St. John's Newfoundland and Labrador: Encyclopedia II - St. John's Newfoundland and Labrador - History

St. John's Newfoundland and Labrador - History

St. John's has a long history. The Italian navigator John Cabot, who sailed under English flag, was the first European to sail into Bonavista's harbour, on June 24, 1497 — the feast day of Saint John the Baptist. A series of expeditions to St. John's by Portuguese in the Azores followed in the early 16th century, and by 1540 French, Basques and Portuguese crossed the Atlantic annually to fish the waters off the Avalon Peninsula.

The earliest record of the city appears as San Johem on a Portuguese map by Rienel in 1519. St. Jehan is shown on Nicholas Desliens world map of 1541 and San Joham in João Freire's Atlas of 1546. When John Rut visited St. John's in 1527 he found Norman, Breton and Portuguese ships. In 1583, when Sir Humphrey Gilbert formally claimed the area for England, he found 16 English ships with 20 French and Portuguese vessels using the harbour. There was no permanent population, however and Gilbert was lost at sea during his return voyage, thereby ending any plans of settlement. By 1620 the fishermen of England's West Country had excluded other nations from most of the east coast.

In 1627, St. John's was "the principal prime and chief lot in all the whole country". The resident population grew slowly in the 17th century, but St. John's was by far the largest settlement in Newfoundland when British naval officers began to take censuses around 1675. Every summer the population swelled with the arrival of migratory fishermen. In 1680, fishing ships (mostly from South Devon) set up fishing rooms at St. John's, bringing hundreds of Irish men into the port to operate inshore fishing boats.

The town's first significant defences were probably erected by commercial interests, following the temporary seizure of St. John's by the Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter in June, 1665. At any rate, the inhabitants were able to fend off a second Dutch attack in 1673. The British government began to plan fortifications around 1689, and were constructed following the retaking of St. John's after the French admiral Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville captured and destroyed the town late in 1696. The French attacked St. John's again in 1705 and 1708, and twice more devastated civilian structures with fire. The harbour remained fortified through most of the 18th and 19th century.

The 18th century saw major changes in Newfoundland: population growth, beginnings of government, establishment of churches, reinforcement of commercial ties with North America and development of the seal, salmon and banks fisheries. St. John's grew slowly and although it was still primarily a fishing station, it was also a garrison, a centre of government and, increasingly, a commercial hub.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki