PER 2015
What is the most underrated event of the past, and why is it so much more significant than people understand? Harry Warren England founded its first colony of Newfoundland, on the Atlantic coast of what is now Canada on the fifth of August 1583. Although the colony struggled in its formative years due mostly to the extreme cold and inhospitable conditions its foundation saw the beginnings of the Anglo settlement of North America and the beginnings of Britain as a colonial power. The historical and economic significance of the British Empire, and the United States of America which arose from Britain’s thirteen colonies on the Eastern Seaboard, can be seen throughout the last four centuries with both providing much of the framework for the modern world, whilst also beginning the process which would see the gradual removal of native American culture and peoples following American independence which prompted rapid and aggressive expansion West into the nomadic heartlands of native America. As such Newfoundland must be seen as highly significant as the root of Britain’s vast empire which dominated international politics until the emergence of the United States of America as Earths foremost power, a nation which can also be traced back to the Island as the first Anglo settlement on the continent. Although the sixteenth largest Island on Earth with a surface area of 111,390 square kilometers Newfoundland’s hostile weather meant that is was doomed to obscurity when compared to colonies such as India, with much of its commercial value coming from Whaling and the various furs which the native Beothuk population had hunted for centuries. However its role in the founding of the British Empire does not warrant such obscurity, with the Island colony setting a precedent in colony building and many of the tactics and ideas formed there shaping the empire in years to come. Through the 16 th and early 17 th century Europeans failed at attempts of settling the Island permanently but by 1650 there was a significant population of English and French fisherman along the coast. By trading European goods to the locals in exchange for supplies and expertise the settlers were able to survive and Newfoundland to grow peaking in the 19 th century as an integral part of Canada’s economic structure, drawing form the vast wealth of the northern Atlantic. Communication with natives made survival possible during the early stages of settlement and the techniques developed in Newfoundland were used consistently throughout the imperial age, allowing Britain’s empire to grow and subdue over a third of the Earth’s population at its prime post World War One. As an integral part of the formation of empire Newfoundland must be seen as contributing to the legacy left by it, both negative and positive and therefore a significant event. Empire allowed for the development of huge scale international trade routes providing vast wealth to Europe whilst draining colonies of resources. By providing a testing ground for early European settlement Newfoundland must be seen in significant to the rapid spread of British colonial power, particularly on the East coast of America where the colony of Virginia was founded following the relative success of its Northern predecessor. Unlike Newfoundland Virginia’s lush environment provided the settlers with the option of permanent, comfortable life drawing from agriculture both practical such as crops to eat and economic with tobacco and cotton providing an income. The use of local population to help in establishing colonies is remembered during Thanksgiving, and as in Newfoundland Europeans relied heavily on the local ‘Indians’ for survival.
Britain went on to establish thirteen colonies on the east coast of America, each in the legacy of Newfoundland with the early pioneers relying on expertise gathered there for survival. However the
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