Newfoundland (Newfundland'), an island and British colony in North America, not yet incorporated with the Dominion of Canada, lies at the mouth of the Gulf of St Lawrence, separated from Labrador on the north by the Straits of Belle Isle (q.v., 11 miles broad), and extending in lat. from 46° 38' to 51° 37' N., and in long. from 52° 44' to 59° 30' W. In shape it resembles an equilateral triangle, of which Cape Bauld on the north, Cape Race on the south-east, and Cape Ray on the south-west form the angles. It is 370 miles in length, 290 miles in breadth, and has an area of 40,200 sq. m.—a fifth less than England. Pop. (1874) 168,958; (1891) 202,100. 'The coast of Labrador from the entrance of Hudson Strait to a line to be drawn due north and south, from Anse Sablon on the said coast to the fifty-second degree of north latitude, and all the islands adjacent to that part of the said coast of Labrador,' is claimed as constituting a dependency of Newfoundland. During the fishing season in each year about 30,000 inhabitants of Newfoundland visit Labrador, and live about its harbours, either on shore or in their vessels, for about three months in each year. The population of Newfoundland and Labrador amounted in 1884 to 197,335, of whom 75,354 were Roman Catholics, 69,000 members of the Church of England, and 48,767 Wesleyan Methodists. The able-bodied fishermen numbered 33,000, and about 21,000 women and children were also engaged in curing fish.
The island, as seen from the sea, presents a wild and sterile appearance. Its surface is diversified by mountains, ponds, and lakes. The mountains in the Avalon Peninsula (stretching south-east from the main portion of the island, and connected with it by an isthmus of only about 3 miles in width) rise in some cases to over 2000 feet above sea-level. The number of the lakes and 'ponds' is remarkable, and it has been estimated that about one-third of the whole surface is covered with fresh water. The coast-line is everywhere deeply indented with bays and estuaries. These bays vary in length from 25 to 70 miles, are of great breadth, and are lined—as indeed the whole coast is—with excellent harbours. The rivers are narrow and winding. Much of the soil is productive, and there is considerable cultivation along the seaboard of the settled districts, but careful exploration has shown that the best land and timber are in the river-valleys and upon the west coast. Large tracts of very good timber, chiefly pine and spruce, exist in several parts of the island. The great body of the people being employed either in the fisheries or in establishments connected with them, little attention used to be paid to the culture of the soil. In 1845 the only crops raised were oats and hay; but within recent years large supplies of grain, vegetable, and garden seeds have been imported; and now about 1,000,000 bushels of potatoes are produced annually, and turnips, hay, carrots, clover, barley, and oats are cultivated with success. The island possesses many minerals. The chief seat of copper-mining is around the shore of Notre Dame Bay. The ore is found in connection with the serpentine rocks, which are spread over an area of 5000 sq. m. Up to 1890 the value of copper and nickel ore exported was about £1,500,000 sterling; the export in 1896 was worth over £99,000. Iron is worked mainly as yet on the east coast. Gold has been found. Rich deposits of lead ore exist in several places. Gypsum and marbles are plentiful. Roofing-slate is found. Coal and iron exist side by side near the west coast, but their development is unfortunately hampered by claims set up by the French to a right to use the strand for drying fish 'free from interruption' by the colonists. The same claims have seriously impeded mining operations in several parts of the island.
A great variety of valuable fish is found in the waters of the colony and its dependencies, but cod, herring, and salmon are the most important. The capture of seals and the canning of lobsters also add to the resources of the Newfoundlanders. About 250,000 seals are annually taken and their skins sent to Great Britain for manufacturing purposes; the 'fat' is made into seal-oil, which is used in manufacturing and for lubricating purposes. The industry of canning lobsters, though commenced since 1880, has an annual value of about 500,000. Several factories for canning lobsters have been erected by the French upon the coasts of Newfoundland over which they have certain rights, but the legality of this action is contested by the colonists, upon the ground that the lobster is not a 'fish' but a crustacean, and that canning lobsters is not 'drying fish.' The average annual value of the herrings exported and consumed in the country is about 600,000, and that of the salmon exported about $100,000.
The people chiefly depend for a livelihood upon the product of the cod-fisheries, of which there are three distinct branches—namely, the Labrador fishery, the shore fishery, and the bank fishery. The average annual value of the cod-fishery is 6,034,242. This calculation includes the dried cod fish exported, the quantity consumed by the population, and the oil extracted from the fish. From 25,000 to 35,000 people and 1200 vessels engage in the Labrador fishery, and the annual export is valued at about 1,500,000. The shore fishery is prosecuted along the whole coast-line in Newfoundland, and is the mainstay of the very large portion of the population who from poverty, age, or disinclination refrain from going either to the Labrador or bank fishery, or divide their time between farming and fishing. The bank fishery is prosecuted upon the 'Banks,' so called, which lie to the southwards of Newfoundland. These 'Banks' are submarine plateaus extending over a tract averaging about 600 miles in length and 200 miles in breadth. The depth of water over the 'Banks' varies from 100 to 600 feet, and the most productive ground is known as the 'Grand Bank.' American, Canadian, and French fishermen also resort to these 'Banks' to fish, the French using their islands, St Pierre and Miquelon, as a base of operations. But it is necessary to procure fresh supplies of herring, caplin, and squid at frequent intervals for use as bait upon the 'Banks,' and this can only be obtained, at the seasons when most wanted, and without great delay and expense, in the southern bays of Newfoundland, chiefly in Fortune and Placentia bays. Newfoundland does not now allow the bait-fishes to be exported for bait except under licenses, for which a large fee has to be paid, and the result has been a considerable decrease of the catch upon the banks by foreign fishermen.
The revenue in 1893—the year before the great financial, commercial, and political crisis—was 1,853,844, the expenditure being 2,110,000, while the debt in 1894 was 9,116,534. The imports in some years have reached 7,500,000, the exports $6,500,000. There has been a slow recovery since 1894, assisted by very promising finds of gold during the year 1896.
In 1882 a contract was made with a company for the construction of a railway from St John's to Hall's Bay, a distance of about 250 miles. After 85 miles of the railway—from St John's to Harbour Grace—had been completed the work of construction was suspended. In 1887 the government completed a branch-line to Placentia. By the 'Reid contract' (1898) a private contractor leased the railways from government for fifty years, agreed to work them and complete the system for a grant of so much land per mile, undertook to make docks and build steamers for a fast route to Britain (Galway or other port), and arranged to exploit the coal and iron of the interior. Atlantic cables laid at Heart's Content, on the eastern side of Newfoundland, and at Placentia, on the western side. There are 1400 miles of telegraph.
The early history of Newfoundland is involved in obscurity. It was discovered 24th June 1497, in the reign of Henry VII., by John Cabot, and the event is noticed by the following entry in the accounts of the privy-purse expenditure: '1497, Aug. 10. To hym that found the New Isle, £10.' It was visited by the Portuguese navigator, Gaspar de Cortereal, in 1500; and within two years after that time regular fisheries were established on its shores by the Portuguese, Biscayans, and French. In 1578, 400 vessels, of which fifty were English, were engaged in the fishery. Sir Humphrey Gilbert (q.v.), with his ill-fated expedition, arrived in St John's Harbour, August 1583, and formally took possession of the island in the name of Queen Elizabeth. In the return voyage the expedition was scattered by a storm, and the commander lost. In 1621 Sir George Calvert (afterwards Lord Baltimore) settled in the great peninsula in the south-east, and named it the Province of Avalon. The history of the island during the 17th and part of the 18th centuries is little more than a record of rivalries and feuds between the English and French fishermen; but by the treaty of Utrecht (1713) the island was ceded wholly to England, the French, however, retaining certain privileges in connection with the catching and drying of fish on the coast extending from Cape Bonavista on the east to Point Riche on the west. By the treaty of Versailles (1783) the boundaries were so changed as to extend from Cape John on the east to Cape Ray on the west, and at the same time the French were promised 'freedom from interruption by the competition of the British.' This promise the French construe and urge so as to prevent the development of the resources of the interior adjacent to coasts over which their rights extend, and much friction consequently exists between the French and the people of Newfoundland. A governor was appointed in 1728. The present form of government, established in 1855, consists of the governor, an executive council, or cabinet of seven members, a legislative council of fifteen members (appointed by the crown), and a general assembly of thirty-six members (elected by the people). Every man of twenty-one years of age, a British subject and two years a resident in the colony, is entitled to vote at elections.
See L. A. Auspach, The History of the Island of Newfoundland (1827); Little, The Government of Newfoundland (1855); W. Fraser Rae, Newfoundland to Manitoba (1881); Murray and Howley, Geological Survey of Newfoundland (1881); Hatton and M. Harvey, Newfoundland (1883); Howley, Ecclesiastical History of Newfoundland (1888), and French Treaty Rights (1890); Harvey, Newfoundland as it is in 1894; Prowse, A History of Newfoundland. For map, see CANADA.