Newfoundland Discovered: English Attempts at Colonisation, 1610-1630

Newfoundland in the early seventeenth century already had a flourishing fishery for cod in which European fishermen had engaged for over a century. Settlement was closely tied to fishing, but also included a search for iron, attempts at agriculture, manufacture of glass and soap, and a trade in furs with the native Beothuk Indians. The colonists recorded geography, climate, resources and people, as well as their own struggle to survive.