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History & Geography 
In 2002, the official name of the province changed from
“Newfoundland” to “Newfoundland and Labrador”. Today, the
province has a population of over 500,000 people. While much
of the province is rural, these areas have amenities such as
clean water, roads, electricity, internet, etc. Our larger
centres provide all the benefits and amenities of other
cities in Canada with the added comforts of a warm and
friendly atmosphere for doing business.
The province of Newfoundland and Labrador has a temperate
climate. While its summers can be brief, winters on the
island of Newfoundland are moderate by Canadian standards.
The Labrador portion of the province tends to have cold
winters and brief summers which are typical of the Canadian
north.
Aboriginal people first inhabited Newfoundland and Labrador.
More than one thousand years ago, the Vikings established
the first European settlement in the Americas. Since that
time many explorers have visited our shores. Newfoundland
and Labrador is rich in its natural resources. Between the
sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, fishermen from European
nations settled in the sheltered bays of our province to
catch fish. Until the late twentieth century Newfoundland
and Labrador was home to one of the world’s richest cod
stock fisheries. A collapse of the fishery occurred in the
late 1990’s. Today the province’s economy has expanded,
particularly in the area of oil and gas exploration. Several
large oil fields have been discovered in our provincial
waters and are currently being explored and developed.
Newfoundland and Labrador is becoming a world leader in its
oil and gas exploration. We are also home to Voisey’s Bay,
Labrador – one of the world’s largest nickel discoveries.
Many historic events have taken place on our shores
including the first trans-Atlantic wireless message as
received by Marconi in 1901 as well as the first
trans-Atlantic telegraph cable.
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are proud of their rich
history and look forward to a prosperous future.
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