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The Maritimes

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Vinland , Vineland , or Winland ( Old Norse : Vínland hit góða , lit.   'Vinland the Good') was an area of coastal North America explored by Vikings . Leif Eriksson landed there around 1000 AD, nearly five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus and John Cabot . The name appears in the Vinland Sagas , and describes Newfoundland and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence as far as northeastern New Brunswick . Much of the geographical content of the sagas corresponds to present-day knowledge of transatlantic travel and North America.

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146-532: The Maritimes , also called the Maritime provinces , is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces : New Brunswick , Nova Scotia , and Prince Edward Island . The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of Canada's population. Together with Canada's easternmost province, Newfoundland and Labrador , the Maritime provinces make up the region of Atlantic Canada . Located along

292-476: A Golden Age, but that was a myth created in the 1930s to lure tourists to a romantic era of tall ships and antiques. Recent historians using census data have shown that is a fallacy. In 1851–1871 there was an overall increase in per capita wealth holding. However most of the gains went to the urban elite class, especially businessmen and financiers living in Halifax. The wealth held by the top 10% rose considerably over

438-665: A booming agricultural and fishing export economy having led to that colony opting not to sign on. The major communities of the region include Halifax and Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, Moncton , Saint John , and Fredericton in New Brunswick, and Charlottetown in Prince Edward Island. In spite of its name, The Maritimes has a humid continental climate of the warm-summer subtype. Especially in coastal Nova Scotia, differences between summers and winters are narrow compared to

584-493: A cape where they saw the keel of a boat (Kjalarnes), then continued past some extraordinarily long beaches ( Furðustrandir ) before they landed and sent out two runners to explore inland. After three days, the pair returned with samples of grapes/currants and wheat. After they sailed a little farther, the expedition landed at an inlet next to an area of strong currents ( Straumfjörð ), with an island just off shore (Straumsey), and they made camp. The winter months were harsh, and food

730-428: A defensive position, a short distance from their camp. Pregnancy slowed Freydis down, so she picked up the sword of a fallen companion and brandished it against her bare breast, scaring the attackers into withdrawal. One of the local people picked up an iron axe, tried using it, but threw it away. The explorers subsequently abandoned the southern camp and sailed back to Straumsfjord, killing five natives they encountered on

876-643: A great many potential culprits. In 1867 Nova Scotia and New Brunswick merged with the Canadas in Confederation , with Prince Edward Island joining them six years later in 1873. Canada was formed only a year after free trade with the United States (in the form of the Reciprocity Treaty ) had ended. In the 1870s John A. Macdonald 's National Policy was implemented, creating a system of protective tariffs around

1022-653: A guess that Leif Erikson camped at Passamaquoddy Bay and Thorvald Erikson was killed in the Bay of Fundy . On the other hand, Sir Wilfred Grenfell , a medical missionary and scholar living in Newfoundland and Labrador in the early 20th century wrote of the issue of the location of Vinland that, No reason has ever been shown why the Vikings would want to fare any farther than our beautifully wooded bays, with their endless berries, salmon, furs, and game, except that most people think of

1168-423: A guest at a farm on Greenland with Gudrid, Thorstein died of disease, reviving just long enough to make a prophecy about her future as a Christian. The next winter, Gudrid married a visiting Icelander named Thorfinn Karlsefni, who agreed to undertake a major expedition to Vinland, taking livestock. On arrival, they soon found a beached whale which sustained them until spring. In the summer, they were visited by some of

1314-637: A hole for stringing on a necklace, was found in Maine . Its discovery by an amateur archaeologist in 1957 is controversial; questions have been raised whether it was planted as a hoax. Numerous artifacts attributed to the Norse have been found in Canada, particularly on Baffin Island and in northern Labrador . Other claimed Norse artifacts in the area south of the St. Lawrence include

1460-483: A knot whenever they needed a good wind. Neither mentioned grapes, and the Malmesbury work specifically states that little grows there but grass and trees, which reflects the saga descriptions of the area round the main Norse expedition base. More geographically correct were Icelandic texts from about the same time, which presented a clear picture of the northern countries as experienced by Norse explorers: north of Iceland

1606-518: A large force in hide boats, and Thorvald died from an arrow-wound. After the exploration party returned to base, the Greenlanders decided to return home the following spring. Thorstein, Leif's brother, married Gudrid, widow of the captain rescued by Leif, then led a third expedition to bring home Thorvald's body, but drifted off course and spent the whole summer sailing the Atlantic. Spending the winter as

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1752-465: A medieval Norse presence. In general, script in the runic alphabet does not in itself guarantee a Viking age or medieval connection, as it has been suggested that Dalecarlian runes have been used until the 20th century. Point Rosee , on the southwest coast of Newfoundland, was thought to be the location of a possible Norse settlement. The site was discovered through satellite imagery in 2014 by Sarah Parcak . In their November 8, 2017, report, which

1898-931: A minority compared to the Beothuk Nation. After Newfoundland, the Maritimes were the second area in Canada to be settled by Europeans. There is evidence that Viking explorers discovered and settled in the Vinland region around 1000 AD, which is when the L'Anse aux Meadows settlement in Newfoundland and Labrador has been dated. They may have made further exploration into the present-day Maritimes and northeastern United States. Both Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) and Giovanni da Verrazzano are reported to have sailed in or near Maritime waters during their voyages of discovery for England and France, respectively. Several Portuguese explorers / cartographers have also documented various parts of

2044-695: A much greater number of local regions and sub-regions than the other provinces and territories due to its mountainous terrain where almost every populated lake, sound, and river valley, and every populated cape and cluster of small islands can claim a distinct geographical identity. At the other extreme, Prince Edward Island is not divided into any widely recognized geographic regions or sub-regions because of its very small size and lack of large rivers or rugged terrain. New Brunswick's small size renders it dividable into local geographic regions only. Several provinces and territories also have supra-municipal administrative regions. Their borders mostly do not harmonize with

2190-802: A number of stones inscribed with runic letters. The Kensington Runestone was found in Minnesota , but is generally considered a hoax . The authenticity of the Spirit Pond runestones , recovered in Phippsburg, Maine , is also questioned. Other examples are the Heavener Runestone , the Shawnee Runestone , and the Vérendrye Runestone . The age and origin of these stones is debated, and so far none has been firmly dated or associated with clear evidence of

2336-603: A portion of coastal Maine at one point. The most significant incident from this war which occurred in the Maritimes was the British capture and detention of USS Chesapeake , an American frigate in Halifax. In 1820, the Colony of Cape Breton Island was merged back into the Colony of Nova Scotia for the second time by the British government. British settlement of the Maritimes, as the colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island came to be known, accelerated throughout

2482-682: A river and a lake that had an abundance of fish. The sagas specifically mention salmon, and note how the salmon that was encountered was larger than any salmon they had seen before. Before arriving in Vinland, the Norsemen imported their lumber from Norway while in Greenland and had occasional birch trees for firewood. Therefore, the timber they acquired in North America increased their supply of wood. An authentic late-11th-century Norwegian silver penny , with

2628-416: A similar view and provides considerable evidence that the early 1880s were in fact a booming period in Nova Scotia and this growth was only undermined towards the end of that decade. David Alexander argues that any earlier declines were simply part of the global Long Depression , and that the Maritimes first fell behind the rest of Canada when the great boom period of the early 20th century had little effect on

2774-418: A single piece from the east coast of Newfoundland was found. These finds appear to confirm the saga claim that some Vinland exploration ships came from Iceland and that they ventured down the east coast of the new land. In 2021, wood from the site was shown to have been cut in 1021, using metal blades, which the local indigenous people did not have. Although it is now generally accepted that L'Anse aux Meadows

2920-592: A smaller population of the Maliseet in western New Brunswick. Given the small population of the region (compared with the Central Canadian provinces or the New England states), the regional economy is a net exporter of natural resources, manufactured goods, and services. The regional economy has long been tied to natural resources such as fishing, logging, farming, and mining activities. Significant industrialization in

3066-453: A total of 24, and "eykt" was the end of the second hour of the south-west division. In modern terms this would be 3:30 p.m. "Dagmal", the "day-meal," is specifically distinguished from the earlier "rismal" (breakfast), and would thus be about 8:30 a.m. The sun is indeed just above the horizon at these times on the shortest days of the year in northern Newfoundland - but not much farther north. A 2012 article by Jónas Kristjánsson in

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3212-593: A twin in the Icelandic Museum. Kent believed he had confirmed Kristjansson's theory. Newfoundland marine insurance agent and historian William A. Munn (1864–1939), after studying literary sources in Europe, suggested in his 1914 book Location of Helluland, Markland & Vinland from the Icelandic Sagas that the Vinland explorers "went ashore at Lancey [ sic ] Meadows, as it is called to-day". In 1960,

3358-719: A vast, barren plain (which we now know to be the Polar ice-cap) extended from Biarmeland (northern Russia ) east of the White Sea , to Greenland, then further west and south were, in succession, Helluland , Markland and Vinland. The Icelanders had no knowledge of how far south Vinland extended, and they speculated that it might reach as far as Africa. The " Historia Norwegiae " (History of Norway), compiled around 15th–16th century, does not refer directly to Vinland and tries to reconcile information from Greenland with mainland European sources; in this text Greenland's territory extends so that it

3504-539: Is "almost touching the African islands, where the waters of ocean flood in". Icelandic chronicles record another attempt to visit Vinland from Greenland, over a century after the saga voyages. In 1121, Icelandic bishop Eric Gnupsson , who had been based on Greenland since 1112, "went to seek Vinland". Nothing more is reported of him, and three years later another bishop, Arnald, was sent to Greenland. No written records, other than inscribed stones, have survived in Greenland, so

3650-480: Is a summary of geographical areas on a hierarchy that ranges from national (groups of provinces and territories) at the top to local regions and sub-regions of provinces at the bottom. Administrative regions that rank below a province and above a municipality are also included if they have a comprehensive range of functions compared to the limited functions of specialized government agencies. Some provinces and groups of provinces are also quasi-administrative regions at

3796-484: Is called Winland , for the reason that grapevines grow there by themselves, producing the best wine." This etymology is retained in the 13th-century Grœnlendinga saga , which provides a circumstantial account of the discovery of Vinland and its being named from the vínber, i.e. " wineberry ", a term for grapes or currants (black or red), found there. There is also a long-standing Scandinavian tradition of fermenting berries into wine . The discovery of butternuts at

3942-457: Is identified as the land found by Leif Erikson . Karlsefni and his men subsequently find "vín-ber" near the Wonderstrands. Later, the tale locates Vinland to the south of Markland, with the headland of Kjalarnes at its northern extreme. However, it also mentions that while at Straumfjord, some of the explorers wished to go in search for Vinland west of Kjalarnes . In Grænlendinga saga or

4088-682: Is less prevalent today. During the American Civil War , a significant number of Maritimers volunteered to fight for the armies of the Union , while a small handful joined the Confederate Army . However, the majority of the conflict's impact was felt in the shipping industry. Maritime shipping boomed during the war due to large-scale Northern imports of war supplies which were often carried by Maritime ships as Union ships were vulnerable to Confederate naval raiders. Diplomatic tensions between Britain and

4234-683: Is not a Vinland, there are many Vinlands". According to a 1970 reply by Matti Kaups in the same journal, Certainly there is a symbolic Vinland as described and located in the Groenlandinga saga ; what seems to be a variant of this Vinland is narrated in Erik the Red's Saga . There are, on the other hand, numerous more recent derivative Vinlands, each of which actually is but a suppositional spatial entity. (...) (e.g. Rafn 's Vinland, Steensby's Vinland, Ingstad 's Vinland, and so forth). In geographical terms, Vinland

4380-462: Is sometimes used to refer generally to all areas in Atlantic Canada . In the sagas, Vinland is sometimes indicated to not include the territories of Helluland and Markland , which appear to also be located in North America beyond Greenland. Moreover, some sagas establish vague links between Vinland and an island or territory that some sources refer to as Hvítramannaland . Another possibility

4526-523: Is the only region with a legally guaranteed quota of three judges on the bench. The other regions are usually represented by three judges from Ontario, two from Western Canada (typically but not formally one from British Columbia and one from the Prairie Provinces) and one from Atlantic Canada. The three territories do not have any separate representation on the Supreme Court. Statistics Canada uses

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4672-449: Is the reference to two different men named Bjarni who are blown off course. A brief summary of the plots of the two sagas, given at the end of this article, shows other examples. The sagas report that a considerable number of Vikings were in parties that visited Vinland. Thorfinn Karlsefni 's crew consisted of 140 or 160 people according to the Saga of Erik the Red , 60 according to the Saga of

4818-426: Is to interpret the name of Vinland as not referring to one defined location, but to every location where vínber could be found, i.e. to understand it as a common noun , vinland, rather than a toponym , Vinland. The Old Norse and Icelandic languages were, and are, very flexible in forming compound words . Sixteenth century Icelanders realized that the "New World" which European geographers were calling "America"

4964-659: The Saga of Erik the Red . Vinland was the name given to part of North America by the Icelandic Norseman Leif Eriksson, about 1000 AD. It was also spelled Winland , as early as Adam of Bremen 's Descriptio insularum Aquilonis ("Description of the Northern Islands", ch. 39, in the 4th part of Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum), written circa 1075. Adam's main source regarding Winland appears to have been king Svend Estridson , who had knowledge of

5110-480: The Saga of the Greenlanders , which are known collectively as the Vinland Sagas. These stories were preserved by oral tradition until they were written down some 250 years after the events they describe. The existence of two versions of the story shows some of the challenges of using traditional sources for history, because they share a large number of story elements but use them in different ways. A possible example

5256-585: The Annals of the Association of American Geographers , The study of the early Norse voyages to North America is a field of research characterized by controversy and conflicting, often irreconcilable, opinions and conclusions. These circumstances result from the fact that details of the voyages exist only in two Icelandic sagas which contradict each other on basic issues and internally are vague and contain nonhistorical passages. This leads him to conclude that "there

5402-577: The Annapolis Basin . Acadians lived with uncertainty throughout the English constitutional crises under Oliver Cromwell , and it was not until the Treaty of Breda in 1667 that France's claim to the region was reaffirmed. Colonial administration by France throughout the history of Acadia was of low priority. France's priorities were in settling and strengthening its claim on the larger territory of New France and

5548-523: The Atlantic coast, various aquatic sub-basins are located in the Maritimes, such as the Gulf of Maine and Gulf of St. Lawrence . The region is located northeast of New England in the United States, south and southeast of Quebec 's Gaspé Peninsula , and southwest of the island of Newfoundland . The notion of a Maritime Union has been proposed at various times in Canada's history; the first discussions in 1864 at

5694-582: The Bay of Fundy being populated by French immigrants who called themselves Acadien . The Acadians eventually built small settlements throughout what is today mainland Nova Scotia and New Brunswick , as well as Île-Saint-Jean ( Prince Edward Island ), Île-Royale ( Cape Breton Island ), and other shorelines of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in present-day Newfoundland and Labrador , and Quebec . Acadian settlements had primarily agrarian economies. Early examples of Acadian fishing settlements developed in southwestern Nova Scotia and in Île-Royale, as well as along

5840-612: The Brittany , Normandie , and Vienne regions of France, continued to populate the colony of Acadia during the latter part of the 17th and early part of the 18th centuries. Important settlements also began in the Beaubassin region of the present-day Isthmus of Chignecto , and in the Saint John River valley, as well as smaller communities on Île-Saint-Jean and Île-Royale. In 1654, raiders from New England attacked Acadian settlements on

5986-556: The Caribbean , to being focused on commerce with the Canadian interior, enforced by the federal government's tariff policies. Coincident with the construction of railways in the region, the age of the wooden sailing ship began to come to an end, being replaced by larger and faster steel steamships . The Maritimes had long been a centre for shipbuilding , and this industry was hurt by the change. The larger ships were also less likely to call on

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6132-509: The Charlottetown Conference contributed to Canadian Confederation . This movement formed the larger Dominion of Canada . The Mi'kmaq , Maliseet and Passamaquoddy people are indigenous to the Maritimes, while Acadian and British settlements date to the 17th century. The word maritime is an adjective that means of the sea ; from Latin maritimus "of the sea, near the sea", from mare "sea". Thus any land adjacent to

6278-576: The Confederation Bridge . There have been airport improvements at various centres providing improved connections to markets and destinations in the rest of North America and overseas. Improvements in infrastructure and the regional economy notwithstanding, the three provinces remain one of the poorer regions of Canada. While urban areas are growing and thriving, economic adjustments have been harsh in rural and resource-dependent communities, and emigration has been an ongoing phenomenon for some parts of

6424-753: The Raid on Chignecto , were conducted by Benjamin Church . In the second war, Queen Anne's War (the North American theatre of the War of the Spanish Succession ), the British conducted the Conquest of Acadia , while the region remained primarily in control of Maliseet militia , Acadia militia and Mi'kmaw militia . In 1719, to further protect strategic interests in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and St. Lawrence River , France began

6570-566: The Saint John River valley has been uncovered. The Late Period extended from 3,000 years ago until first contact with European settlers. This period was dominated by the organization of First Nations peoples into the Algonquian -speaking Abenaki Nation, which occupied territory largely in present-day interior Vermont , New Hampshire , and Maine , and the Mi'kmaq Nation, which inhabited all of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, eastern New Brunswick and

6716-598: The Senate are equally divided among four regions: the West, Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes, with special status for Newfoundland and Labrador as well as for the three territories of Northern Canada ('the North'). This is the only regional scheme that has any legal status or function. Regional representation on the Supreme Court of Canada is governed more by convention than by law. Quebec

6862-578: The Siege of Louisbourg . The British returned control of Île-Royale to France with the fortress virtually intact three years later under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle and the French reestablished their forces there. In 1749, to counter the rising threat of Louisbourg, Halifax was founded and the Royal Navy established a major naval base and citadel . The founding of Halifax sparked Father Le Loutre's War . During

7008-574: The Unionist North had deteriorated after some interests in Britain expressed support for the secessionist Confederate South . The Union Navy , although much smaller than the British Royal Navy and no threat to the Maritimes, did posture off Maritime coasts at times chasing Confederate naval ships which sought repairs and reprovisioning in Maritime ports, especially Halifax. The immense size of

7154-460: The continental margin . Regional transportation networks have also changed significantly in recent decades with port modernizations, with new freeway and ongoing arterial highway construction, the abandonment of various low-capacity railway branch lines (including the entire railway system of Prince Edward Island and southwestern Nova Scotia), and the construction of the Canso Causeway and

7300-502: The "northern islands". The etymology of the Old Norse root vin- is disputed; while it has usually been assumed to be "wine", some scholars give credence to the homophone vin , meaning "pasture" or "meadow". Adam of Bremen implies that the name contains Old Norse vín (cognate with Latin vinum ) "wine" (rendered as Old Saxon or Old High German wīn ): "Moreover, he has also reported one island discovered by many in that ocean, which

7446-529: The 'Saga of the Greenlanders', Bjarni Herjólfsson accidentally discovered the new land when traveling from Norway to visit his father, in the second year of Erik the Red's Greenland settlement (about 986 CE). When he managed to reach Greenland, making land at Herjolfsness , the site of his father's farm, he remained there for the rest of his father's life and didn't return to Norway until about 1000 CE. There, he told his overlord (the Earl, also named Erik) about

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7592-527: The 17th and 18th centuries brought Acadia to the centre of world-scale geopolitical forces. In 1613, Virginian raiders captured Port-Royal, and in 1621 France ceded Acadia to Scotland's Sir William Alexander , who renamed it Nova Scotia . By 1632, Acadia was returned from Scotland to France under the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye . The Port Royale settlement was moved to the site of nearby present-day Annapolis Royal . More French immigrant settlers, primarily from

7738-399: The 1880 Sephton translation of the saga, Rafn and other Danish scholars placed Kjalarnes at Cape Cod , Straumfjörð at Buzzards Bay , Massachusetts , and Straumsey at Martha's Vineyard . An Icelandic law text gives a very specific explanation of "eykt", with reference to Norse navigation techniques. The eight major divisions of the compass were subdivided into three hours each, to make

7884-473: The 1950s, resulting in the need to draw upon equalization payments to provide nationally mandated social services. Since the 1990s the region has experienced an exceptionally tumultuous period in its regional economy with the collapse of large portions of the ground fishery throughout Atlantic Canada, the closing of coal mines and a steel mill on Cape Breton Island , and the closure of military bases in all three provinces. That being said, New Brunswick has one of

8030-525: The 20-year construction of a large fortress at Louisbourg on Île-Royale. Massachusetts was increasingly concerned over reports of the capabilities of this fortress, and of privateers staging out of its harbour to raid New England fishermen on the Grand Banks. In the fourth war, King George's War (the North American theatre of the War of the Austrian Succession ), the British engaged successfully in

8176-630: The British and maintained vital supply lines to the French Fortress of Louisbourg and Fort Beausejour. The British sought to neutralize any military threat Acadians posed and to interrupt the vital supply lines Acadians provided to Louisbourg by deporting Acadians from Acadia. The British began the Expulsion of the Acadians with the Bay of Fundy campaign in 1775. Over the next nine years over 12,000 Acadians of 15,000 were removed from Nova Scotia. In 1758,

8322-476: The Colony of Nova Scotia to create the new colony of New Brunswick in 1784. At the same time, another part of the Colony of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, was split off to become the Colony of Cape Breton Island. The Colony of St. John's Island was renamed Prince Edward Island on November 29, 1798. The War of 1812 had some effect on the shipping industry in the Maritime colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breton Island; however,

8468-410: The Greenlanders . Still according to the latter, Leif Ericson led a company of 35, Thorvald Eiriksson a company of 30, and Helgi and Finnbogi had 30 crew members. According to the Saga of Erik the Red, Þorfinnr "Karlsefni" Þórðarson and a company of 160 men, going south from Greenland traversed an open stretch of sea, found Helluland , another stretch of sea, Markland , another stretch of sea,

8614-403: The Icelander, wanted to sail north around Kjalarnes to seek Vinland, while Thorfinn Karlsefni preferred to sail southward down the east coast. Thorhall took only nine men, and his vessel is swept out into the ocean by contrary winds; he and his crew never returned. Thorfinn and Snorri, with Freydis (plus possibly Bjarni), sailed down the east coast with 40 men or more and established a settlement on

8760-408: The Maritime regional economy has begun increased contributions from manufacturing again and the steady transition to a service economy. Important manufacturing centres in the region include Pictou County , Truro , the Annapolis Valley and the South Shore , and the Strait of Canso area in Nova Scotia, as well as Summerside in Prince Edward Island, and the Miramichi area, the North Shore and

8906-473: The Maritimes with Paleo-Indians during the Early Period , ending around 6,000 years ago. The Middle Period , starting 6,000 years ago, and ending 3,000 years ago, was dominated by rising sea levels from the melting glaciers in polar regions. This is when what is called the Laurentian tradition started among Archaic Indians , the term used for First Nations peoples of the time. Evidence of Archaic Indian burial mounds and other ceremonial sites existing in

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9052-409: The Maritimes, namely Diogo Homem . However, it was French explorer Jacques Cartier who made the first detailed reconnaissance of the region for a European power and, in so doing, claimed the region for the King of France. Cartier was followed by nobleman Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons , who was accompanied by explorer / cartographer Samuel de Champlain in a 1604 expedition. During this they established

9198-411: The Maritimes. Growth was strong, and the region had one of British North America 's most extensive manufacturing sectors as well as a large international shipping industry. The question of why the Maritimes fell from being a centre of Canadian manufacturing to being an economic hinterland is thus a central one to the study of the region's pecuniary difficulties. The period in which the decline occurred had

9344-432: The Union Army (the largest on the planet toward the end of the Civil War), however, was viewed with increasing concern by Maritimers throughout the early 1860s. Another concern was the rising threat of Fenian raids on border communities in New Brunswick by the Fenian Brotherhood seeking to end British rule in Ireland . This combination of events, coupled with an ongoing decline in British military and economic support to

9490-484: The coming months, with Île-Saint-Jean falling in 1759 to British forces on their way to Quebec City for the first siege of Quebec and the ensuing Battle of the Plains of Abraham . The war ended and Britain had gained control over the entire Maritime region and the Indigenous people signed the Halifax Treaties . Following the Seven Years' War , empty Acadian lands were settled first by 8,000 New England Planters and then by immigrants brought from Yorkshire . Île-Royale

9636-434: The decline. The exact date that the Maritimes began to fall behind the rest of Canada is difficult to determine. Historian Kris Inwood places the date very early, at least in Nova Scotia, finding clear signs that the Maritimes "Golden Age" of the mid-19th century was over by 1870, before Confederation or the National Policy could have had any significant impact. Richard Caves places the date closer to 1885. T.W. Acheson takes

9782-446: The early 14th Century, a geography encyclopedia called Geographica Universalis was compiled at Malmesbury Abbey in England, which was in turn used as a source for one of the most widely circulated medieval English educational works, Polychronicon by Ranulf Higden , a few years later. Both these works, with Adam of Bremen as a possible source, were confused about the location of what they called Wintland —the Malmesbury monk had it on

9928-441: The east coast of Labrador as all barren, forbidding wastes, and forget that no part of it lies north of England and Scotland. Other clues appear to place the main settlement farther south, such as the mention of a winter with no snow and the reports in both sagas of grapes being found. A very specific indication in the Greenlanders' Saga of the latitude of the base has also been subject to misinterpretation. This passage states that in

10074-460: The entire territory of British North America into a united colony. The Charlottetown Conference ended with an agreement to meet the following month in Quebec City , where more formal discussions ensued, culminating with meetings in London and the signing of the British North America Act , 1867 (BNA Act). Of the Maritime provinces, only Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were initially party to the BNA Act: Prince Edward Island's reluctance, combined with

10220-450: The era was indeed a golden age but only for a small but powerful and highly visible elite. The cause of economic malaise in the Maritimes is an issue of great debate and controversy among historians, economists, and geographers. The differing opinions can approximately be divided into the "structuralists", who argue that poor policy decisions are to blame, and the others, who argue that unavoidable technological and geographical factors caused

10366-413: The exploration and settlement of interior North America and the Mississippi River valley. Over 74 years (1689–1763) there were six colonial wars, which involved continuous warfare between New England and Acadia (see the French and Indian Wars reflecting English and French tensions in Europe, as well as Father Rale's War (Dummer's War) and Father Le Loutre's War ). Throughout these wars, New England

10512-468: The federal level for purposes such as representation in the Senate of Canada . However regional municipalities (or regional districts in British Columbia ) are included with local municipalities in the article List of municipalities in Canada . The provinces and territories are sometimes grouped into regions , listed here from west to east by province, followed by the three territories. Seats in

10658-438: The few reasonably consistent pieces of information is that exploration voyages from the main base sailed down both the east and west coasts of the land; this was one of the factors which helped archaeologists locate the site at L'Anse aux Meadows , at the tip of Newfoundland's long northern peninsula. Erik Wahlgren examines the question in his book The Vikings and America , and points out clearly that L'Anse aux Meadows cannot be

10804-431: The first commercial production field for oil beginning in the 1980s. Natural gas was also discovered in the 1980s during exploration work, and this is being commercially recovered, beginning in the late 1990s. Initial optimism in Nova Scotia about the potential of off-shore resources appears to have diminished with the lack of new discoveries, although exploration work continues and is moving farther off-shore into waters on

10950-406: The first vowel spoken as /iː/, but as vin-land, spoken as /ɪ/; a short vowel . Old Norse vin (from Proto-Norse winju ) has a meaning of "meadow, pasture". This interpretation of Vinland as "pasture-land" rather than "wine-land" was accepted by Valter Jansson in his classic 1951 dissertation on the vin-names of Scandinavia, by way of which it entered popular knowledge in the later 20th century. It

11096-793: The following winter led to the abandonment of the venture. On the way home, the ship of Bjarni the Icelander was swept into the Sea of Worms (Maðkasjár in Skálholtsbók, Maðksjár in Hauksbók) by contrary winds. The marine worms destroyed the hull, and only those who escaped in the ship's worm-proofed boat survived. This was the last Vinland expedition recorded in the saga. The oldest commonly acknowledged surviving written record of Vinland appears in Descriptio insularum Aquilonis by Adam of Bremen written in about 1075. Adam

11242-430: The fortress of Louisbourg was laid siege for a second time within 15 years, this time by more than 27,000 British soldiers and sailors with over 150 warships. After the French surrender, Louisbourg was thoroughly destroyed by British engineers to ensure it would never be reclaimed. With the fall of Louisbourg, French and Mi'kmaw resistance in the region crumbled. British forces seized remaining French control over Acadia in

11388-501: The geographic regions, so they are not considered subdivisions or groupings of the latter. These regions are not officially considered subdivisions of the larger primary natural regions. Administrative regions of Northwest Territories. Most geographic regions in Ontario defined by grouping counties and other administrative units Not subdivided into geographical regions or sub-regions Vinland In 1960, archaeological evidence of

11534-479: The group. However, the geographic or cultural features that characterize this type of region can sometimes lead to the relevant provinces or territories being seen as regional groups like British Columbia-Yukon and Alberta-Northwest Territories. The provinces and territories are nearly all sub-divided into regions for a variety of official and unofficial purposes. The geographic regions are largely unofficial and therefore somewhat open to interpretation. In some cases,

11680-454: The headland of Kjalarnes , the Wonderstrands , Straumfjörð and at last a place called Hóp , a bountiful place where no snow fell during winter. However, after several years away from Greenland, they chose to turn back to their homes when they realized that they would otherwise face an indefinite conflict with the natives. This saga references the place-name Vinland in four ways. First, it

11826-526: The industry in Central Canada. The policies in the early years of Confederation were designed by Central Canadian interests, and they reflected the needs of that region. The unified Canadian market and the introduction of railroads created a relative weakness in the Maritime economies. Central to this concept, according to Acheson, was the lack of metropolises in the Maritimes. List of regions of Canada#National regions The list of regions of Canada

11972-406: The inscription as: ᚢᛁᚿ᛫(ᛚ)ᛆ(ᛐ)ᛁᚭ᛫ᛁᛌᛆ uin (l)a(t)ią isa Vínlandi á ísa "from Vinland over ice". This is highly uncertain; the same sequence is read by Magnus Olsen (1951) as: ᚢᛁᚿ᛫ᚴᛆ(ᛚᛐ)ᚭ᛫ᛁᛌᛆ uin ka(lt)ą isa vindkalda á ísa "over the wind-cold ice". The main sources of information about the Norse voyages to Vinland are two Icelandic Sagas : the Saga of Erik the Red and

12118-455: The largest military bases in the Commonwealth of Nations ( CFB Gagetown ), which plays a significant role in the cultural and economic spheres of Fredericton, the province's capital city. While the economic underperformance of the Maritime economy has been long lasting, it has not always been present. The mid-19th century, especially the 1850s and 1860s, has long been seen as a "Golden Age" in

12264-623: The late 18th century and into the 19th century with significant immigration to the region as a result of Scottish migrants displaced by the Highland Clearances and Irish escaping the Great Irish Famine (1845–1849). As a result, significant portions of the three provinces are influenced by Celtic heritages, with Scottish Gaelic (and to a lesser degree, Irish Gaelic ) having been widely spoken, particularly in Cape Breton, although it

12410-433: The local inhabitants who were scared by the Greenlanders' bull, but happy to trade goods for milk and other products. In autumn, Gudrid gave birth to a son, Snorri. Shortly after this, one of the local people tried to take a weapon and was killed. The explorers were then attacked in force, but managed to survive with only minor casualties by retreating to a well-chosen defensive position, a short distance from their base. One of

12556-434: The local people ( Skrælings ) examined the Norse ships and departed in peace. Later a much larger flotilla of boats arrived, and trade commenced (Karlsefni forbade the sale of weapons). One day, the local traders were frightened by the sudden arrival of the Greenlanders' bull, and they stayed away for three weeks. They then attacked in force, but the explorers managed to survive with only minor casualties, by retreating inland to

12702-557: The local people picked up an iron axe, tried it, and threw it away. The explorers returned to Greenland in summer with a cargo of grapes/currants and hides. Shortly thereafter, a ship captained by two Icelanders arrived in Greenland, and Freydis , daughter of Eric the Red, persuaded them to join her in an expedition to Vinland. When they arrived at Vinland, the brothers stored their belongings in Leif Eriksson's houses, which angered Freydis and she banished them. She then visited them during

12848-482: The location of Vínland, as the location described in the sagas has both salmon in the rivers and the 'vínber' (meaning specifically 'grape', that according to Wahlgren the explorers were familiar with and would have thus recognized), growing freely. Charting the overlap of the limits of wild vine and wild salmon habitats, as well as nautical clues from the sagas, Wahlgren indicates a location in Maine or New Brunswick. He hazards

12994-458: The main historical sources that grapes were found in Vinland suggests that the explorers ventured at least to the south side of the St. Lawrence River , as Jacques Cartier did 500 years later, finding both wild vines and nut trees. Three butternuts were found at L'Anse aux Meadows, another species which grows only as far north as the St. Lawrence. The vinviðir (wine wood) the Norse were cutting down in

13140-489: The models are not treated as mutually exclusive, eight distinct national regions can be identified when the three western regions of the seven region scheme are combined with the two Atlantic regions of the Senate method and the Ontario, Quebec, and Northern regions common to both schemes. An inter-provincial region includes more than one province or territory but does not usually include the entirety of each province or territory in

13286-437: The more successful English settlement at Jamestown in present-day Virginia by three years. Champlain was considered the founder of New France 's province of Canada, which comprises much of the present-day lower St. Lawrence River valley in the province of Quebec . Champlain's success in the region, which came to be called Acadie , led to the fertile tidal marshes surrounding the southeastern and northeastern reaches of

13432-544: The most important changes, and one that almost certainly had an effect, was the revolution in transportation that occurred at this time. The Maritimes were connected to central Canada by the Intercolonial Railway in the 1870s, removing a longstanding barrier to trade. For the first time this placed the Maritime manufacturers in direct competition with those of Central Canada. Maritime trading patterns shifted considerably from mainly trading with New England , Britain, and

13578-414: The new land and was criticized for his long delay in reporting this. On his return to Greenland he retold the story and inspired Leif Eriksson to organize an expedition, which retraced in reverse the route Bjarni had followed, past a land of flat stones ( Helluland ) and a land of forests ( Markland ). After having sailed another two days across open sea, the expedition found a headland with an island just off

13724-425: The new nation. Throughout the period there was also significant technological change both in the production and transportation of goods. Several scholars have explored the so-called "Golden Age" of the Maritimes in the years just before Confederation. In Nova Scotia , the population grew steadily from 277,000 in 1851 to 388,000 in 1871, mostly from natural increase since immigration was slight. The era has been called

13870-471: The next reference to a voyage also comes from Icelandic chronicles. In 1347, a ship arrived in Iceland, after being blown off course on its way home from Markland to Greenland with a load of timber . The implication is that the Greenlanders had continued to use Markland as a source of timber over several centuries. The definition of Vinland is somewhat elusive. According to a 1969 article by Douglas McManis in

14016-510: The northern tip of Vinland was taken up by later Scandinavian scholars such as bishop Hans Resen. Although it is generally agreed, based on the saga descriptions, that Helluland includes Baffin Island , and Markland represents at least the southern part of the modern Labrador, there has been considerable controversy over the location of the actual Norse landings and settlement. Comparison of the sagas, as summarized below, shows that they give similar descriptions and names to different places. One of

14162-569: The ocean east of Norway, while Higden put it west of Denmark but failed to explain the distance. Copies of Polychronicon commonly included a world map on which Wintland was marked in the Atlantic Ocean near Iceland, but again much closer to the Scandinavian mainland than in reality. The name was explained in both texts as referring to the savage inhabitants' ability to tie the wind up in knotted cords, which they sold to sailors who could then undo

14308-429: The only known Norse site in North America, L'Anse aux Meadows , was found on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland. Before the discovery of archaeological evidence, Vinland was known only from the sagas and medieval historiography. The 1960 discovery further proved the pre-Columbian Norse exploration of mainland North America. L'Anse aux Meadows has been hypothesized to be the camp Straumfjörð mentioned in

14454-526: The other two Maritime provinces in that it has a much higher Francophone population . There was once a significant Canadian Gaelic speaking population. Helen Creighton recorded Celtic traditions of rural Nova Scotia in the mid-1900s. There are Black Canadians who are mostly descendants of Black Loyalists or black refugees from the War of 1812 . This Maritime population is mainly among Black Nova Scotians . There are Mi'kmaq reserves in all three provinces, and

14600-607: The people of Vinland relied on were wheat, berries, wine and fish. However, the wheat in the Vinlandic context is sandwort and not traditional wheat, and the grapes mentioned are native North American grapes, because the European grape ( Vitis vinifera ) and wheat ( Triticum sp.) existing in the New World before the Viking arrival in the tenth century is highly unlikely. Both the sagas reference

14746-615: The primary regions are separated by identifiable transition zones, particularly in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario. The largest provinces can be divided into a number of primary geographic regions of comparatively large size (e.g. southern Ontario), and subdivided into a greater number of smaller secondary regions (e.g. southwestern Ontario). The primary and secondary regions in Ontario are mainly non-administrative in nature. However, they tend to be defined as geographic groupings of counties, regional municipalities, and territorial districts, so that

14892-605: The region as the Home Office favoured newer colonial endeavours in Africa and elsewhere, led to a call among Maritime politicians for a conference on Maritime Union , to be held in early September 1864 in Charlottetown – chosen in part because of Prince Edward Island's reluctance to give up its jurisdictional sovereignty in favour of uniting with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia into a single colony. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia felt that if

15038-517: The region's finances. T.W. Acheson is one of the main proponents of this theory. He notes the growth that was occurring during the early years of the National Policy in Nova Scotia demonstrates how the effects of railway fares and the tariff structure helped undermine this growth. Capitalists from Central Canada purchased the factories and industries of the Maritimes from their bankrupt local owners and proceeded to close down many of them, consolidating

15184-424: The region's numerous universities and colleges—are significant economic contributors. Another important contribution to Nova Scotia's provincial economy is through spin-offs and royalties relating to off-shore petroleum exploration and development. Mostly concentrated on the continental shelf of the province's Atlantic coast in the vicinity of Sable Island , exploration activities began in the 1960s and resulted in

15330-405: The region. Another problem is seen in the lower average wages and family incomes within the region. Property values are depressed, resulting in a smaller tax base for these three provinces, particularly when compared with the national average which benefits from central and western Canadian economic growth. This has been particularly problematic with the growth of the welfare state in Canada since

15476-727: The region. E.R. Forbes, however, emphasizes that the precipitous decline did not occur until after the First World War during the 1920s when new railway policies were implemented. Forbes also contends that significant Canadian defence spending during the Second World War favoured powerful political interests in Central Canada such as C. D. Howe , when major Maritime shipyards and factories, as well as Canada's largest steel mill, located in Cape Breton Island, fared poorly. One of

15622-404: The regions are defined by a system or collection of borders that have local administrative importance. In other large provinces, the primary and secondary geographic regions are defined more strictly by topographical and ecological boundaries. In geographically diverse provinces, the secondary regions can be further subdivided into numerous local regions and even sub-regions. British Columbia has

15768-481: The remains of a small Norse encampment were discovered by Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad at that exact spot, L'Anse aux Meadows in northern Newfoundland, and excavated during the 1960s and 1970s. It is most likely this was the main settlement of the sagas, a "gateway" for the Norse Greenlanders to the rich lands farther south. Many wooden objects were found at L'Anse aux Meadows, and radiocarbon dating confirms

15914-897: The rest of Canada. The inland climate of New Brunswick is in stark contrast during winter, resembling more continental areas. Summers are somewhat tempered by the marine influence throughout the provinces, but due to the southerly parallels still remain similar to more continental areas further west. Yarmouth in Nova Scotia has significant marine influence to have a borderline oceanic microclimate , but winter nights are still cold even in all coastal areas. The northernmost areas of New Brunswick are only just above subarctic with very cold continental winters. The Maritimes were predominantly rural until recent decades, having resource-based economies of fishing, agriculture, forestry, and coal mining. Maritimers are predominantly of west European origin: Scottish Canadians , Irish Canadians , English Canadians , and Acadians . New Brunswick, in general, differs from

16060-497: The sagas may refer to the vines of Vitis riparia , a species of wild grape that grows on trees. As the Norse were searching for lumber , a material that was needed in Greenland, they found trees covered with Vitis riparia south of L'Anse aux Meadows and called them vinviðir. L'Anse Aux Meadows was a small and short-lived encampment; perhaps it was primarily used for timber-gathering forays and boat repair, rather than permanent settlements like Greenland. The main resources that

16206-521: The scientific journal Acta Archeologica , which assumes that the headland of Kjalarnes referred to in the Saga of Erik the Red is at L'Anse aux Meadows, suggests that Straumfjörð refers to Sop's Arm, Newfoundland , as no other fjord in Newfoundland was found to have an island at its mouth. Kent Budden (1962-2008) a resident of Sop's Arm, did extensive exploration in the area, contacted Jonas to show him some artifacts, including an axe head that Jonas said had

16352-571: The sea can be considered maritime. But the term Maritimes has historically been collectively applied to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, all of which border the Atlantic Ocean . The pre-history of the Canadian Maritimes begins after the northerly retreat of glaciers at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation over 10,000 years ago; human settlement by First Nations began in

16498-410: The second half of the 19th century brought steel to Trenton, Nova Scotia , and subsequent creation of a widespread industrial base to take advantage of the region's large underground coal deposits. After Confederation, however, this industrial base withered with technological change, and trading links to Europe and the U.S. were reduced in favour of those with Ontario and Quebec. In recent years, however,

16644-482: The second permanent European settlement in what is now the United States and Canada, following Spain's settlement at St. Augustine in present-day Florida in the American South. Champlain's settlement at Saint Croix Island , later moved to Port Royal ( Annapolis Royal ), survived. By contrast, the ill-fated English settlement at Roanoke Colony off the southern American coast did not. The French settlement pre-dated

16790-428: The shore of a seaside lake, protected by barrier islands and connected to the open ocean by a river which was navigable by ships only at high tide. The settlement was known as Hóp , and the land abounded with grapes/currants and wheat. The teller of this saga was uncertain whether the explorers remained here over the next winter (said to be very mild) or for only a few weeks of summer. One morning they saw nine hide boats;

16936-427: The shore, with a nearby pool, accessible to ships at high tide, in an area where the sea was shallow with sandbanks. Here the explorers landed and established a base which can plausibly be matched to L'Anse aux Meadows; except that the winter was described as mild, not freezing. One day an old family servant, Tyrker , went missing and was found mumbling to himself. He eventually explained that he found grapes/currants. In

17082-404: The shortest days of midwinter, the sun was still above the horizon at "dagmal" and "eykt", two specific times in the Norse day. Carl Christian Rafn , in the first detailed study of the Norse exploration of the New World, "Antiquitates Americanae" (1837), interpreted these times as equivalent to 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., which would put the base a long way south of Newfoundland. According to

17228-464: The significant Royal Navy presence in Halifax and other ports in the region prevented any serious attempts by American raiders. Maritime and American privateers targeted unprotected shipping of both the United States and Britain respectively, further reducing trade. New Brunswick's section of the Canada–US border did not have any significant action during this conflict, although British forces did occupy

17374-461: The site implies that the Norse explored Vinland further to the south, at least as far as St. Lawrence River and parts of New Brunswick , the northern limit for both butternut and wild grapes ( Vitis riparia ). Another proposal for the name's etymology, was introduced by Sven Söderberg in 1898 (first published in 1910). This suggestion involves interpreting the Old Norse name not as vín-land with

17520-502: The site's occupation as being confined to a short period around 1000 CE. In addition, small pieces of jasper , known to have been used in the Norse world as fire-strikers , were found in and around the different buildings. When these were analyzed and compared with samples from jasper sources around the North Atlantic area, it was found that two buildings contained only Icelandic jasper pieces, while another contained some from Greenland;

17666-500: The six-region model for the Geographical Regions of Canada. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada uses the five-region model, while seven regions are commonly used for polling. The various models are derived from the three-region scheme by progressively subdividing the western and eastern regions (the northern region is the same for all models) into smaller and smaller units consisting of provinces or groups of provinces. If

17812-511: The sixth and final colonial war, the French and Indian War (the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War ), the military conflicts in Nova Scotia continued. The British Conquest of Acadia happened in 1710. Over the next forty-five years, the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain. During this time period Acadians participated in various militia operations against

17958-467: The smaller population centres such as Saint John and Halifax, preferring to travel to cities like New York and Montreal . Even the Cunard Line , founded by Maritime-born Samuel Cunard , stopped making more than a single ceremonial voyage to Halifax each year. More controversial than the role of technology is the argument over the role of politics in the origins of the region's decline. Confederation and

18104-600: The south and west coasts of Newfoundland, the Gaspé Peninsula , and the present-day Côte-Nord region of Quebec. Most Acadian fishing activities were overshadowed by the much larger seasonal European fishing fleets that were based out of Newfoundland and took advantage of proximity to the Grand Banks . The growing English colonies along the American seaboard to the south and various European wars between England and France during

18250-500: The southern Gaspé . The primarily agrarian Maliseet Nation settled throughout the Saint John River and Allagash River valleys of present-day New Brunswick and Maine. The Passamaquoddy Nation inhabited the northwestern coastal regions of the present-day Bay of Fundy . The Mi'kmaq Nation is also believed to have crossed the present-day Cabot Strait at around this time to settle on the south coast of Newfoundland , but they were

18396-452: The spring, Leif returned to Greenland with a shipload of timber, towing a boatload of grapes/currants. On the way home, he spotted another ship aground on the rocks, rescued the crew and later salvaged the cargo. A second expedition, one ship of about 40 men led by Leif's brother Thorvald, sets out in the autumn after Leif's return and stayed over three winters at the new base ( Leifsbúðir (-budir), meaning Leif's temporary shelters), exploring

18542-421: The survivors from a wrecked ship and gained a reputation for good luck; his religious mission was a swift success. The next spring, Thorstein, Leif's brother, lead an expedition to the new land, but drifted off course and spent the whole summer sailing the Atlantic. On his return, he met and married Gudrid, one of the survivors from a ship which made land at Herjolfsnes after a difficult voyage from Iceland. Spending

18688-460: The targets of American raiders. Charlottetown, the capital of the new colony of St. John's Island, was ransacked in 1775 with the provincial secretary kidnapped and the Great Seal stolen. The largest military action in the Maritimes during the revolutionary war was the attack on Fort Cumberland (the renamed Fort Beauséjour ) in 1776 by a force of American sympathizers led by Jonathan Eddy . The fort

18834-482: The tariff and railway freight policies that followed have often been blamed for having a deleterious effect on the Maritime economies. Arguments have been made that the Maritimes' poverty was caused by control over policy by Central Canada which used the national structures for its own enrichment. This was the central view of the Maritime Rights Movement of the 1920s, which advocated greater local control over

18980-486: The two decades, but there was little improvement in the wealth levels in rural areas, which comprised the great majority of the population. Likewise Gwyn reports that gentlemen, merchants, bankers, colliery owners, shipowners, shipbuilders, and master mariners flourished. However the great majority of families were headed by farmers, fishermen, craftsmen and labourer. Most of them—and many widows as well—lived in poverty. Out migration became an increasingly necessary option. Thus

19126-509: The union conference were held in Charlottetown, they might be able to convince Island politicians to support the proposal. The Charlottetown Conference , as it came to be called, was also attended by a slew of visiting delegates from the neighbouring Crown colony , the Province of Canada , who had largely arrived at their own invitation with their own agenda. This agenda saw the conference dominated by discussions of creating an even larger union of

19272-501: The upper Saint John River valley of New Brunswick. Some predominantly coastal areas have become major tourist centres, such as parts of Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton Island, the South Shore of Nova Scotia and the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Bay of Fundy coasts of New Brunswick. Additional service-related industries in information technology , pharmaceuticals, insurance and financial sectors—as well as research-related spin-offs from

19418-574: The way, lying asleep in hide sacks. Karlsefni, accompanied by Thorvald Eriksson and others, sailed around Kjalarnes and then south, keeping land on their left side, hoping to find Thorhall. After sailing for a long time, while moored on the south side of a west-flowing river, they were shot at by a one-footed man , and Thorvald died from an arrow-wound. Once they reached Markland, the men encountered five natives, of whom they kidnapped two boys, baptizing them and teaching them their own language. The explorers returned to Straumsfjord, but disagreements during

19564-455: The west coast of the new land during the first summer, and the east coast during the second, running aground and losing the ship's keel on a headland they christen Keel Point ( Kjalarnes ). Further south, at a point where Thorvald wanted to establish a settlement, the Greenlanders encountered some of the local inhabitants ( Skrælingjar ) and killed them, following which they were attacked by

19710-469: The winter and asked for their ship, claiming that she wanted to go back to Greenland, which the brothers happily agreed to. Freydis went back and told her husband the exact opposite, which led to the killing, at Freydis' order, of all the Icelanders, including five women, as they lay sleeping. In the spring, the Greenlanders returned home with a good cargo, but Leif found out the truth about the Icelanders. That

19856-690: The winter as a guest at a farm on Greenland with Gudrid, Thorstein died of disease, reviving just long enough to make a prophecy about her future as a far-traveling Christian. The next winter, Gudrid married a visiting Icelander named Thorfinn Karlsefni, who, with his business partner Snorri Thorbrandsson, agreed to undertake a major expedition to the new land, taking livestock with them. Also contributing ships for this expedition were another pair of visiting Icelanders, Bjarni Grimolfsson and Thorhall Gamlason, and Leif's brother and sister Thorvald and Freydis, with her husband Thorvard. Sailing past landscapes of flat stones ( Helluland ) and forests ( Markland ) they rounded

20002-765: Was allied with the Iroquois Confederacy based around the southern Great Lakes and west of the Hudson River . Acadian settlers were allied with the Wabanaki Confederacy . In the first war, King William's War (the North American theatre of the Nine Years' War ), natives from the Maritime region participated in numerous attacks with the French on the Acadia / New England border in southern Maine (e.g., Raid on Salmon Falls ). New England retaliatory raids on Acadia, such as

20148-488: Was discovered in Norderhov , Norway , shortly before 1817, but it was subsequently lost. Its assessment depends on a sketch made by antiquarian L. D. Klüwer (1823), now also lost but in turn copied by Wilhelm Frimann Koren Christie (1838). The Younger Futhark inscription was dated to c. 1010–1050. The stone had been erected in memory of a Norwegian, possibly a descendant of Sigurd Syr . Sophus Bugge (1902) read part of

20294-561: Was in short supply. One day an old family servant, Thorhall the Hunter (who had not become Christian), went missing and was found mumbling to himself. Shortly afterwards, a beached whale was found, which Thorhall claimed had been provided in answer to his praise of the pagan gods. The explorers found that eating it made them ill, so they prayed to the Christian God, and shortly afterwards the weather improved. When spring arrived, Thorhall Gamlason,

20440-550: Was partially overrun after a month-long siege, but the attackers were ultimately repelled after the arrival of British reinforcements from Halifax. The most significant impact from this war was the settling of large numbers of Loyalist refugees in the region (34,000 to the 17,000 settlers already there), especially in Shelburne and Parrtown (Saint John). Following the Treaty of Paris in 1783, Loyalist settlers in what would become New Brunswick persuaded British administrators to split

20586-579: Was rejected by Einar Haugen (1977), who argued that the vin element had changed its meaning from "pasture" to "farm" long before the Old Norse period. Names in vin were given in the Proto Norse period, and they are absent from places colonized in the Viking Age. Haugen's basis for rejection has since been challenged. There is a runestone which may have contained a record of the Old Norse name slightly predating Adam of Bremen's Winland . The Hønen Runestone

20732-517: Was renamed Cape Breton Island and incorporated into the Colony of Nova Scotia. Some of the Acadians who had been deported came back but went to the eastern coasts of New Brunswick. Both the colonies of Nova Scotia (present-day Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) and St. John's Island (Prince Edward Island) were affected by the American Revolutionary War , largely by privateering against American shipping, but several coastal communities were also

20878-401: Was the land described in their Vinland Sagas. The Skálholt Map , drawn in 1570 or 1590 but surviving only through later copies, shows Promontorium Winlandiae ("promontory/cape/foreland of Vinland") as a narrow cape with its northern tip at the same latitude as southern Ireland. (The scales of degrees in the map margins are inaccurate.) This effective identification of northern Newfoundland with

21024-436: Was the last Vinland expedition recorded in the saga. In the other version of the story, Eiríks saga rauða or the Saga of Erik the Red , Leif Ericsson accidentally discovered the new land when traveling from Norway back to Greenland after a visit to his overlord, King Olaf Tryggvason, who commissioned him to spread Christianity in the colony. Returning to Greenland with samples of grapes/currants, wheat and timber, he rescued

21170-492: Was the main base of the Norse explorers, the southernmost limit of Norse exploration remains a subject of intense speculation. Gustav Storm (1887) and Joseph Fischer (1902) both suggested Cape Breton ; Samuel Eliot Morison (1971) the southern part of Newfoundland; Erik Wahlgren (1986) Miramichi Bay in New Brunswick ; and Icelandic climate specialist Pall Bergthorsson (1997) proposed New York City . The insistence in all

21316-624: Was told about "islands" discovered by Norse sailors in the Atlantic by the Danish king Svend Estridsen . The nearby Norse outpost of Markland was mentioned in the writings of Galvano Fiamma in his book, Cronica universalis . He is believed to be the first Southern European to write about the New World . The earliest map of Vinland was drawn by Sigurd Stefansson, a schoolmaster at Skalholt, Iceland, around 1570, which placed Vinland somewhere that can be Chesapeake Bay, St. Lawrence, or Cape Cod Bay. In

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