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Newfoundland ( ; (フランス語:Terre-Neuve), ) is a large Canadian island off the east coast of the North American mainland, and the most populous part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The province's official name was "Newfoundland" until 2001, when its name was changed to "Newfoundland and Labrador" (the postal abbreviation was later changed from NF to NL). Long settled by indigenous peoples of the Dorset culture, the island was abandoned when visited by the Icelandic Viking Leif Eriksson in the 11th century, who called the new land "Vinland". The next European visitors to Newfoundland were Portuguese, Spanish, French and English migratory fishermen. The island was visited by the Italian John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto), working under contract to King Henry VII of England on his expedition from Bristol in 1497. In 1501, Portuguese explorers Gaspar Corte-Real and his brother Miguel Corte-Real charted part of the coast of Newfoundland in a failed attempt to find the Northwest Passage. (After European settlement, colonists first called the island ''Terra Nova'', from "New Land" in Latin.) On August 5, 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed Newfoundland as England's first overseas colony under Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I of England, thus officially establishing a fore-runner to the much later British Empire.〔GILBERT (Saunders Family), SIR HUMPHREY" (history), ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'' Online, University of Toronto, May 2, 2005〕 Newfoundland is considered Britain's oldest colony.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The British Empire: The Map Room )〕 At the time of English settlement, the Beothuk inhabited the island. According to 2006 official Census Canada statistics, 57% of responding Newfoundland and Labradorians claim British or Irish ancestry, with 43.2% claiming at least one English parent, 21.5% at least one Irish parent, and 7% at least one parent of Scottish origin. Additionally 6.1% claimed at least one parent of French ancestry.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=2006 Statistics Canada National Census: Newfoundland and Labrador )〕 The island's total population as of the 2006 census was 479,105. The island of Newfoundland is separated from the Labrador Peninsula by the Strait of Belle Isle and from Cape Breton Island by the Cabot Strait. It blocks the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, creating the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the world's largest estuary. Newfoundland's nearest neighbour is the French overseas community of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. With an area of ,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Atlas of Canada, Islands )〕 Newfoundland is the world's 16th-largest island, and Canada's fourth-largest island. The provincial capital, St. John's, is located on the southeastern coast of the island; Cape Spear, just south of the capital, is the easternmost point of North America, excluding Greenland. It is common to consider all directly neighbouring islands such as New World, Twillingate, Fogo and Bell Island to be 'part of Newfoundland' (as distinct from Labrador). By that classification, Newfoundland and its associated small islands have a total area of .〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=NL Government website: Areas )〕 While there is archaeological evidence of ancient indigenous peoples on the island, it was abandoned when the Norse arrived from Scandinavia. L'Anse aux Meadows was a Norse settlement near the northernmost tip of Newfoundland (Cape Norman), which has been dated to be approximately 1000 years old. The site is considered the only undisputed evidence of Pre-Columbian contact between the Old and New Worlds, if the Norse-Inuit contact on Greenland is not counted. The island is a likely location of Vinland, mentioned in the ''Viking Chronicles'', although this has been disputed. The indigenous people on the island at the time of European settlement were the Beothuk, who spoke an Amerindian language of the same name. Later immigrants developed a variety of dialects associated with settlement on the island: Newfoundland English, Newfoundland French. In the nineteenth century, it also had a dialect of Irish known as Newfoundland Irish. Scottish Gaelic was spoken on the island during the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in the Codroy Valley area, chiefly by settlers from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.〔Bennett, Margaret (1989). ''The Last Stronghold: Scottish Gaelic Traditions of Newfoundland'', Canongate, 11 May 1989.〕 The Gaelic names reflected the association with fishing: in Scottish Gaelic, it was called ''Eilean a' Trosg,'' or literally, "Island of the Cod".〔Dwelly, Edward (1920). ''Illustrated Gaelic - English Dictionary'', September 2001.〕 Similarly, the Irish Gaelic name ''Talamh an Éisc'' means "Land of the Fish". ==First inhabitants== The first inhabitants of Newfoundland were the Paleo-Eskimo, who have no known link to other groups in Newfoundland history. Little is known about them beyond archeological evidence of early settlements. Evidence of successive cultures have been found. The Late Paleo-Eskimo, or Dorset culture, settled there about 4,000 years ago. They were descendants of migrations of ancient prehistoric peoples across the High Arctic thousands of years ago, after crossing from Siberia via the Bering land bridge. The Dorset died off or abandoned the island prior to the arrival of the Norse. No known evidence suggests that Norsemen, who settled Vinland at L'Anse aux Meadows in 1006, encountered any other group of people on the island of Newfoundland. The term ''skraelings'' for local people in the ''Icelandic Sagas'' referred to one of: the Beothuk; the indigenous Dorset in Labrador; or Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia, though there is no evidence that the Norse penetrated into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. After this period, the Beothuk settled Newfoundland, migrating from Labrador on the mainland. There is no evidence that the Beothuk inhabited the island prior to Norse settlement. Scholars believe that the Beothuk are related closely to the Innu of Labrador. The tribe became extinct during the colonial, although people of partial Beothuk descent have been documented. ''Beothuk'' means "people" in their language, part of the Algonquian language family of many Atlantic coastal tribes. The tribe is now extinct, with evidence of its culture preserved in museum, historical and archaeological records. Shanawdithit, a woman who was the last known full-blood Beothuk, died in St. John's in 1829 of tuberculosis. Santu Toney (born around 1835) was a woman of mixed Mi'kmaq and Beothuk descent. Her father was a Beothuk and mother a Mi'kmaq, both from Newfoundland. Santu died in 1919. The Beothuk may have intermingled and assimilated with Innu in Labrador and Mi'kmaq in Newfoundland. Oral histories also suggest potential historical competition and hostility between the Beothuk and Mi'kmaq. When Europeans arrived from 1497 and later, starting with John Cabot, they established contact with the Beothuk. Estimates of the number of Beothuk on the island at this time vary, ranging from 700 to 5,000. Later both English people and French people settled the island. They were followed by the Mi'kmaq, an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people from eastern Canada and present-day Nova Scotia. As European and Mi'kmaq settlement became year-round and expanded to new areas of the coast, the area available to the Beothuk to harvest the marine resources they relied upon was diminished. By the beginning of the 19th century, few Beothuk remained. Most died due to infectious diseases carried by Europeans, to which they had no immunity, and starvation. Government attempts to engage with the Beothuk and aid them came too late. The Beothuk were exceptionally hostile to foreigners, unlike the Mi'kmaq. The latter readily traded with Europeans and got established in settlements in Newfoundland. Conflict between Beothuk and other peoples were documented in three cases, with another probable event. The first confirmed conflict occurred between Beothuk traders and Portuguese explorers. The Beothuk had previously traded with other Europeans and likely thought the Portuguese were similar. This event likely had no effect on Beothuk and European relations by the 19th century. The Beothuk had no written language. The Beothuk were known to have attacked an English settlement, and on another occasion, attacked an English fishing crew. At times, the Mi'kmaq may have had hostile relations with the Beothuk, and at others peaceful relations. Through fur trade with the French, the Mi'kmaq had acquired guns and boats. Beothuk trade with Europeans was much less common, and they relied on traditional bows and arrows and other weapons in conflict. Newfoundland residents who claim First Nations ancestry are almost entirely Mi'kmaq. No known descendants of the Beothuk live on Newfoundland today. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Newfoundland (island)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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