Geographically, the term “Labrador” refers to the entire northeastern peninsula of North America. This vast region, bounded on the northwest by Ungava Bay, on the north by Hudson Strait, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the south by the Gulf of St Lawrence, has an area of some 1,620,000 square kilometres.

For several centuries, however, mariners and geographers commonly used the name Labrador to identify the coastal area of the Labrador Peninsula, from Pointe-des-Monts in the Gulf of St Lawrence eastward to the Hudson Strait. In 1825 the boundary for the Labrador coast was redrawn, and the...

The original inhabitants of North America left no direct written account of their history prior to sustained European contact, which began in the sixteenth century. Archaeological evidence suggests they migrated from Siberia to Alaska via a land bridge approximately twelve to fifteen thousand years ago. Once they arrived in North America, the newcomers gradually spread across the continent in search of favourable hunting and fishing sites. Some took up residence along what is now the Quebec-Labrador coast between Kegashka and Blanc-Sablon.

The first inhabitants of the area were the Maritime Archaic people, who arrived some seven or eight thousand years...

Europeans began visiting to the Labrador coast, including that portion extending from Kegashka to Blanc-Sablon, on a regular basis from the sixteenth century on. Some of these people came to search for commodities such as wood and gold. Others came to exploit the cod and whale fisheries and to trade with the Aboriginal peoples. No matter what their specific motives, the principal force was an economic one.

The first Europeans to explore North America were undoubtedly the Norse, who came from Scandinavia, including the present-day countries of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. These Norse voyagers, best known as pirates and raiders,...

Between 1660 and 1760 various individuals from the town of Quebec received land grants in the form of seigneuries and concessions along the Labrador coast from Kegashka eastward to Blanc-Sablon. They established posts throughout the region and engaged in the seal and the salmon fisheries and the fur trade. Most of the grantees operated their enterprises from Quebec, with variable results.

One of the first people to receive a land grant in the region was Sieur François Bissot (Byssot) de la Rivière, an enterprising Norman immigrant who had settled at Quebec in 1646. Several years after his arrival, Bissot, an...

Following the conquest of New France, various English-speaking merchants from the town of Quebec took possession of the seigneuries and concessions along the Labrador coast between Kegashka and Blanc-Sablon. The newcomers had to contend with the policies of Governor Hugh Palliser in Newfoundland, wars, American interlopers, and ever-dwindling returns from their fishing and trading activities.

With the capitulation of the government of New France in Montreal on 8 September 1760, the new colony of Quebec was placed under British military rule. James Murray, a British military officer who had commanded a battalion in the 1758 siege of Louisbourg and served...

Between 1820 and 1850 people from various parts of North America, the British Isles, and France settled along the Quebec-Labrador coast from the Itamamiou River eastward to Blanc-Sablon. The newcomers established permanent residences and developed a distinctive lifestyle. Like their predecessors, they engaged in the seal and salmon fisheries and the fur trade. These early pioneers had to contend with numerous hardships and much privation, and want was not uncommon.

Following the bankruptcy of the Labrador New Concern in 1820 the land along the Quebec-Labrador coast east of the Terre Ferme de Mingan seignieury, from the Itamamiou River to Blanc-Sablon,...

Throughout the second half of the nineteenth century there was considerable development along the Quebec-Labrador coast between Kegashka and Blanc-Sablon. Settlers took up residence along the coast west of the Itamamiou River to Kegashka, and various religious denominations established church missions in the region. Regular communication with the outside world was also established. The government introduced fishing regulations, and many of the local inhabitants became involved in the cod fishery. Living conditions, however, continued to be abysmal for many of the local residents

Since 1821 the Terre Ferme de Mingan seignieury had been under the auspices of the Hudson’s Bay...

Between 1900 and 1960 growth and consolidation characterized the Quebec-Labrador coast from Kegashka to Blanc-Sablon. The population increased threefold, outlying regions were abandoned, and medical facilities and schools were established. Telegraph, steamship, and airline services were also introduced to the area. Local fishermen were provided access to bait and storage depots and a codfish-processing plant. Some of the resident fishermen also experimented with offshore fishing. Economic uncertainty, however, continued to prevail throughout the region.

Throughout this period the number of people residing on the coast between Kegashka and Blanc-Sablon increased at a relatively regular rate. In 1900 there were 934...

From the 1960s onwards there were significant political, social, and economic changes along the Quebec-Labrador coast between Kegashka and Blanc-Sablon. The local residents began to take a greater interest in the development of the region, and educational and health facilities, transport and communication services, and fishing methods were modernized. For the first time ever, many of the residents in the region experienced some form of continued economic prosperity.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the number of people living along the coast continued to increase, but at a much slower pace than in earlier times. In 1968, 4,505 people lived in...

The one constant for many generations of inhabitants along the Quebec portion of the Labrador coast between Kegashka and Blanc-Sablon has been the sea, with its abundance of marine life, in particular seal and cod. It was these creatures that attracted people to the area, whether they were Maritime Archaic, Dorset, Inuit, Innu, Basque fishermen, French- and English-speaking entrepreneurs, or French- and English-speaking settlers. The seal and the cod helped to shape the lifestyle, living conditions, and economic activities of the region’s various cultural groups. Living conditions, however, were not always ideal. When the seal and the cod were in...