Newfoundland & Labrador

people have lived in Newfoundland and Labrador for at least 8,000 years. The first people, know as the Maritime Archaic Indians, were hunters. Many different groups of Native people have since lived in the region. The Beothuk, who may have been descendants of the Maritime Archaic Indians, fished and hunted along the coastal watersof Newfoundland in bark canoes. The Dorset people occupied the coast of Labrador beginning about 500 b.c. Norse explorers led by Leif Eriksson sailed westward from Greenland about a.d. 1000. They landed on the rocky shores of Labrador and on the island of Newfoundland, were they may have spent the winter. Eriksson is the frist European know to have explored part of North America. In 1003 Thorfni Karlsefni, another Norseman from Greenland, built the first European settlement in North America at L'Anse aux Meadows, on northern Newfoundland. The harsh climate and conflicts with the Native people caused the settlers to leave the island after just a few years.