940, following the defeat of France and the German occupation of most of Western Europe, the Commission of Government, with British approval, authorized Canadian forces to help defend Newfoundland's air bases for the duration of the war. Canada's military commitment greatly increased in 1941 when German submarines began to attack the large numbers of merchant ships in the north-west Atlantic. In addition to reinforcing the bomber squadron at [[Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador|Gander]], the Royal Canadian Air Force provided a further squadron of bombers that flew from a new airport Canada built at Torbay (the present St. John's airport). From November 1940, a new airbase at [[Gander International Airport|Gander]] became one of the so called "sally-ports of freedom" with U.S. manufactured aircraft flying in swarms to Britain.<ref name=":9" />

Already, in March 1941, United Kingdom conceded the United States, then still officially neutral, what were effectively U.S. sovereign base rights. The Americans chose properties at St. John's, where they established an army base ([[Pepperrell Air Force Base|Fort Pepperrell]]) and a dock facility; at [[Argentia|Argentia/Marquise]], where they built a naval air base and an army base ([[Naval Station Argentia|Fort McAndrew]]); and at [[Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador|Stephenville]], where they built a large airfield (Ernest Harmon Airbase). As allies after December 1941, the Americans were also accommodated at [[Torbay, Newfoundland and Labrador|Torbay]], [[Goose Bay (Newfoundland and Labrador)|Goose Bay]] and Gander.<ref name=":9" />

This garrisoning of Newfoundland had profound economic, political and social consequences. Enlistment for service abroad and the base building boom at home eliminated the chronic unemployment of the previous decades. By 1942, the country not only enjoyed full employment and could spend more on health, education and housing, it was making interest-free loans of Canadian dollars to the by-then hard-pressed British. At the same time, the presence of so many Canadians and Americans, complete with entertainment and consumer goods, promoted a taste for the more affluent consumerism that had been developing throughout North America.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Second World War, 1939–1945|url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/second-world-war.php|access-date=January 25, 2022|website=heritage.nf.ca|archive-date=January 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125151704/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/second-world-war.php|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== The National Convention ====
When prosperity returned with the [[Second World War]], agitation began to end the Commission and reinstate responsible government.<ref>Gene Long, ''Suspended State: Newfoundland Before Canada'' (1999)</ref> Instead, the British government created the [[Newfoundland National Convention|National Convention]] in 1946. Chaired by Judge [[Cyril J. Fox]], the Convention consisted of 45 elected members from across the dominion and was formally tasked with advising on the future of Newfoundland.

Several motions were made by [[Joey Smallwood]] (a convention member who later served as the first provincial [[Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador|premier of Newfoundland]]<ref name=newtois>{{cite web |url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/national.html |title=The Newfoundland National Convention |publisher=Heritage.nf.ca |access-date=December 3, 2010 |archive-date=April 29, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429044917/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/national.html |url-status=live }}</ref>) to examine joining Canada by sending a delegation to Ottawa.<ref name=newtois/> The first motion was defeated, although the Convention later decided to send delegations to both London and Ottawa to explore alternatives.<ref>Joseph Roberts Smallwood, ''I chose Canada: The Memoirs of the Honourable Joseph R. "Joey" Smallwood'' (1973) p. 256</ref><ref>Richard Gwyn, ''Smallwood: The Unlikely Revolutionary'' (1972)</ref> In January 1948, the National Convention voted against adding the issue of Confederation to the referendum 29 to 16, but the British, who controlled the National Convention and the subsequent referendum, overruled this move.<ref name=Malone>{{cite book |last=Malone |first=Greg |title=Don't Tell the Newfoundlanders: The True Story of Newfoundland's Confederation with Canada |year=2012 |publisher=Alfred A Knopf Canada |location=Toronto |isbn=978-0-307-40133-5}}{{rp|145}}</ref> Those who supported Confederation were extremely disappointed with the recommendations of the National Convention and organized a petition, signed by more than 50,000 Newfoundlanders, demanding that Confederation with Canada be placed before the people in the upcoming referendum. As most historians agree, the British government keenly wanted Confederation on the ballot and ensured its inclusion.<ref>David MacKenzie, Inside the Atlantic Triangle: Canada and the Entrance of Newfoundland into Confederation, 1939–49 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1986), 192</ref>

=== Canadian province ===

==== The referendums on confederation ====
{{main|1948 Newfoundland referendums}}
Three main factions actively campaigned during the lead-up to the referendums on confederation with Canada:

* The [[Confederate Association]] (CA), led by Smallwood, advocated entry into the Canadian Confederation. They campaigned through a newspaper known as ''The Confederate''.
* The [[Responsible Government League]] (RGL), led by [[Peter Cashin]], advocated an independent Newfoundland with a return to [[responsible government]]. Their newspaper was ''The Independent''.
* The smaller [[Economic Union Party]] (EUP), led by [[Chesley Crosbie]], advocated closer economic ties with the United States. A 1947 Gallup poll found 80% of Newfoundland residents wanting to become Americans,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/05/02/altered_states/?page=full|title=Altered states: The strange history of efforts to redraw the New England map|date=May 2, 2010|author=Michael J. Trinklein|work=[[Boston Globe]]|access-date=September 5, 2016|archive-date=September 16, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916133428/http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/05/02/altered_states/?page=full|url-status=live}}</ref> but the United States had no interest in the proposal, and preferred Newfoundland join Canada.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Baker |first=Melvin |date=March 2003 |title=Falling into the Canadian Lap: The Confederation of Newfoundland and Canada, 1945-1949 |url=https://www.gov.nl.ca/publicat/royalcomm/research/fallingintothecanadianlap.pdf |journal=Royal Commission on Renewing and Strengthening Our Place in Canada |pages=52 |quote=Complicating the anti-Confederate movement was strong political sentiment in St. John’s for greater economic union with the United States. On March 20, 1948 those opposed to Confederation divided into two groups with the formation by St. John’s businessman Chesley Crosbie of the Economic Union Movement. Unfortunately for this group, the American Government wanted no part of Crosbie’s group and preferred the political union of Newfoundland with Canada. As Peter Neary has observed, the Americans under the 1941 bases deal with the British Government had gotten what they wanted in Newfoundland and went along with British plans for Newfoundland’s future constitutional development. |access-date=July 9, 2022 |archive-date=January 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220126105722/https://www.gov.nl.ca/publicat/royalcomm/research/fallingintothecanadianlap.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The EUP failed to gain much support and after the first referendum merged with the RGL.<ref name="factions">[http://www.collectionscanada.ca/confederation/023001-2230-e.html#g "The 1948 Referendums"] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20060211154609/http://www.collectionscanada.ca/confederation/023001-2230-e.html#g |date=February 11, 2006 }}, Library and Archives Canada</ref>
[[File:Joseph Smallwood signing Newfoundland into Confederation.jpg|thumb|[[Joey Smallwood]] signing a document bringing Newfoundland into the [[Canadian Confederation]], 1948]]
The first referendum took place on June 3, 1948; 44.6 per cent of people voted for [[responsible government]], 41.1 per cent voted for confederation with Canada, while 14.3 per cent voted for the Commission of Government. Since none of the choices had gained more than 50%, a second referendum with only the two more popular choices was held on July 22, 1948. The official outcome of that referendum was 52.3 per cent for confederation with Canada and 47.7 per cent for responsible (independent) government.<ref name=historyquatre>{{cite web |url=http://www2.marianopolis.edu/nfldhistory/NewfoundlandJoinsCanada-Confederation1949.htm |title=Newfoundland Joins Canada) and Newfoundland and Confederation (1949) |publisher=.marianopolis.edu |access-date=December 3, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720173301/http://www2.marianopolis.edu/nfldhistory/NewfoundlandJoinsCanada-Confederation1949.htm |archive-date=July 20, 2008 }}</ref> After the referendum, the British governor named a seven-man delegation to negotiate Canada's offer on behalf of Newfoundland. After six of the delegation signed, the British government passed the [[Newfoundland Act|British North America Act, 1949]] through the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]]. Newfoundland officially joined Canada at midnight on March 31, 1949.<ref name=historyquatre/>

As documents in British and Canadian archives became available in the 1980s, it became evident that both Canada and the United Kingdom had wanted Newfoundland to join Canada. Some have charged it was a conspiracy to manoeuvre Newfoundland into Confederation in exchange for forgiveness of Britain's war debt and for other considerations.<ref name=Malone/>{{rp|68}} Yet, most historians who have examined the relevant documents have concluded that, while Britain engineered the inclusion of a Confederation option in the referendum, Newfoundlanders made the final decision themselves, if by a narrow margin.<ref>Jeff Webb, "Confederation, Conspiracy and Choice: A Discussion," Newfoundland Studies 14, 2 (1998): 170–87.</ref>

Following the referendum, there was a rumour that the referendum had been narrowly won by the "responsible government" side, but that the result had been fixed by the [[Gordon Macdonald, 1st Baron Macdonald of Gwaenysgor|British governor]].<ref name=Malone/>{{rp|225–26}} Shortly after the referendum, several boxes of ballots from St. John's were burned by order of [[Herman William Quinton]], one of only two commissioners who supported confederation.<ref name=Malone/>{{rp|224}} Some have argued that independent oversight of the vote tallying was lacking, though the process was supervised by respected Corner Brook Magistrate Nehemiah Short, who had also overseen elections to the National Convention.<ref name=Malone/>{{rp|224–25}}

==== 1959 Woodworkers' strike ====
In 1959, a strike led by the International Woodworkers of America (IWA) that resulted the "most bitter labour dispute in Newfoundland's history."<ref>Gwynn, Richard (199),.''Smallwood: The Unlikely Revolutionary.'' Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.</ref> Smallwood, although he had himself been an organizer in the lumber industry, feared that the strike would shut down what had become the province's largest employer. His government introduced emergency legislation that immediately decertified the IWA, prohibited secondary picketing, and made unions liable for illegal acts committed on their behalf.<ref name=":8" />

The [[International Labour Organization]], [[Canadian Labour Congress]], and the [[Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour|Newfoundland Federation of Labour]] condemned the legislation, and Canadian Prime Minister [[John Diefenbaker]] refused to provide the province with additional police to enforce the legislation. But running out of food and money, the loggers eventually abandoned the strike, joined Smallwood's newly created Newfoundland Brotherhood of Wood Workers, and negotiated a settlement with the logging companies, ending the strike and effectively undermining the IWA.<ref name=":8"/>

==== Resettlement programs ====
From the early 1950s, the provincial government pursued a policy of [[population transfer]] by centralizing the rural population. A [[Resettlement (Newfoundland)|resettlement]] of the many isolated communities scattered along Newfoundland's coasts was seen as a way to save rural Newfoundland by moving people to what were referred to as "growth centres". It was believed this would allow the government to provide more and better public services such as education, health care, roads and electricity. The resettlement policy was also expected to create more employment opportunities outside of the fishery, or in spinoff industries, which meant a stronger and more modern fishing industry for those remaining in it.<ref name="whif2">{{cite web|last=Whiffen|first=Glen|title=Newfoundland and Labrador's forced resettlement a historic injustice, brothers say {{!}} The Telegram|url=http://www.thetelegram.com/news/local/newfoundland-and-labradors-forced-resettlement-a-historic-injustice-brothers-say-170787/|access-date=March 15, 2021|website=thetelegram.com|language=en|archive-date=February 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224234604/https://www.thetelegram.com/news/local/newfoundland-and-labradors-forced-resettlement-a-historic-injustice-brothers-say-170787/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Three attempts of resettlement were initiated by the Government between 1954 and 1975 which resulted in the abandonment of 300 communities and nearly 30,000 people moved.<ref name="encyclopedia-p5852">''Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador'', Volume four, p. 585, {{ISBN|978-0-9693422-1-2}}.</ref> Denounced as poorly resourced and as an historic injustice,<ref name="whif2"/> resettlement has been viewed as possibly the most controversial government policy of the post-Confederation Newfoundland and Labrador.<ref name="encyclopedia-p5852"/>

Many of the remaining small rural [[Newfoundland outport|outports]] were hit by the [[Collapse of the Atlantic northwest cod fishery|1992 cod moratorium]]. Loss of an important source of income caused widespread out-migration.<ref name="CBC News2">{{Cite news|title=Far from a temporary move: N.L.'s cod moratorium is 25 years old|language=en|work=CBC News|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/cod-moratorium-twenty-five-1.4187322|access-date=December 29, 2017|archive-date=January 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180113111248/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/cod-moratorium-twenty-five-1.4187322|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 21st century, the Community Relocation Policy allows for voluntary relocation of isolated settlements. Eight communities have moved since 2002.<ref>{{cite web|title=An emotionally fraught decision: Should residents of remote Newfoundland outports resettle?|url=https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/leaving-home-growing-number-of-n-l-outports-make-wrenching-choice-to-resettle|access-date=March 15, 2021|website=nationalpost|language=en-CA}}</ref> At the end of 2019, the decommissioning of ferry and hydroelectricity services ended settlement on the [[Little Bay Islands]].<ref>{{cite news|date=February 14, 2019|title=Nfld. & Labrador: Little Bay Islands votes unanimously to resettle|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/little-bay-islands-unanimous-resettlement-vote-1.5019053|url-status=live|access-date=May 14, 2021|website=CBC News|archive-date=July 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729200838/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/little-bay-islands-unanimous-resettlement-vote-1.5019053}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news|title=The people of this remote Canadian island village are taking government money to clear out. One couple is staying.|language=en-US|work=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/the-people-of-this-remote-canadian-island-village-are-taking-government-money-to-clear-out-one-couple-is-staying/2019/12/29/46d2a9f2-202f-11ea-b034-de7dc2b5199b_story.html|access-date=May 15, 2021|issn=0190-8286|archive-date=January 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125054931/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/the-people-of-this-remote-canadian-island-village-are-taking-government-money-to-clear-out-one-couple-is-staying/2019/12/29/46d2a9f2-202f-11ea-b034-de7dc2b5199b_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===21st century===

==== Climate change ====
In the new century, the provincial government is anticipating the challenges of global warming. Locally average annual temperatures are variously estimated to be already between 0.8&nbsp;°C<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|publisher=Municipal Affairs and Environment: Climate Change Branch|url=https://www.gov.nl.ca/ecc/files/publications-the-way-forward-climate-change.pdf|title=The Way Forward: On Climate Change in Newfoundland and Labrador|year=2019|location=St. Johns|access-date=May 21, 2021|archive-date=June 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210621175527/https://www.gov.nl.ca/ecc/files/publications-the-way-forward-climate-change.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> and 1.5&nbsp;°C above historical norms<ref>{{cite web|title=Turn Back the Tide {{!}} Impacts of Climate Change|url=https://www.turnbackthetide.ca/about-climate-change-and-energy-efficiency/impacts-of-climate-change.shtml|access-date=May 21, 2021|website=turnbackthetide.ca|language=en|archive-date=February 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212091213/https://www.turnbackthetide.ca/about-climate-change-and-energy-efficiency/impacts-of-climate-change.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> and the frequency of hurricanes and tropical storms have doubled in comparison to the last century. As a result, the province is experiencing increased permafrost melt, flooding, and infrastructure damage, reduced sea ice, and greater risk from new invasive species and infectious diseases.<ref name=":5"/>

The government believes that in just fifty years (2000–2050), temperatures in Newfoundland will have risen by two and a half to three degrees in summer and three and a half to five degrees in winter, and that in Labrador warming will be even more severe. Under those conditions the winter season could shorten by as much as four to five weeks in some locations and that extreme storm events could result in an increase of precipitation by over 20% or more, enhancing the likelihood and magnitude of flooding. Meanwhile, sea levels are anticipated to rise by a half meter, putting coastal infrastructure at risk. Against these hazards, the government sets the province's "vast renewable [wind, sea and hydro] energy resources" with their potential to reduce carbon emissions in the province and elsewhere.<ref name=":5"/>

In April 2023, following years of delays and billions of dollars in cost overruns, a major hydro-generation project at [[Lower Churchill Project|Muskrat Falls]],<ref>{{cite news|date=September 23, 2020|title=First power flows from Muskrat Falls, in major project milestone|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/first-power-flows-muskrat-falls-1.5735500|publisher=CBC News|access-date=November 29, 2020|archive-date=December 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202031327/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/first-power-flows-muskrat-falls-1.5735500|url-status=live}}</ref> was declared complete with the final testing of the 1,100 km transmission link from the site in Labrador to a converter station outside St John's.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project in N.L. considered commissioned: CEO {{!}} Globalnews.ca |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/9619115/muskrat-falls-hydroelectric-project-in-n-l-considered-commissioned-ceo/ |access-date=2023-04-16 |website=Global News |language=en-US |archive-date=April 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416103450/https://globalnews.ca/news/9619115/muskrat-falls-hydroelectric-project-in-n-l-considered-commissioned-ceo/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Theoretically it could replace all the province's existing hydro-carbon sources of electricity. On the other hand, critics note that, in the decade to 2030, the government plans to double offshore oil production, significantly adding to emissions.<ref>{{cite news|last=Goudie|first=Zach|date=May 2, 2019|title=What's the plan? Explaining the N.L. climate change strategy|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/climate-change-explainer-1.5094377|url-status=live|website=CBC News|access-date=May 21, 2021|archive-date=July 31, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210731001356/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/climate-change-explainer-1.5094377}}</ref>

On January 17, 2020, the province experienced a large blizzard, nicknamed 'Snowmageddon', with winds up to {{cvt|134|km/h}}. The communities of St. John's, [[Mount Pearl]], [[Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador|Paradise]], and [[Torbay, Newfoundland and Labrador|Torbay]] declared a state of emergency. On January 18, 2020, Premier [[Dwight Ball]] said his request for aid from the Canadian Armed Forces was approved, and troops from the 2nd Battalion of the [[Royal Newfoundland Regiment]], [[CFB Halifax]], and [[CFB Gagetown]] would arrive in the province to assist with snow-clearing and emergency services. An avalanche hit a house in [[The Battery, St. John's|The Battery]] section of St. John's. St. John's mayor [[Danny Breen]] said the storm cost the city $7 million.<ref>{{cite web|last=Waterman|first=Andrew|title=Looking back at Snowmageddon in St. John's metro area |url=https://www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/news/looking-back-at-snowmageddon-in-st-johns-metro-area-535714/|access-date=January 17, 2022|website=saltwire.com|language=en|archive-date=January 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118182650/https://www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/news/looking-back-at-snowmageddon-in-st-johns-metro-area-535714/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== The COVID-19 pandemic ====
The [[COVID-19 pandemic in Newfoundland and Labrador]] is ongoing. The province announced its first presumptive case on March 14, 2020, and declared a public health emergency on March 18. Health orders, including the closure of non-essential businesses and mandatory [[self-isolation]] for all travellers entering the province (including from within Canada), were enacted over the days that followed.<ref name=":12">{{cite web|date=March 18, 2020|title=N.L. announces strict measures, including jail time, to halt the spread of COVID-19|url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/n-l-announces-strict-measures-including-jail-time-to-halt-the-spread-of-covid-19-1.4858499|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407080800/https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/n-l-announces-strict-measures-including-jail-time-to-halt-the-spread-of-covid-19-1.4858499|archive-date=April 7, 2020|access-date=February 13, 2021|website=CTV News|language=en}}</ref>

The emergency and all COVID-related restrictions ended in February 2022. There had been 18,464 recorded cases of persons testing positive for the virus, including 46 deaths.<ref>{{cite web|title=Home|url=https://www.gov.nl.ca/covid-19/|website=COVID-19|language=en-CA|access-date=January 11, 2022|archive-date=March 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200327081324/https://www.gov.nl.ca/covid-19/|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Demographics ==
{{Main|Demographics of Newfoundland and Labrador}}
[[File:Canada Newfoundland and Labrador Density 2016.png|thumb|right|Population density of Newfoundland and Labrador]]
{{See also|List of communities in Newfoundland and Labrador|List of Newfoundland and Labrador communities by population}}

=== Population ===
{{Historical populations
|title = Historical populations
|type = Canada
|align = right
|width =
|state =
|shading =
|percentages =
|footnote = Source:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/cns_tools/id/52178|title=Census of Newfoundland and Labrador, 1935, vol. 1 : population by districts and settlements :: NL Books – Reference Sources, Directories, Etc.|website=collections.mun.ca|access-date=April 1, 2020|archive-date=August 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805051811/http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/cns_tools/id/52178|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo62b.htm|title=Population urban and rural, by province and territory – Newfoundland and Labrador|date=May 1, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080321032756/http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo62b.htm|archive-date=March 21, 2008|access-date=March 30, 2020}}</ref> and [[Statistics Canada]]
{{cite web |url=https://www.stats.gov.nl.ca/Publications/Historical/PDF/Historical_Statistics_of_Newfoundland_and_Labrador_V2_N7_1994.pdf |title=Historical Statistics of Newfoundland and Labrador |publisher=Government of Newfoundland and Labrador |date=November 1994 |access-date=January 9, 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220223004526/https://www.stats.gov.nl.ca/Publications/Historical/PDF/Historical_Statistics_of_Newfoundland_and_Labrador_V2_N7_1994.pdf |archive-date=Feb 23, 2022 }}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gov.nl.ca/fin/economics/eb-population/ |title=Population stood at 521,758 as of October, 2021 – Finance |publisher=Gov.nl.ca |access-date=February 27, 2022 |archive-date=February 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209133916/https://www.gov.nl.ca/fin/economics/eb-population/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
|1825 |55719
|1836 |75094|1845 |96295
|1851 |101600
|1857 |124288
|1869 |146536
|1874 |161374
|1884 |197335
|1891 |202040
|1901 |220984
|1911 |242619
|1921 |263033
|1935 |289588
|1945|321819
|1951|361416
|1956|415074
|1966|493396
|1971|522100
|1976|557720
|1981|567681
|1986|568350
|1991|568475
|[[Canada 1996 Census|1996]]|551790
|[[Canada 2001 Census|2001]]|512930
|[[Canada 2006 Census|2006]]|505469
|[[Canada 2011 Census|2011]]|514536
|[[Canada 2016 Census|2016]]|519716
|[[2021 Canadian Census|2021]]|510550
|2023 (Est.)|540418
}}

As of October 1, 2021, Newfoundland and Labrador had a population of 521,758.<ref>{{cite web|title=Population stood at 521,758 as of October, 2021|url=https://www.gov.nl.ca/fin/economics/eb-population/|access-date=February 9, 2022|website=Finance|language=en-CA|archive-date=February 9, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209133916/https://www.gov.nl.ca/fin/economics/eb-population/|url-status=live}}</ref> More than half the population lives on the [[Avalon Peninsula]] of Newfoundland, site of the capital and historical early settlement.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/91-214-x/91-214-x2008000-eng.pdf|title=Annual Demographic Estimates:Subprovincial Areas|publisher=Statistics Canada|access-date=January 10, 2011|archive-date=July 14, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714035629/http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/91-214-x/91-214-x2008000-eng.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Since 2006, the population of the province has started to increase for the first time since the early 1990s. In the 2006 census, the population of the province decreased by 1.5% compared to 2001 and stood at 505,469.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/popdwell/Table.cfm?T=101|title=Population and dwelling counts (2006 Census)|publisher=Statistics Canada|access-date=January 10, 2011|archive-date=February 13, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080213160312/http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/popdwell/Table.cfm?T=101|url-status=dead}}</ref> But, by the 2011 census, the population had risen by 1.8%.<ref name=2011census>{{cite web | url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dp-pd/hlt-fst/pd-pl/Table-Tableau.cfm?LANG=Eng&T=101&S=50&O=A | title=Population and dwelling counts, for Canada, provinces and territories, 2011 and 2006 censuses | publisher=[[Statistics Canada]] | date=January 30, 2013 | access-date=November 3, 2013 | archive-date=March 24, 2020 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20200324223623/https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dp-pd/hlt-fst/pd-pl/Table-Tableau.cfm?LANG=Eng&T=101&S=50&O=A |url-status=live}}</ref>

At the beginning of 2021, Newfoundland and Labrador started accepting applications for a Priority Skills immigration program.<ref>{{cite web|date=December 30, 2020|title=Newfoundland and Labrador to open new immigration program for skilled workers {{!}} Canada Immigration News|url=https://www.cicnews.com/2020/12/newfoundland-and-labrador-to-open-new-immigration-program-for-skilled-workers-1216648.html|access-date=June 11, 2021|website=cicnews.com|language=en-US|archive-date=July 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729054102/https://www.cicnews.com/2020/12/newfoundland-and-labrador-to-open-new-immigration-program-for-skilled-workers-1216648.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Focusing on highly educated, highly skilled newcomers with specialized experience in areas where demand has outpaced local training and recruitment, such as technology and ocean sciences occupations, the government hopes the program will attract 2,500 new permanent residents annually.<ref>{{cite web|date=December 31, 2020|title=Newfoundland and Labrador eyeing up to 350 Invitations to Apply annually under Priority Skills NL|url=https://www.immigration.ca/newfoundland-and-labrador-eyeing-up-to-350-invitations-to-apply-annually-under-priority-skills-nl|access-date=June 11, 2021|website=Canada Immigration and Visa Information. Canadian Immigration Services and Free Online Evaluation.|language=en-US|archive-date=June 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210611115837/https://www.immigration.ca/newfoundland-and-labrador-eyeing-up-to-350-invitations-to-apply-annually-under-priority-skills-nl|url-status=live}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Municipality
! 2006
! 2011
! 2016
! 2021
|-
|[[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's]]
|100,646
|106,172
|108,860
|110,525
|-
|[[Conception Bay South]]
|21,966
|24,848
|26,199
|27,168
|-
|[[Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador|Paradise]]
|12,584
|17,695
|21,389
|22,957
|-
|[[Mount Pearl]]
|24,671
|24,284
|22,957
|22,477
|-
|[[Corner Brook]]
|20,083
|19,886
|19,806
|19,333
|-
|[[Grand Falls-Windsor]]
|13,558
|13,725
|14,171
|13,853
|-
|[[Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador|Gander]]
|9,951
|11,054
|11,688
|11,880
|-
|[[Portugal Cove-St. Philip's]]
|6,575
|7,366
|8,147
|8,415
|-
|[[Happy Valley-Goose Bay]]
|7,519
|7,572
|8,109
|8,040
|-
|[[Torbay, Newfoundland and Labrador|Torbay]]
|6,281
|7,397
|7,899
|7,852
|-
| Colspan="4"| ''Table source: [https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E Statistics Canada] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209134619/https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E |date=February 9, 2022 }}''
|}

=== Ethnicity ===
{{update section|2023|date=March 2023}}
{{Main|Demographics of Newfoundland and Labrador#Ethnicity}}
According to the [[2001 Canadian census]], the largest ethnic group in Newfoundland and Labrador is English (39.4%), followed by Irish (19.7%), Scots (6.0%), [[Franco-Newfoundlander|French]] (5.5%) and [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] (3.2%).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo26b.htm |title=Population by selected ethnic origins, by province and territory (2006 Census) |publisher=0.statcan.ca |date=July 28, 2009 |access-date=July 26, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621074723/http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo26b.htm |archive-date=June 21, 2008 }}</ref> While half of all respondents also identified their ethnicity as "[[Canadian ethnicity|Canadian]]", 38 per cent report their ethnicity as "Newfoundlander" in a 2003 [[Statistics Canada]] Ethnic Diversity Survey.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/030929/d030929a.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080317012903/https://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/030929/d030929a.htm|url-status=dead|title=The Daily, Monday, September 29, 2003. Ethnic Diversity Survey|archive-date=March 17, 2008}}</ref>

During the initial registration phase for the [[Qalipu Miꞌkmaq First Nation Band]] in 2013, more than 100,000 Newfoundlanders applied for membership (equivalent to one-fifth of the total population).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-moves-to-tighten-aboriginal-membership-criteria/article17954032/|title=Surge in Newfoundland native band has Ottawa stunned, skeptical|via=The Globe and Mail|access-date=February 26, 2018|archive-date=January 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180116213118/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-moves-to-tighten-aboriginal-membership-criteria/article17954032/|url-status=live}}</ref> The subsequent process led to around 24,000 people being recognised as members of the Qalipu First Nation.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/qalipu-10-years-1.6186538 |title=Qalipu First Nation marks a milestone, celebrating 10 years as recognized Indigenous band |date=23 September 2021 |publisher=CBC |first=Colleen |last=Connors |accessdate=29 December 2023 |archive-date=January 19, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240119164633/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/qalipu-10-years-1.6186538 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Language ===
{{Main|Demographics of Newfoundland and Labrador#Languages}}
{{Further|Newfoundland English|Newfoundland Irish|Beothuk language}}
As of the [[2021 Canadian census|2021 Canadian Census]], the ten most spoken languages in the province included English (501,135 or 99.81%), French (26,130 or 5.2%), Arabic (2,195 or 0.44%), Spanish (2,085 or 0.42%), Innu (Montagnais) (1,925 or 0.38%), Tagalog (1,810 or 0.36%), Hindi (1,565 or 0.31%), Mandarin (1,170 or 0.23%), German (1,075 or 0.21%), and Punjabi (1,040 or 0.21%).<ref name="language2021">{{Cite web |publisher=Statistics Canada |date=2022-08-17 |title=Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population Profile table Newfoundland and Labrador [Province] |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?LANG=E&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1,4&DGUIDlist=2021A000210&HEADERlist=,15,13,18,12,16,14,17&SearchText=Newfoundland%20and%20Labrador |access-date=August 17, 2022 |archive-date=August 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818010822/https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?LANG=E&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1,4&DGUIDlist=2021A000210&HEADERlist=,15,13,18,12,16,14,17&SearchText=Newfoundland%20and%20Labrador |url-status=live }}</ref> The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses.

[[Newfoundland English]] is a term referring to any of several [[Accent (dialect)|accent]]s and [[dialect]]s of the [[English language]] found in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Most of these differ substantially from the English commonly spoken elsewhere in neighbouring [[Canada]] and the [[North Atlantic]]. Many Newfoundland dialects are similar to the [[West Country dialects|dialects]] of the [[West Country]] in England, particularly the city of [[Bristol]] and counties of [[Cornwall]], [[Devon]], [[Dorset]], [[Hampshire]] and [[Somerset]], while other Newfoundland dialects resemble those of Ireland's southeastern counties, particularly [[County Waterford|Waterford]], [[County Wexford|Wexford]], [[County Kilkenny|Kilkenny]] and [[County Cork|Cork]]. Still others blend elements of both, and there is also a discernible influence of [[Scottish English]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/society/scottish.html|title=Scottish in NL|website=heritage.nf.ca|access-date=November 26, 2015|archive-date=October 13, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013145759/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/society/scottish.html|url-status=live}}</ref> While the Scots came in smaller numbers than the English and Irish, they had a large influence on Newfoundland society.<ref name="renamed_from_2006_on_20151223002828"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/society/west_country.html|title=West Country|website=heritage.nf.ca|access-date=November 26, 2015|archive-date=April 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150423033448/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/society/west_country.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="A Short History">Newfoundland Historical Society, ''A Short History of Newfoundland and Labrador'', St. John's, NL, Boulder Publications, 2008.</ref>

Local place names in the [[Irish language]] include Newfoundland (''Talamh an Éisc'', ''Land of the Fish'')<ref>{{cite book |editor-first1=Natasha |editor-last1=Sumner |editor-first2=Aidan |editor-last2=Doyle |date=2020 |title=North American Gaels: Speech, Song, and Story in the Diaspora |publisher=[[McGill-Queen's University]] Press |p=80}}</ref> and [[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's]] (''Baile Sheáin'')<ref>{{cite book |editor-first1=Natasha |editor-last1=Sumner |editor-first2=Aidan |editor-last2=Doyle |date=2020 |title=North American Gaels: Speech, Song, and Story in the Diaspora |publisher=[[McGill-Queen's University]] Press |p=76}}</ref> [[Ballyhack, Newfoundland and Labrador|Ballyhack]] (''Baile Hac''), [[Cappahayden]] (''Ceapach Éidín''), [[Kilbride, Newfoundland and Labrador|Kilbride]] and St. Bride's (''Cill Bhríde''), Duntara, [[Port Kirwan]] and [[Skibbereen]] (''Scibirín''). While the distinct local dialect of the [[Irish language in Newfoundland]] is now extinct, the language is still taught locally and the [[Gaelic revival]] organization {{lang|ga|[[Conradh na Gaeilge]]}} remains active in the province.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/generation-emigration/teaching-irish-in-newfoundland-the-most-irish-place-outside-ireland-1.2575366 |title=Teaching Irish in Newfoundland, the most Irish place outside Ireland |work=The Irish Times |first=Sinéad |last=Ní Mheallaigh |date=March 16, 2016 |access-date=October 3, 2024}}</ref> A distinct local dialect of [[Scots Gaelic]] was also once spoken in the [[Codroy Valley]] of Newfoundland, following the settlement there, from the middle of the 19th century, of [[Canadian Gaelic]]-speakers from [[Cape Breton, Nova Scotia]]. Some 150 years later, the language has not entirely disappeared, although it no longer has any fluent speakers. In Canadian Gaelic, the two main names for Newfoundland are ''Talamh an Èisg'' and ''Eilein a' Trosg''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/language.php|title=Language|website=heritage.nf.ca|access-date=December 9, 2015|archive-date=January 14, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160114151132/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/language.php|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis|url=http://research.library.mun.ca/1319/|title=Some aspects of the Scottish Gaelic traditions of the Codroy Valley, Newfoundland|year=1975|publisher=Memorial University of Newfoundland|type=masters|last1=Bennett|first1=Margaret|access-date=January 5, 2023|archive-date=January 5, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230105035321/https://research.library.mun.ca/1319/|url-status=live}}</ref>

A community of [[Newfoundland French]] speakers still exists on the [[Port au Port Peninsula]]—a remnant of the "[[French Shore]]" along the island's west coast.<ref name="Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador">Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador</ref>

Several indigenous languages are spoken in the Province, representing the [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]] ([[Miꞌkmaq language|Miꞌkmaq]] and [[Innu]]) and [[Eskimo-Aleut]] ([[Inuktitut]]) linguistic families.<ref name="Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador"/>

Languages of the population – mother tongue (2011)
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: centre;"
|- style="background:#ccc;"
!Rank
!Language
!Respondents
!Percentage
|-
|1.
|English
|498,095
|97.7
|-
|2.
|French
|2,745
|0.5
|-
|3.
|[[Innu-aimun]]
|1,585
|0.3
|-
|4.
|Chinese
|1,080
|0.2
|-
|5.
|Spanish
|670
|0.16
|-
|6.
|German
|655
|0.15
|-
|7.
|[[Inuktitut]]
|595
|0.1
|-
|8.
|[[Urdu]]
|550
|0.1
|-
|9.
|[[Arabic language|Arabic]]
|540
|0.1
|-
|10.
|[[Dutch language|Dutch]]
|300
|< 0.1
|-
|11.
|Russian
|225
|< 0.1
|-
|12.
|Italian
|195
|< 0.1
|}

=== Religion ===
{{Main|Demographics of Newfoundland and Labrador#Religion}}
According to the [[2021 Canadian census|2021 census]], religious groups in Newfoundland and Labrador included:<ref name="2021censusB">{{Cite web |publisher=Statistics Canada |date=2022-10-26 |title=Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&SearchText=Newfoundland%20and%20Labrador&DGUIDlist=2021A000210&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1&HEADERlist=0 |access-date=November 11, 2022 |archive-date=November 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124111424/https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&SearchText=Newfoundland%20and%20Labrador&DGUIDlist=2021A000210&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1&HEADERlist=0 |url-status=live }}</ref>
*[[Christianity in Canada|Christianity]] (413,915 persons or 82.4%)
*[[Irreligion in Canada|Irreligion]] (80,330 persons or 16.0%)
*[[Islam in Canada|Islam]] (3,995 persons or 0.8%)
*[[Hinduism in Canada|Hinduism]] (1,200 persons or 0.2%)
*[[Sikhism in Canada|Sikhism]] (855 persons or 0.2%)
*[[Buddhism in Canada|Buddhism]] (490 persons or 0.1%)
*[[Judaism in Canada|Judaism]] (240 persons or <0.1%)
*[[Mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous Spirituality]] (105 persons or <0.1%)
*Other (965 persons or 0.2%)

The largest single religious denomination by number of adherents according to the [[Canada 2011 Census|2011 National Household Survey]] was the [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic Church]], at 35.8% of the province's population (181,590 members). The major Protestant denominations made up 57.3% of the population, with the largest groups being the [[Anglican Church of Canada]] at 25.1% of the total population (127,255 members), the [[United Church of Canada]] at 15.5% (78,380 members), and the [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]] churches at 6.5% (33,195 members), with other Protestant denominations in much smaller numbers. Non-Christians constituted only 6.8% of the population, with the majority of those respondents indicating "no religious affiliation" (6.2% of the population).<ref name="NHS Profile, Newfoundland and Labrador, 2011">{{cite web|url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/prof/details/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=10&Data=Count&SearchText=Newfoundland%20and%20Labrador&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&A1=All&B1=All&GeoLevel=PR&GeoCode=10|title=NHS Profile, Newfoundland and Labrador, 2011|publisher=Statistics Canada|access-date=November 12, 2014|archive-date=December 4, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141204235149/http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/prof/details/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=10&Data=Count&SearchText=Newfoundland%20and%20Labrador&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&A1=All&B1=All&GeoLevel=PR&GeoCode=10|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Economy==
[[File:Lobsters from Salvage, Newfoundland.jpg|thumb|Fishing boats and [[lobster trap]]s in [[Salvage, Newfoundland]]]]
For many years, Newfoundland and Labrador experienced a depressed economy. Following the [[Collapse of the Atlantic northwest cod fishery|collapse of the cod fishery]] during the early 1990s, the province suffered record unemployment rates and the population decreased by roughly 60,000.<ref name="population">{{cite web|title=Population, urban and rural, by province and territory (Newfoundland and Labrador)|url=http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/demo62b-eng.htm|publisher=Statistics Canada|access-date=August 22, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706182319/http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/demo62b-eng.htm|archive-date=July 6, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Newfoundland and Labrador Fisheries|url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/society/fishery.html|publisher=Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador|access-date=December 21, 2011|archive-date=January 16, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120116113411/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/society/fishery.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Due to a major energy and resources boom, the provincial economy has had a major turnaround since the turn of the 21st century.<ref>{{cite news|last=McCarthy|first=Shawn|title=Labour shortage looms in Newfoundland and Labrador|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/labour-shortage-looms-in-newfoundland-and-labrador/article2274716/singlepage/#articlecontent|access-date=December 21, 2011|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=December 17, 2011|archive-date=January 21, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121085242/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/labour-shortage-looms-in-newfoundland-and-labrador/article2274716/singlepage/#articlecontent|url-status=dead}}</ref> Unemployment rates decreased, the population stabilized and had moderate growth. The province has gained record surpluses, which has rid it of its status as a "[[Equalization payments in Canada|have not]]" province.<ref name="review2011">{{cite web|title=The Economic Review 2011|url=http://www.economics.gov.nl.ca/pdf2011/TheEconomicReview2011.pdf|publisher=Government of Newfoundland and Labrador|access-date=December 21, 2011|year=2011|archive-date=December 22, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111222024226/http://www.economics.gov.nl.ca/pdf2011/TheEconomicReview2011.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/have-not-is-no-more-n-l-off-equalization-1.698924|title=Have-not is no more: N.L. off equalization|publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|date=November 3, 2008|access-date=February 5, 2011|archive-date=March 3, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303093003/http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2008/11/03/have-not.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Economic growth, gross domestic product (GDP), exports, and employment resumed in 2010, after suffering the effects of the [[late-2000s recession]]. In 2010, total capital investment in the province grew to [[Canadian dollars|C$]]6.2&nbsp;billion, an increase of 23.0% compared to 2009. 2010 GDP reached $28.1&nbsp;billion, compared to $25.0&nbsp;billion in 2009.<ref name="review 2010">{{cite web|url=http://www.economics.gov.nl.ca/ER2010/TheEconomicReview2010.pdf|title=Economic Review 2010|publisher=Government of Newfoundland and Labrador|access-date=February 5, 2011|archive-date=July 6, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706191440/http://www.economics.gov.nl.ca/ER2010/TheEconomicReview2010.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Primary sector===
[[File:Hebron Oil Platform, Newfoundland, Canada.jpg|thumb|The Hebron oil platform, before being towed out to the [[Grand Banks of Newfoundland|Grand Banks]]]]
{{See also|Petroleum industry in Canada#Newfoundland and Labrador}}
[[extraction of petroleum|Oil production]] from offshore [[oil platforms]] on the [[Hibernia (oil field)|Hibernia]], [[White Rose (oil field)|White Rose]] and [[Terra Nova (oil field)|Terra Nova]] [[oil field]]s on the [[Grand Banks]] was of {{convert|110|e6oilbbl|e6m3|abbr=unit}}, which contributed to more than 15 per cent of the province's GDP in 2006. Total production from the Hibernia field from 1997 to 2006 was {{convert|733|e6oilbbl|e6m3|abbr=unit}} with an estimated value of $36&nbsp;billion. This will increase with the inclusion of the latest project, Hebron. Remaining reserves are estimated at almost {{convert|2|Goilbbl|e6m3|abbr=unit}} as of December 31, 2006. Exploration for new reserves is ongoing.<ref name="econ"/> On June 16, 2009, provincial premier [[Danny Williams (Canadian politician)|Danny Williams]] announced a tentative agreement to expand the [[Hibernia oil field]]. The government negotiated a 10 per cent equity stake in the Hibernia South expansion, which will add an estimated $10&nbsp;billion to Newfoundland and Labrador's treasury.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/10b-hibernia-south-deal-reached-williams-1.832867 |title=CBC News – Nfld. & Labrador – $10B Hibernia South deal reached: Williams |publisher=Cbc.ca |date=June 16, 2009 |access-date=July 26, 2010 |archive-date=June 19, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619203900/http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/06/16/hibernia-south-616.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Geologists Labrador Voiseys Bay mine.jpg|thumb|The [[Voisey's Bay Mine]] is one of [[List of mines in Newfoundland and Labrador|several mines]] located in the province.]]
The [[Mining|mining sector]] in Labrador is still growing. The iron ore mine at [[Wabush]]/[[Labrador City]], and the nickel mine in [[Voisey's Bay]] produced a total of $3.3&nbsp;billion worth of ore in 2010.<ref name="review 2010"/> A mine at Duck Pond ({{Cvt|30|km}} south of the now-closed mine at [[Buchans, Newfoundland and Labrador|Buchans]]), started producing copper, [[zinc]], silver and gold in 2007, and prospecting for new ore bodies continues.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usetdas.com/TDAS/NewsArticle.aspx?NewsID=8859|title=Buchans mine|publisher=Filing Services Canada Inc|access-date=June 17, 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929101618/http://www.usetdas.com/TDAS/NewsArticle.aspx?NewsID=8859|archive-date=September 29, 2007}}</ref> Mining accounted for 3.5% of the provincial GDP in 2006.<ref name="econ">{{cite web|url=http://www.economics.gov.nl.ca/E2007/default.asp|title=Economic Research and Analysis 2007|publisher=Economics and Statistics Branch, Department of Finance, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Office of the Queens Printer|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070624045306/http://www.economics.gov.nl.ca/E2007/default.asp|archive-date=June 24, 2007|access-date=June 17, 2008}}</ref> The province produces 55% of Canada's total [[iron]] ore.<ref name="cef">{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/environment/mineral.html|title=Mineral Resources|last=Bell|first=Trevor|author2=Liverman, David|publisher=Memorial University of Newfoundland|access-date=June 17, 2008|archive-date=October 2, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002032330/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/environment/mineral.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Quarries]] producing [[dimension stone]] such as [[slate]] and [[granite]], account for less than $10&nbsp;million worth of material per year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nr.gov.nl.ca/mines&en/geosurvey/dimension/dimension.stm|title=Geological survey: Dimension stone in Newfoundland and Labrador|publisher=Natural Resources, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador|access-date=June 17, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202115329/http://www.nr.gov.nl.ca/mines%26en/geosurvey/dimension/dimension.stm|archive-date=December 2, 2008}}</ref>

The [[Fishing|fishing industry]] remains an important part of the provincial economy, employing roughly 20,000 and contributing over $440&nbsp;million to the GDP. The combined harvest of fish such as [[cod]], [[haddock]], [[halibut]], [[herring]] and [[mackerel]] was 92,961 tonnes in 2017, with a combined value of $141 million. [[Shellfish]], such as crab, [[shrimp]] and [[clam]]s, accounted for 101,922 tonnes in the same year, yielding $634 million. The value of products from the [[Seal hunting|seal hunt]] was $1.9 million.<ref>{{cite web|title=Landings and Landed Value 2017 Preliminary|url=https://www.fishaq.gov.nl.ca/stats/landings/pdf/Landings%20and%20Landed%20Value%202017P.PDF|publisher=Government of Newfoundland and Labrador|access-date=February 23, 2019|archive-date=November 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181114140707/https://www.fishaq.gov.nl.ca/stats/landings/pdf/Landings%20and%20Landed%20Value%202017P.PDF|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2015, [[aquaculture]] produced over 22,000 tonnes of [[Atlantic salmon]], [[mussel]]s and [[Rainbow trout|steelhead trout]] worth over $161 million. [[Oyster]] production is also forthcoming.<ref>{{cite web|title=Newfoundland and Labrador 2014 and 2015 aquaculture Industry Highlights|url=https://www.fishaq.gov.nl.ca/stats/pdf/aqua_production_and_%20value_%202016%20aqua.pdf|publisher=Government of Newfoundland and Labrador|date=December 31, 2015|access-date=February 23, 2019|archive-date=July 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170718152327/http://www.fishaq.gov.nl.ca/stats/pdf/aqua_production_and_%20value_%202016%20aqua.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Agriculture]] in Newfoundland is limited to areas south of [[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's]], [[Cormack, Newfoundland and Labrador|Cormack]], [[Wooddale, Newfoundland and Labrador|Wooddale]], areas near [[Musgravetown]] and in the [[Codroy Valley]]. Potatoes, [[rutabaga]]s, [[turnip]]s, carrots and [[cabbage]] are grown for local consumption. Poultry, [[Eggs as food|eggs]], and dairy are also produced. Wild [[blueberries]], [[Vaccinium vitis-idaea|partridgeberries]] (lingonberries) and [[bakeapple]]s (cloudberries) are harvested commercially and used in [[fruit preserves|jams]] and wine making.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rodrigueswinery.com/ |title=Rodriques Winery |access-date=October 26, 2007 |archive-date=October 14, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014054153/http://rodrigueswinery.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Secondary sector===
[[Newsprint]] is produced by one [[paper mill]] in [[Corner Brook]] with a capacity of {{cvt|420000|tonne}} per year. The value of newsprint exports varies greatly from year to year, depending on the global market price. Lumber is produced by numerous mills in Newfoundland. Apart from seafood processing, paper manufacture and [[oil refining]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nlrefining.com/|title=Project Review|publisher=Newfoundland and Labrador Refining Corporation|access-date=June 17, 2008|archive-date=June 13, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613151221/http://www.nlrefining.com/|url-status=live}}</ref> manufacturing in the province consists of smaller industries producing food,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.purity.nf.ca/|title=Purity Factories (Newfoundland food)|access-date=October 26, 2007|archive-date=October 13, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013122935/http://purity.nf.ca/|url-status=live}}</ref> brewing and other beverage production.

===Tertiary sector===
[[Tertiary sector of the economy|Service industries]] accounted for the largest share of GDP, especially financial services, health care and public administration. Other significant industries are mining, oil production and manufacturing. The total labour force in 2018 was 261,400 people.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410009001&pickMembers%5B0%5D=2.2|title=Labour force characteristics by province, territory and economic region, annual (x 1,000)|website=Statistics Canada|access-date=September 23, 2019|archive-date=January 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103063951/https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410009001&pickMembers%5B0%5D=2.2|url-status=live}}</ref> Per capita GDP in 2017 was $62,573, higher than the national average and third only to Alberta and Saskatchewan out of Canadian provinces.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3610022201&pickMembers%5B0%5D=1.2&pickMembers%5B1%5D=2.1|title=Gross domestic product, expenditure-based, provincial and territorial, annual (x 1,000,000)|website=Statistics Canada|access-date=September 23, 2019|archive-date=January 11, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200111005607/https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3610022201&pickMembers%5B0%5D=1.2&pickMembers%5B1%5D=2.1|url-status=live}}</ref>

Tourism is also a significant contributor to the province's economy. In 2006, nearly 500,000 non-resident tourists visited Newfoundland and Labrador, spending an estimated $366&nbsp;million.<ref name="econ"/> In 2017, non-resident tourists spent an estimated $575&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite web|title=Newfoundland and Labrador tourism spending reached $1.13B in 2016|url=https://www.thetelegram.com/news/local/newfoundland-and-labrador-tourism-spending-reached-113b-in-2016-187987/|publisher=The Telegram|access-date=September 10, 2019|archive-date=January 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200105191324/https://www.thetelegram.com/news/local/newfoundland-and-labrador-tourism-spending-reached-113b-in-2016-187987/|url-status=live}}</ref> Tourism is most popular throughout the months of June–September, the warmest months of the year with the longest hours of daylight.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Best Time to Visit Newfoundland, Canada for Weather, Safety, & Tourism|url=https://championtraveler.com/dates/best-time-to-visit-newfoundland-ca/|url-status=live|access-date=December 5, 2021|website=[[ChampionTraveler]]|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205162901/https://championtraveler.com/dates/best-time-to-visit-newfoundland-ca/}}</ref>

==Government and politics==
{{See also|Government of Newfoundland and Labrador|Politics of Newfoundland and Labrador}}
[[File:Confederation Building (front), St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.jpg|thumb|The [[Confederation Building (Newfoundland and Labrador)|Confederation Building]] serves as the meeting place for the [[Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly]].]]
Newfoundland and Labrador is governed by a [[Parliamentary system|parliamentary government]] within the construct of [[constitutional monarchy]]; the [[monarchy in Newfoundland and Labrador]] is the foundation of the executive, [[Legislature|legislative]], and [[Judiciary|judicial]] branches.<ref>{{Cite book| author=Department of Canadian Heritage| title=Canadian Heritage Portfolio| publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada| date=February 2009| edition=2nd| url=http://www.pch.gc.ca/pc-ch/publctn/gp-pg/ppc-chp/ppc-chp-eng.pdf| pages=3–4| isbn=978-1-100-11529-0| access-date=May 23, 2011| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611162155/http://www.pch.gc.ca/pc-ch/publctn/gp-pg/ppc-chp/ppc-chp-eng.pdf| archive-date=June 11, 2011| df=mdy-all}}</ref> The sovereign is [[King Charles III]], who also serves as head of state of [[Commonwealth realm|14 other Commonwealth countries]], each of Canada's nine other provinces and the Canadian federal realm; he resides in the United Kingdom. The King's representative in Newfoundland and Labrador is the [[Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador]], presently [[Joan Marie Aylward]].<ref>{{cite web| last=Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador| title=Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador > Role and Duties| url=http://www.govhouse.nl.ca/lieutenantgovernor/role.html| publisher=Queen's Printer for Newfoundland and Labrador| access-date=September 13, 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012204617/http://www.govhouse.nl.ca/lieutenantgovernor/role.html| archive-date=October 12, 2016| url-status=dead}}</ref>

The direct participation of the royal and viceroyal figures in governance is limited; in practice, their use of the executive powers is directed by the [[Executive Council of Newfoundland and Labrador|Executive Council]], a committee of [[Minister of the Crown|ministers of the Crown]] responsible to the unicameral, elected [[Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly|House of Assembly]]. The Council is chosen and headed by the [[Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador]], the [[head of government]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/dunderdale-becomes-1st-woman-to-lead-n-l-1.959039| title=Dunderdale becomes 1st woman to lead N.L.| date=December 3, 2010| publisher=CBC| access-date=January 19, 2011| archive-date=December 6, 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206082534/http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2010/12/03/nl-dunderdale-premier-sworn-in-123.html| url-status=live}}</ref> After each general election, the lieutenant governor will usually appoint as premier the leader of the political party that has a [[majority]] or [[plurality (voting)|plurality]] in the House of Assembly. The leader of the party with the second-most seats usually becomes the [[Leader of the Opposition (Newfoundland and Labrador)|Leader of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition]] and is part of an adversarial parliamentary system intended to keep the government in check.<ref>{{cite web| last=Library of Parliament| title=The Opposition in a Parliamentary System| url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/LOP/researchpublications/bp47-e.htm| publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada| access-date=May 23, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125122354/http://www2.parl.gc.ca/content/lop/researchpublications/bp47-e.htm| archive-date=November 25, 2010| url-status=dead| df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Each of the 40 [[Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly|Members of the House of Assembly]] (MHA) is elected by simple plurality in an [[Canadian electoral district|electoral district]]. General elections must be called by the lieutenant governor on the second Tuesday in October four years after the previous election, or may be called earlier, on the advice of the premier, should the government lose a [[confidence vote]] in the legislature.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.assembly.nl.ca/business/bills/Bill0440.htm| title=An Act To Amend The House of Assembly Act and the Elections Act, 1991| date=December 13, 2004| publisher=Queen's Printer for Newfoundland and Labrador| access-date=January 20, 2011| archive-date=July 28, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728024354/http://www.assembly.nl.ca/business/bills/Bill0440.htm| url-status=live}}</ref> Traditionally, politics in the province have been dominated by both the [[Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador|Liberal Party]] and the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador|Progressive Conservative Party]]. However, in the [[2011 Newfoundland and Labrador general election|2011 provincial election]] the [[New Democratic Party of Newfoundland and Labrador|New Democratic Party]], which had only ever attained minor success, had a major breakthrough and placed second in the popular vote behind the Progressive Conservatives.<ref>{{cite news|last=Moore|first=Oliver|title='Orange wave' credited with slimming Tory majority in Newfoundland|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/provincial-elections/orange-wave-credited-with-slimming-tory-majority-in-newfoundland/article2198237/|access-date=December 21, 2011|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=October 12, 2011|archive-date=December 15, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111215103649/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/provincial-elections/orange-wave-credited-with-slimming-tory-majority-in-newfoundland/article2198237/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Culture==

===Art===
{{Main|Art of Newfoundland and Labrador}}
Before 1950, the visual arts were a minor aspect of Newfoundland cultural life, compared with the performing arts such as music or theatre. Until about 1900, most art was the work of visiting artists, who included members of the [[Group of Seven (artists)|Group of Seven]], [[Rockwell Kent]] and [[Eliot O'Hara]]. Artists such as Newfoundland-born [[Maurice Galbraith Cullen|Maurice Cullen]] and [[Robert Pilot]] travelled to Europe to study art in prominent ateliers.<ref>Mireille Eagan."Before Category," PAGES, vol. 1 no. 1, (The Rooms), 2013. p. 37</ref>
[[File:Artist sketching the St. John's Harbour and skyline (c. 1910).jpg|thumb|left|Photograph of an artist sketching St. John's harbour and skyline, {{circa|1890}}]]
By the turn of the 20th century, amateur art was made by people living and working in the province. These artists included J.W. Hayward and his son Thomas B. Hayward, Agnes Marian Ayre, and [[Harold B. Goodridge]], the last of whom worked on a number of mural commissions, notably one for the lobby of the [[Confederation Building (Newfoundland and Labrador)|Confederation Building]] in St. John's.<ref name="heritage.nf.ca">{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/arts/visual-arts.php|title=Visual Arts|website=heritage.nf.ca|access-date=May 31, 2016|archive-date=August 9, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809050447/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/arts/visual-arts.php|url-status=live}}</ref> Local art societies became prominent in the 1940s, particularly The Art Students Club, which opened in 1940.<ref>"Without a Suitable Gallery, Club Tries to Encourage Nfld. Art," The Daily News, (June 23, 1950).</ref>

After Newfoundland and Labrador joined Canada in 1949, government grants fostered a supportive environment for visual artists, primarily painters. The visual arts of the province developed significantly in the second half of the century, with the return of young Newfoundland artists whom had studied abroad. Amongst the first were [[Rae Perlin]], who studied at the [[Art Students League]] in New York, and [[Helen Parsons Shepherd]] and her husband Reginald Shepherd, who both graduated from the [[Ontario College of Art]].<ref name="heritage.nf.ca"/> The Shepherds established the province's first art school, the Newfoundland Academy of Art.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/arts/reginald-shepherd.php|title=Reginald Shepherd|website=heritage.nf.ca|access-date=May 31, 2016|archive-date=May 31, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160531033105/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/arts/reginald-shepherd.php|url-status=live}}</ref>

Newfoundland-born painters [[Christopher Pratt]] and [[Mary Pratt (painter)|Mary Pratt]] returned to the province in 1961 to work at the newly established [[Memorial University Art Gallery]] as its first curator, later transitioning to painting full-time in Salmonier. [[David Blackwood]] graduated from the [[Ontario College of Art]] in the early 1960s and achieved acclaim with his images of Newfoundland culture and history. Newfoundland-born artist [[Gerald Squires]] returned in 1969.<ref name="heritage.nf.ca"/>

The creation of [[The Memorial University Extension Services]] and [[St. Michael's Printshop]] in the 1960s and 1970s attracted a number of visual artists to the province to teach and create art. Similarly, the school in Hibb's Hole (now [[Hibb's Cove]]), established by painter [[George Noseworthy]], brought professional artists such as [[Anne Meredith Barry]] to the province.<ref>Mireille Eagan."Before Category," PAGES, vol. 1 no. 1, (The Rooms), 2013. p. 43</ref> A notable artist during this period is [[Marlene Creates]].<ref name="heritage.nf.ca"/>
[[File:The Rooms (North face), St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.jpg|thumb|[[The Rooms]] is a provincial cultural facility that houses the [[Provincial and territorial museums of Canada|provincial art gallery]].]]
From 1980 to present, opportunities for artists continued to develop, as galleries such as the [[Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador]] (which later became [[The Rooms]] Provincial Art Gallery), the [[Resource Centre for the Arts]], and [[Eastern Edge]] were established. Fine arts education programs were established at post-secondary institutions such as [[Sir Wilfred Grenfell College]] in [[Corner Brook]], the Western Community College (now [[College of the North Atlantic]]) in [[Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador|Stephenville]], and the [[Anna Templeton Centre]] in St. John's.<ref>Mireille Eagan."Before Category," PAGES, vol. 1 no. 1, (The Rooms), 2013. pp. 43–44</ref>

Newfoundland and Labrador's arts community is recognized nationally and internationally. The creation of [[Fogo Island Arts]] in 2008 on [[Fogo Island, Newfoundland and Labrador|Fogo Island]] created a residency-based contemporary art program for artists, filmmakers, writers, musicians, curators, designers, and thinkers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fogoislandarts.ca/about/fogo-island-arts/|title=About – Fogo Island Arts|access-date=May 31, 2016|archive-date=May 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512071925/http://fogoislandarts.ca/about/fogo-island-arts/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2013 and 2015, the province was represented at the [[Venice Biennale]] as Official Collateral Projects.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://canadianart.ca/news/newfoundland-officially-accepted-venice-biennale/|title=Newfoundland Accepted by Venice Biennale – Canadian Art|access-date=May 31, 2016|archive-date=June 24, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624094557/http://canadianart.ca/news/newfoundland-officially-accepted-venice-biennale/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2015, [[Philippa Jones]] became the first Newfoundland and Labrador artist to be included in the [[National Gallery of Canada]] contemporary art biennial.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ngcmagazine.ca/videos/shine-a-light-canadian-biennial-2014-philippa-jones|title=Magazine|website=ngcmagazine.ca|access-date=May 31, 2016|archive-date=June 8, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160608204609/http://www.ngcmagazine.ca/videos/shine-a-light-canadian-biennial-2014-philippa-jones|url-status=live}}</ref> Other notable contemporary artists who have received national and international attention include [[Will Gill]], [[Kym Greeley]], [[Ned Pratt]] and [[Peter Wilkins]].

As of 2011, a study documented approximately 1,200 artists, representing 0.47% of the province's labour force.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hillstrategies.com/content/artists-and-cultural-workers-canada%E2%80%99s-provinces-and-territories|title=Artists and Cultural Workers in Canada's Provinces and Territories|website=hillstrategies.com|access-date=May 31, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160707193244/http://www.hillstrategies.com/content/artists-and-cultural-workers-canada%E2%80%99s-provinces-and-territories|archive-date=July 7, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Music===
{{Main|Music of Newfoundland and Labrador}}
Newfoundland and Labrador has a folk musical heritage based on the [[Music of Ireland|Irish]], [[English folk music|English]] and [[Music of Scotland|Scottish]] traditions that were brought to its shores centuries ago. Though similar in its [[Celtic music|Celtic]] influence to neighbouring [[Nova Scotia]] and [[Prince Edward Island]], Newfoundland and Labrador are more Irish than Scottish, and have more elements imported from English and French music than those provinces.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/arts/traditional-music-arts.php|title=Traditional Music|website=heritage.nf.ca|access-date=January 12, 2019|archive-date=January 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190113003855/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/arts/traditional-music-arts.php|url-status=live}}</ref> Much of the region's music focuses on the strong seafaring tradition in the area, and includes [[Sea shanty|sea shanties]] and other sailing songs. Some modern traditional musicians include [[Great Big Sea]], [[The Ennis Sisters]], [[The Dardanelles (band)|The Dardanelles]], [[Ron Hynes]] and [[Jim Payne (folk singer)|Jim Payne]].

The [[Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra]] began in St. John's in 1962 as a 20-piece string orchestra known as the St. John's Orchestra.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nsomusic.ca/?page_id=15|title=About -|access-date=November 26, 2015|archive-date=September 2, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140902052630/http://nsomusic.ca/?page_id=15|url-status=dead}}</ref> A school of music at [[Memorial University of Newfoundland|Memorial University]] schedules a variety of concerts and has a chamber orchestra and jazz band.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mun.ca/music/musicatmemorial/|title=School of Music|access-date=September 6, 2017|archive-date=October 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171005071539/http://www.mun.ca/music/musicatmemorial/|url-status=live}}</ref> Two members of its faculty, Nancy Dahn on violin and Timothy Steeves on piano, perform as Duo Concertante<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.duoconcertante.com/|title=Duo Concertante|last=Mediavandals.com|website=Duo Concertante|access-date=November 26, 2015|archive-date=November 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151127043918/http://www.duoconcertante.com/|url-status=live}}</ref> and are responsible for establishing an annual music festival in August, the [[Tuckamore Festival]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tuckamorefestival.ca/|title=Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival|website=tuckamorefestival.ca|access-date=November 26, 2015|archive-date=November 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151127055112/http://tuckamorefestival.ca/|url-status=live}}</ref> Both the school of music and [[Opera on the Avalon]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://operaontheavalon.com/company-information/|title=Opera on the Avalon|access-date=November 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151127070318/http://operaontheavalon.com/company-information/|archive-date=November 27, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> produce operatic works. A leading institution for research in ethnomusicology, Memorial's Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media, and Place, offers academic lectures, scholarly residencies, conferences, symposia, and outreach activities to the province on music and culture.

The pre-confederation and current provincial anthem is the "[[Ode to Newfoundland]]", written by British colonial governor Sir Charles [[Cavendish Boyle]] in 1902. It was adopted as the official Newfoundland anthem on May 20, 1904. In 1980, the province re-adopted the song as an official provincial anthem. "The Ode to Newfoundland" is still sung at public events in Newfoundland and Labrador.

===Literature===
{{See also|Newfoundland in fiction}}
[[File:Author Michael Crummey, May 28 2014.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Michael Crummey]] is a contemporary novelist from Newfoundland and Labrador.]]

[[Margaret Duley]] (1894–1968) was Newfoundland's first novelist to gain an international audience. Her works include ''The Eyes of the Gull'' (1936), ''Cold Pastoral'' (1939) and ''Highway to Valour'' (1941).<ref>Patrick O'Flaherty, ''The Rock Observed: Studies in the Literature of Newfoundland''. (University of Toronto Press, 1979).</ref> Subsequent novelists include [[Harold Horwood]], author of ''Tomorrow Will Be Sunday'' (1966) and ''White Eskimo'' (1972), and [[Percy Janes]], author of ''House of Hate'' (1970).<ref>Patrick O'Flaherty, ''The Rock Observed''</ref> [[Michael Crummey|Michael Crummey's]] debut novel, ''River Thieves'' (2001), became a Canadian bestseller.<ref name="Canadian Encyclopaedia">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/michael-crummey|title=Michael Crummey|encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]|access-date=August 18, 2019|archive-date=August 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190818185509/https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/michael-crummey|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Wayne Johnston (writer)|Wayne Johnston's]] fiction deals primarily with the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, often in a historical setting;<ref name=canenc1>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/wayne-johnston|title=Wayne Johnston|encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]|access-date=August 18, 2019|archive-date=August 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190818185448/https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/wayne-johnston|url-status=live}}</ref> His novels include ''The Story of Bobby O'Malley'', ''The Time of Their Lives'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://waynejohnston.ca/authorbio.html|title=Welcome to Wayne Johnston's website|website=waynejohnston.ca|access-date=November 25, 2015|archive-date=January 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160110041919/http://waynejohnston.ca/authorbio.html|url-status=live}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=July 2017}} ''The Divine Ryans'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://waynejohnston.ca/thedivineryans.html|title=Welcome to Wayne Johnston's website|website=waynejohnston.ca|access-date=November 25, 2015|archive-date=January 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160110041922/http://waynejohnston.ca/thedivineryans.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and ''[[The Colony of Unrequited Dreams]]'', a historical portrayal of Newfoundland politician [[Joey Smallwood]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/1999/tcr/0727n05.htm|title=Newfoundland author featured on cover of New York Times Book Review|website=releases.gov.nl.ca|access-date=October 7, 2019|archive-date=December 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181227060226/https://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/1999/tcr/0727n05.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/a-world-elsewhere-1.398|title=A World Elsewhere|last=Battersby|first=Eileen|website=The Irish Times|language=en|access-date=October 7, 2019|archive-date=January 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103104121/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/a-world-elsewhere-1.398|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Lisa Moore (writer)|Lisa Moore's]] first novel, ''Alligator'' (2005), is set in St. John's and incorporates her Newfoundland heritage.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| url=https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/lisa-moore| title=Lisa Moore| encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia| access-date=August 18, 2019| archive-date=August 18, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190818185449/https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/lisa-moore| url-status=live}}</ref> Other contemporary novelists include [[Joel Thomas Hynes]], author of ''[[We'll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night]]'' (2017), [[Jessica Grant]], author of ''Come Thou Tortoise'' (2009), and [[Kenneth J. Harvey]], author of ''The Town That Forgot How to Breathe'' (2003), ''Inside'' (2006) and ''Blackstrap Hawco'' (2008).

[[File:Edwin J. Pratt.JPG|thumb|upright|[[E. J. Pratt]] wrote a number of poems describing maritime life and the history of Canada.]]
The earliest works of poetry in [[British North America]], mainly written by visitors and targeted at a European audience, described the new territories in optimistic terms. One of the first works was [[Robert Hayman]]'s ''Quodlibets'', a collection of verses composed in Newfoundland and published in 1628.

In the [[oral tradition]] of [[County Waterford]], the [[Munster Irish]] poet [[Donnchadh Ruadh Mac Conmara]], a former [[hedge school]] teacher, is said to have sailed for Newfoundland around 1743, allegedly to escape the wrath of a man whose daughter the poet had impregnated.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://waterfordireland.tripod.com/donncha_ruadh_macconmara.htm |title=Donnchadh Ruadh |access-date=January 1, 2023 |archive-date=February 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221124036/http://waterfordireland.tripod.com/donncha_ruadh_macconmara.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> During the 21st century, however, [[linguist]]s discovered that several of Donnchadh Ruadh's poems in the [[Irish language]] contain multiple Gaelicized words and terms known to be unique to [[Newfoundland English]]. For this reason, Donnchadh Ruadh's poems are considered the earliest literature in the [[Irish language in Newfoundland]].<ref>Edited by Natasha Sumner and Aidan Doyle (2020), ''North American Gaels: Speech, Song, and Story in the Diaspora'', [[McGill-Queen's University]] Press. Pages 73–91.</ref>

After the Second World War, Newfoundland poet [[E. J. Pratt]] described the struggle to make a living from the sea in poems about maritime life and the history of Canada, including in his 1923 "breakthrough collection" ''Newfoundland Verse''.<ref name="online">"[http://www.library.utoronto.ca/canpoetry/pratt/ E. J. Pratt:Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150110163840/http://www.library.utoronto.ca/canpoetry/pratt/ |date=January 10, 2015 }}," Canadian Poetry Online, University of Toronto Libraries. Web, March 17, 2011.</ref><ref>Brian Trehearne ed., "[https://books.google.com/books?id=BZJGnhAQT6cC&pg=PA21#v=onepage&q&f=false E. J. Pratt 1882–1964] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513184116/https://books.google.com/books?id=BZJGnhAQT6cC&pg=PA21#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=May 13, 2016 }}," ''Canadian Poetry 1920 to 1960'' (Toronto: McLelland & Stewart, 2010), 21. Google Books, Web, March 20, 2011.</ref><ref name="vulpe">Nicola Vulpe, "[http://www.bookrags.com/tandf/pratt-ej-18821964-tf/ Pratt, E.J. 1882–1964]," ''Reader's Guide to Literature in English''. BookRags.com, Web, March 26, 2011.</ref><ref name="pitt">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/edwin-john-pratt|title=Edwin John Pratt|encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia|access-date=August 18, 2019|archive-date=August 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190818185447/https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/edwin-john-pratt|url-status=live}}</ref> Amongst more recent poets are [[Tom Dawe]], [[Al Pittman]], [[Mary Dalton]], [[Agnes Walsh]], [[Patrick Warner]]<ref>[http://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/arts/patrick-warner.php Patrick Warner] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160110041930/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/arts/patrick-warner.php |date=January 10, 2016 }}.</ref> and [[John Steffler]]. Canadian poet [[Don McKay (poet)|Don McKay]] has resided in St. John's in recent years.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McKay |first1=Don |title=Don McKay – Brick Books |url=http://www.brickbooks.ca/bookauthors/don-mckay/ |website=brickbooks.ca |access-date=November 26, 2015 |archive-date=November 26, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151126105352/http://www.brickbooks.ca/bookauthors/don-mckay/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

"1967 marked the opening of the St. John's Arts and Culture Centre and the first all-Canadian Dominion Drama Festival. Playwrights across Canada began writing, and this explosion was also felt in Newfoundland and Labrador. Subregional festivals saw Newfoundland plays compete—''Wreakers'' by [[Cassie Brown]], ''Tomorrow Will Be Sunday'' by [[Tom Cahill (playwright)|Tom Cahill]], and ''Holdin' Ground'' by [[Ted Russell (Canadian politician)|Ted Russell]]. Cahill's play went on to receive top honours and a performance at [[Expo 67]] in Montreal. Joining Brown and Cahill in the seventies were [[Michael Cook (playwright)|Michael Cook]] and [[Al Pittman]], both prolific writers".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/arts/playwrights.php|title=Playwrights|website=heritage.nf.ca|access-date=November 26, 2015|archive-date=November 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151126122112/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/arts/playwrights.php|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Performing arts===
Rossleys, a "[[vaudeville]]-style performance troupe", put on [[Minstrel show|blackface minstrelsy shows]] which were a popular source of entertainment in Newfoundland between 1911 and 1917.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Quigley |first1=Colleen |first2=Melissa |last2=Templeton |date=2020 |title=Performing Blackface on the Newfoundland Stage: The Rossleys, Transnational Connections, and Early Twentieth Century Theatre in St. John's |journal=Theatre Research in Canada |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=64–87 |doi=10.3138/TRIC.41.1.64}}</ref> Modern theatre companies include the New Curtain Theatre Company in [[Clarenville, Newfoundland|Clarenville]] and the New World Theatre Project in [[Cupids]]. [[Shakespeare by the Sea, Newfoundland|Shakespeare by the Sea]] presents outdoor productions of the plays of [[William Shakespeare]], as well as pieces related to the province and culture.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://shakespearebytheseafestival.com/about-us.php |title=Shakespeare By The Sea Festival |website=shakespearebytheseafestival.com |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130314010750/http://shakespearebytheseafestival.com/about-us.php |archivedate=2013-03-14}}</ref>

[[Dance in Newfoundland and Labrador]] comprises [[dance]]s that are specific to the province, including [[performance dance|performance]] and [[folk dance|traditional]], and [[aboriginal dance|Indigenous dance]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Dance |url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/arts/dance.php |website=Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador |accessdate=23 August 2019 |archive-date=March 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322031531/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/arts/dance.php |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Traditional Dance |url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/traditional-dance.php |website=Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador |accessdate=23 August 2019 |archive-date=March 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322031532/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/traditional-dance.php |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Kittiwake Dance Theatre]], founded in 1987, is the oldest non-profit dance company in Newfoundland.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theovercast.ca/kittiwake-dance-theatres-spring-showcase-will-be-the-seasons-dance-highlight/|title=Kittiwake Dance Theatre's Spring Showcase Will Be The Season's Dance Highlight|date=May 6, 2016|website=The Overcast|accessdate=August 25, 2019|archive-date=August 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190825164011/https://theovercast.ca/kittiwake-dance-theatres-spring-showcase-will-be-the-seasons-dance-highlight/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gazette.mun.ca/public-engagement/music-and-movement/|title=Music and Movement|last=Cook|first=Mandy|date=April 10, 2019|website=The Gazette|access-date=August 25, 2019|archive-date=August 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190825162510/https://gazette.mun.ca/public-engagement/music-and-movement/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Symbols===
{{see also|Symbols of Newfoundland and Labrador}}

{| class="wikitable"
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"| Provincial symbols
|-
| Official flower
|[[Sarracenia purpurea|Pitcher plant]]
|-
| Official tree
|[[Picea mariana|Black spruce]]
|-
| Official bird
|[[Atlantic puffin]]
|-
| Official horse
|[[Newfoundland pony]]
|-
| Official animal
| [[Caribou (North America)|Caribou]]
|-
| Official game bird
| [[Rock ptarmigan|Ptarmigan]]
|-
| Official mineral
| [[Labradorite]]
|-
| Official dogs
| [[Newfoundland (dog)|Newfoundland Dog]] and<br />[[Labrador Retriever]]
|-
| [[National anthem|Provincial anthem]]
| "[[Ode to Newfoundland]]"
|-
| Provincial holiday
| June 24 Discovery Day
|-
| [[Patron saint]]
| [[John the Baptist]]
|-
| Official [[tartan]]
| [[File:Newfoundland.jpg|center|70px]]
|-
| Great seal
| [[File:Greatsealofnewfoundland.jpg|center|70px]]
|-
|[[Coat of arms]]
| [[File:Coat of arms of Newfoundland and Labrador.svg|center|70px]]
|-
|[[Escutcheon (heraldry)|Escutcheon]]
| [[File:Simple arms of Newfoundland and Labrador.svg|center|50px]]
|}

[[File:Flag of Newfoundland.svg|thumb|left|The [[Newfoundland Tricolour]] is an unofficial flag used by a number of Newfoundlanders.]]
[[File:Flag of Labrador.svg|right|thumb|The unofficial [[Flag of Labrador]], used by a number of Labradorians]]
Newfoundland and Labrador's [[Flag of Newfoundland and Labrador|present provincial flag]], designed by Newfoundland artist [[Christopher Pratt]], was officially adopted by the legislature on May 28, 1980, and first flown on "Discovery Day" that year. The blue is meant to represent the sea, the white represents snow and ice, the red represents the efforts and struggles of the people, and the gold represents the confidence of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. The blue triangles are a tribute to the Union Flag, and represent the British heritage of the province. The two red triangles represent Labrador (the mainland portion of the province) and the island. In Pratt's words, the golden arrow points towards a "brighter future".<ref name="The Newfoundland Flag">{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.nl.ca/aboutnl/flag.html|title=About Newfoundland and Labrador – Provincial Flag|access-date=March 22, 2017|archive-date=February 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203121433/https://www.gov.nl.ca/aboutnl/flag.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

What has commonly but mistakenly been called the Newfoundland tricolour [[Newfoundland Tricolour|"Pink, White and Green"(sic)]] is the flag of the Catholic Church affiliated Star of the Sea Association (SOSA). It originated in the late nineteenth century and enjoyed popularity among people who were under the impression that it was the Native Flag of Newfoundland which was created before 1852 by the Newfoundland Natives' Society. The true Native Flag (red-white-green tricolour) was widely flown into the late nineteenth century. Neither tricolour was ever adopted by the Newfoundland government.<ref name="THE PROVINCES Chap XIX">{{cite web|url=http://www.fraser.cc/FlagsCan/Provinces/Newfoundland.html|title=THE PROVINCES Chap XIX: Newfoundland|access-date=June 22, 2010|archive-date=February 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225073118/http://www.fraser.cc/FlagsCan/Provinces/Newfoundland.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The "Pink, White and Green"(sic) has been adopted by some residents as a symbol of ties with Irish heritage and as a political statement. Many of the province's [[Protestantism|Protestants]], who make up nearly 60% of the province's total population,<ref name="Population by religion, by province and territory (2001 Census)">{{cite web|url=http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/demo30a-eng.htm?sdi=religion|title=Statistics Canada: Population by religion, by province and territory (2001 Census)|access-date=June 22, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810201649/http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/demo30a-eng.htm?sdi=religion|archive-date=August 10, 2011}}</ref> may not identify with this heritage. At the same time, many of the province's Catholics, approximately 37% of the total population (with at least 22% of the population claiming Irish ancestry),<ref name="renamed_from_2006_on_20151223002828">{{cite web|url=http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/demo26b-eng.htm|title=2006 Statistics Canada National Census: Newfoundland and Labrador|publisher=Statistics Canada|date=July 28, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110115234229/http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/demo26b-eng.htm|archive-date=January 15, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Religions in Canada: Newfoundland and Labrador">{{cite web|url=http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/highlight/Religion/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo=PR&View=1a&Code=10&Table=1&StartRec=1&Sort=2&B1=10&B2=All%20Religions%20in%20Canada|title=Religions in Canada: Newfoundland and Labrador|access-date=June 22, 2010}}{{Dead link|date=July 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> think the current provincial flag does not satisfactorily represent them.<ref name="Emblem of our country">Carolyn Lambert, "Emblem of our Country", ''Newfoundland and Labrador Studies,'' Volume 23, Number 1, 2008.</ref> But, a government-sponsored poll in 2005 revealed that 75% of Newfoundlanders rejected adoption of the Tricolour flag as the province's official flag.<ref name="poll">Mark Quinn, [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v4/sub/MarketingPage?user_URL=https://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2FArticleNews%2FTPStory%2FLAC%2F20051029%2FFLAG29%2FTPNational%2F%3Fquery%3Dnewfoundland%2Bflag&ord=1151677709799&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true "Push for old Newfoundland flag fails to cause ripple, poll finds"]{{Dead link|date=July 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', October 29, 2005, A16</ref>

Labrador has its own [[Flag of Labrador|unofficial flag]], created in 1973 by Mike Martin, former [[Member of the Legislative Assembly]] for Labrador South.

==Sports==
[[File:Mile one stadium.jpg|thumb|[[Mary Brown's Centre]] (formerly Mile One Centre) is an indoor arena in St. John's.]]
Newfoundland and Labrador has a somewhat different sports culture from the rest of Canada, owing in part to its long history separate from the rest of Canada and under British rule. [[Ice hockey]], however, remains popular; Though operations ceased in April 2024, a minor league professional team called the [[Newfoundland Growlers]] of the [[ECHL]] played at [[Mary Brown's Centre]] (formerly Mile One Centre) in St. John's from the 2018–19 to 2023-24 seasons. The area had an intermittent [[American Hockey League]] presence with the [[St. John's Maple Leafs]] then [[St. John's IceCaps]] until 2017, and the [[Newfoundland Senior Hockey League]] had teams around the island. Since the departure of the [[St. John's Fog Devils]] in 2008, Newfoundland and Labrador is the only province in Canada to not have a team in the major junior [[Canadian Hockey League]] (should one ever join it would be placed in the [[QMJHL]], which hosted the Fog Devils and has jurisdiction over Atlantic Canada).

[[Hurling]] and other [[Gaelic games]] have a very long history in the Province<ref>O’Grady, Brendan (2004). Exiles and Islanders: The Irish Settlers of Prince Edward Island. MQUP. Page 56.</ref> and continue to be played.<ref name="irishtimes.com">[http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/generation-emigration/teaching-irish-in-newfoundland-the-most-irish-place-outside-ireland-1.2575366%3fmode=amp Teaching Irish in Newfoundland, the most Irish place outside Ireland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200624104436/https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/generation-emigration/teaching-irish-in-newfoundland-the-most-irish-place-outside-ireland-1.2575366?mode=amp |date=June 24, 2020 }}, by Sinéad Ní Mheallaigh, ''The Irish Times'', March 16, 2016.</ref>

[[Association football]] (soccer) and [[rugby union]] are both more popular in Newfoundland and Labrador than the rest of Canada in general. Soccer is hosted at [[King George V Park]], a 6,000-seat stadium built as Newfoundland's national stadium during the time as an independent dominion. [[Swilers Rugby Park]] is home of the [[Swilers RFC]] rugby union club, as well as the [[Atlantic Rock]], one of the four regional teams in the [[Canadian Rugby Championship]]. Other sports facilities in Newfoundland and Labrador include [[Pepsi Centre]], an indoor arena in Corner Brook; and [[St. Patrick's Park]], a baseball park in St. John's.

[[Gridiron football]], be it either [[American football|American]] or [[Canadian football|Canadian]], is almost non-existent; it is the only Canadian province other than [[Prince Edward Island]] to have never hosted a [[Canadian Football League]] or [[CIS football|Canadian Interuniversity Sport]] game, and it was not until 2013 the province saw its first amateur teams form.

[[Cricket]] was once a popular sport. The earliest mention is in the ''Newfoundland Mercantile Journal'', Thursday September 16, 1824, indicating the St. John's Cricket Club was an established club at this time.<ref name="cancricket">{{cite web|url=http://www.canadacricket.com/nlcricket/?page_id=4|title=History – Cricket Newfoundland and Labrador|website=canadacricket.com|access-date=June 22, 2017|archive-date=July 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701180318/http://www.canadacricket.com/nlcricket/?page_id=4|url-status=live}}</ref> The St. John's Cricket club was one of the first cricket clubs in North America. Other centres were at [[Harbour Grace]], [[Twillingate]] and [[Trinity, Newfoundland and Labrador|Trinity]]. The heyday of the game was the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, at which time there was league in St. John's, as well as an interschool tournament. John Shannon Munn is Newfoundland's most famous cricketer, having represented Oxford University. After the first World War, cricket declined in popularity and was replaced by soccer and baseball. However, with the arrival of immigrants from the [[Indian subcontinent]], cricket is once again gaining interest in the province.<ref name="cancricket" />

In 2024 [[Newfoundland and Labrador]] became the shirt sponsors of [[Barrow A.F.C.]], A Football (Soccer) team located in North West England.

==Transportation==
{{See also|List of bridges in Canada|List of Newfoundland and Labrador highways|List of airports in Newfoundland and Labrador}}
[[File:Route 500 Churchill Falls - Labrador City.jpg|thumb|The Trans-Labrador Highway is the primary highway for Labrador.]]

===Ferries===
Within the province, the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Transportation and Works operates or sponsors 15 automobile, passenger and freight ferry routes which connect various communities along the province's significant coastline.<ref>{{cite web|title=Summary of Services Available|url=http://www.tw.gov.nl.ca/ferryservices/schedules/highlights.html|publisher=Department of Transportation and Works|access-date=February 20, 2013|archive-date=February 21, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130221041858/http://www.tw.gov.nl.ca/ferryservices/schedules/highlights.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

A regular passenger and car ferry service, lasting about 90 minutes, crosses the [[Strait of Belle Isle]], connecting the province's [[island of Newfoundland]] with the region of [[Labrador]] on the mainland. The ferry MV Qajaq W travels from [[St. Barbe, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. Barbe, Newfoundland]], on the [[Great Northern Peninsula]], to the port town of [[Blanc-Sablon, Quebec]], located on the provincial border and beside the town of [[L'Anse-au-Clair]], Labrador.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/qajaq-labrador-straits-apollo-replacement-1.4963079|title=Meet the Qajaq, set to sail the Strait of Belle Isle in 2019|publisher=CBC|access-date=October 31, 2021|archive-date=October 31, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211031200038/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/qajaq-labrador-straits-apollo-replacement-1.4963079|url-status=live}}</ref> The MV ''Sir Robert Bond'' once provided seasonal ferry service between [[Lewisporte]] on the island and the towns of [[Cartwright, Newfoundland and Labrador|Cartwright]] and [[Happy Valley-Goose Bay]] in Labrador, but has not run since the completion of the [[Trans-Labrador Highway]] in 2010, allowing access from [[Blanc-Sablon, Quebec]], to major parts of Labrador.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tw.gov.nl.ca/ferryservices/schedules/i_goosebay_cartwright.html|title=Minister Announces Changes to Labrador Marine Service|publisher=Department of Transportation and works|access-date=July 30, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722045113/http://www.tw.gov.nl.ca/ferryservices/schedules/i_goosebay_cartwright.html|archive-date=July 22, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> Several smaller ferries connect numerous other coastal towns and offshore island communities around the island of Newfoundland and up the Labrador coast as far north as [[Nain, Newfoundland and Labrador|Nain]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tw.gov.nl.ca/ferryservices/schedules/index.html|title=Routes, Schedules and Rates|publisher=Department of Transportation and works|access-date=July 30, 2012|archive-date=July 22, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722050442/http://www.tw.gov.nl.ca/ferryservices/schedules/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> There are also two ferries, MV Legionnaire and MV Flanders, that operate between [[Bell Island (Newfoundland and Labrador)|Bell Island]] and Portugal Cove–St. Philips yearly, mainly used by those commuting to St. John's for work. The MV Veteran, a sister ship of MV Legionnaire, operates between Fogo Island, Change Islands, and Farewell.
[[File:MV Atlantic Vision entering Port aux Basques May 2014.jpg|thumb|[[MV Atlantic Vision|MV ''Atlantic Vision'']] is one of several ships that provides inter-provincial ferry service to Newfoundland.]]
Inter-provincial ferry services are provided by [[Marine Atlantic]], a federal [[Crown corporation]] which operates auto-passenger ferries from [[North Sydney, Nova Scotia|North Sydney]], Nova Scotia, to the towns of [[Channel-Port aux Basques|Port aux Basques]] and [[Argentia]] on the southern coast of Newfoundland island.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.marine-atlantic.ca/en/sailinginfo/arrivals.asp |title=Marine Atlantic |publisher=Marine-atlantic.ca |access-date=July 26, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124143545/http://marine-atlantic.ca/en/sailinginfo/arrivals.asp |archive-date=November 24, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Aviation===
The [[St. John's International Airport]] (YYT) and the [[Gander International Airport]] (YQX) are the only airports in the province that are part of the [[National Airports System]].<ref>{{cite web|title=National Airports Policy – Airports in the national airports category|url=http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/programs/airports-policy-nationallist-303.htm|publisher=Transportation Canada|access-date=August 29, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607171304/http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/programs/airports-policy-nationallist-303.htm|archive-date=June 7, 2011}}</ref> The St. John's International Airport handles nearly 1.2 million passengers a year making it the busiest airport in the province and the fourteenth busiest airport in Canada.<ref>{{cite web|title=Passengers enplaned and deplaned on selected services – Top 50 airports|url=http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/51-203-x/2008000/t008-eng.htm|publisher=Statistics Canada|access-date=August 29, 2011|archive-date=October 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010221904/http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/51-203-x/2008000/t008-eng.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> YYT airport underwent a major expansion of the terminal building which was completed in 2021.<ref>{{cite web|title=Airport Authority Unveils its 10-year Vision for Airport Improvements|url=http://www.stjohnsairport.com/press/pressrel_detail.cfm?id=26|publisher=St. John's International Airport Authority|access-date=July 30, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620165944/http://www.stjohnsairport.com/press/pressrel_detail.cfm?id=26|archive-date=June 20, 2012}}</ref> The [[Deer Lake Regional Airport|Deer Lake Airport]] (YDF) handles over 300,000 passengers a year.<ref>{{cite web|title=Airport Ends Year With Modest Growth|url=http://www.deerlakeairport.com/files/newsRelease_Files/118.Airport%20Ends%20Year%20With%20Modest%20Growth.pdf|access-date=August 8, 2011|archive-date=August 31, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140831103127/http://deerlakeairport.com/files/newsRelease_Files/118.Airport%20Ends%20Year%20With%20Modest%20Growth.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Railway===
The [[Newfoundland Railway]] operated on the island of [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]] from 1898 to 1988. With a total track length of {{cvt|906|mi|order=flip}}, it was the longest {{Track gauge|3ft6in}} [[narrow-gauge railway]] system in North America.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/society/railway.html|title=Railway:Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage|publisher=Memorial University of Newfoundland|access-date=February 6, 2008|archive-date=August 5, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805070437/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/society/railway.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The railway ended on June 20, 1988, in the rails for roads deal.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Roads for Rails: The Closure of the Newfoundland Railway |url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/economy/closure-newfoundland-railway.php |access-date=May 3, 2022 |website=heritage.nf.ca |archive-date=June 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614180341/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/economy/closure-newfoundland-railway.php |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Tshiuetin Rail Transportation]] operates passenger rail service on its [[Sept-Îles, Quebec]], to [[Schefferville]], Quebec route, passing through Labrador and stopping in several towns.

==See also==
{{Portal|Canada|France|North America|History}}
* <!-- [[Outline of Newfoundland and Labrador]] -->
* [[Index of Newfoundland and Labrador-related articles]]
* <!-- [[Bibliography of Newfoundland and Labrador]] -->
{{Clear}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|30em}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zoktc9xBDvwC&q=.%20History%20of%20Newfoundland%20and%20Labrador%E2%80%8E&pg=PP1|title=Newfoundland and Labrador: a history|first=Sean Thomas|last=Cadigan|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8020-4465-5|access-date=November 18, 2020|archive-date=June 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601214606/https://books.google.com/books?id=Zoktc9xBDvwC&q=.%20History%20of%20Newfoundland%20and%20Labrador%E2%80%8E&pg=PP1|url-status=live}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=InkAIxGnP_EC&q=.%20History%20of%20Newfoundland%20and%20Labrador%E2%80%8E&pg=PP1|title=Twentieth-century Newfoundland: explorations|first1=James|last1=Hiller|first2=Peter|last2=Neary|publisher=Breakwater|year=1994|isbn=978-1-55081-072-1|access-date=November 18, 2020|archive-date=June 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613202347/https://books.google.com/books?id=InkAIxGnP_EC&q=.%20History%20of%20Newfoundland%20and%20Labrador%E2%80%8E&pg=PP1|url-status=live}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=moDVp5TTpgcC&q=.%20History%20of%20Newfoundland%20and%20Labrador%E2%80%8E&pg=PP1|title=Newfoundland English|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|first=Sandra|last=Clarke|year=2010|isbn=978-0-7486-2616-8|access-date=November 18, 2020|archive-date=June 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613202344/https://books.google.com/books?id=moDVp5TTpgcC&q=.%20History%20of%20Newfoundland%20and%20Labrador%E2%80%8E&pg=PP1|url-status=live}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=keHXA0BnRO8C&q=Newfoundland%20and%20Labrador%E2%80%8E&pg=PP1|title=Legends of Newfoundland & Labrador|first1=Donald|last1=Wilson|first2=Stanley|last2=Ryan|publisher=Jesperson|year=1990|isbn=978-0-921692-40-9|access-date=November 18, 2020|archive-date=June 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613202345/https://books.google.com/books?id=keHXA0BnRO8C&q=Newfoundland%20and%20Labrador%E2%80%8E&pg=PP1|url-status=live}}
* ''Atlas of Newfoundland and Labrador'' by Department of Geography Memorial University of Newfoundland, Breakwater Books Ltd; {{ISBN|978-1-55081-000-4}}; (1991)
* Bavington, Dean L.Y. ''Managed Annihilation: An Unnatural History of the Newfoundland Cod Collapse'' (University of British Columbia Press; 2010) 224 pages. Links the collapse of Newfoundland and Labrador cod fishing to state management of the resource.
* Cadigan, Sean T. ''Newfoundland and Labrador: A History'' U. of Toronto Press, 2009. Standard scholarly history
* Casey, G.J. Casey and Elizabeth Miller, eds., ''Tempered Days: A Century of Newfoundland Fiction'' St. John's: Killick Press, 1996.
* Earle, Karl Mcneil. "Cousins of a Kind: The Newfoundland and Labrador Relationship with the United States" ''American Review of Canadian Studies'' Vol: 28. Issue: 4. 1998. pp: 387–411.
* Fay, C. R. ''Life and Labour in Newfoundland'' University of Toronto Press, 1956
* Department of Finance, Economic Research and Analysis. [http://www.economics.gov.nl.ca/ER2010/TheEconomicReview2010.pdf "The Economic Review 2010" Dec. 2010] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706191440/http://www.economics.gov.nl.ca/ER2010/TheEconomicReview2010.pdf |date=July 6, 2011 }}
* Jackson, Lawrence. ''Newfoundland & Labrador'' Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd; {{ISBN|978-1-55041-261-1}}; (1999)
* Gene Long, ''Suspended State: Newfoundland Before Canada'' Breakwater Books Ltd; {{ISBN|978-1-55081-144-5}}; (April 1, 1999)
* R. A. MacKay; ''Newfoundland; Economic, Diplomatic, and Strategic Studies'' Oxford University Press, 1946
* Patrick O'Flaherty, ''The Rock Observed: Studies in the Literature of Newfoundland'' University of Toronto Press, 1979
* Joseph Smallwood ed. ''The Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador'' St. John's: Newfoundland Book Publishers, 1981–, 2 vol.
* ''This Marvelous Terrible Place: Images of Newfoundland and Labrador'' by Momatiuk et al., Firefly Books; {{ISBN|978-1-55209-225-5}}; (September 1998)
* ''True Newfoundlanders: Early Homes and Families of Newfoundland and Labrador'' by Margaret McBurney et al., Boston Mills Pr; {{ISBN|978-1-55046-199-2}}; (June 1997)
* ''Biogeography and Ecology of the Island of Newfoundland: Monographiae Biologicae'' by G. Robin South (Editor) Dr W Junk Pub Co; {{ISBN|978-90-6193-101-0}}; (April 1983)
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Newfoundland and Labrador}}
{{Wikivoyage}}
* {{Official website|name=Official website of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador}}
* [http://www.library.mun.ca/qeii/cns/ Centre for Newfoundland Studies] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110705184418/http://www.library.mun.ca/qeii/cns/ |date=July 5, 2011 }})
* {{curlie|Regional/North_America/Canada/Newfoundland_and_Labrador}}
* [https://newfoundlandbuzz.ca Newfoundland Buzz] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231213144735/https://newfoundlandbuzz.ca/ |date=December 13, 2023 }})

{{Newfoundland and Labrador}}
{{Subdivisions of Newfoundland and Labrador}}
{{Provinces and territories of Canada}}
{{Canada topics}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Newfoundland and Labrador| ]]
[[Category:1949 establishments in Canada]]
[[Category:Atlantic Canada]]
[[Category:Former Norwegian colonies]]
[[Category:Provinces and territories of Canada]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1949]]