Labrador
Area in northeastern Canada, part of the province of Newfoundland,
lying between Ungava Bay on the northwest, the Atlantic Ocean on the
east, and the Strait of Belle Isle on the southeast
Area:
266,060 sq km/ 102,699 sq mi
Population
(1991) 30,000.
Physical:
The most easterly part of the North American mainland, Labrador consists
primarily of a gently sloping plateau with an irregular coastline of
numerous bays, fjords, inlets, and cliffs (60-120 m/200-400 ft high).
Industry
Fisheries, timber and pulp, and the mining of various minerals, especially
iron ore.
Features:
Hydroelectric resources include Churchill Falls, where one of the world's
largest underground power houses is situated (opened in 1971). There
is a Canadian Air Force base at Goose Bay on Lake Melville.
History:
The region includes much of northern Québec and the mainland area of
Newfoundland. The greater part of the peninsula, the territory of Ungava,
was annexed by Québec in 1912. In 1927, in a dispute over the boundary
between Québec and Newfoundland, the British Privy Council ruled in
favour of Newfoundland. The accession of Newfoundland to the dominion
of Canada in 1949 automatically made Labrador part of the Canadian confederation.
Intensive development began here in 1954, and a railway (587 km/364
mi long) was built from the new iron-mining town of Schefferville, Québec
(on the Qué bec-Labrador boundary), to Sept Iles, Québec. The other
main development was in the Wabush Lake area further south, where the
new towns of Wabush City and Labrador City, Newfoundland, are situated.
Labrador, regarded as part of Vinland, was probably visited by the Vikings
in the 10th or 11th centuries; traces of their stone houses and tombs
have been found on the Labrador coast. The explorer Giovanni Caboto
(John Cabot) is supposed to have visited here in 1498, and Cortereal,
the Portuguese navigator, in 1510; Jacques Cartier came here some 40
years later in search of the Northwest Passage. Labrador then fell under
French rule, but the peninsula was ceded to England in 1763 by the Treaty
of Paris. Moravians established missions here in the early 19th century.
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Excellent links to area info
