Newfoundland is a large island off the east coast of the North American mainland, and the most populous part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It was organised as a colony in 1825, was self-governing from 1855 to 1934, and held dominion status from 1907 to 1949. The indigenous people on the island at the time of European settlement were the Beothuk.
Long settled by indigenous peoples of the Dorset culture, the island was visited by the Icelandic explorer Leif Eriksson in the 11th century, who called the new land “Vinland”. The next European visitors to Newfoundland were Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch and English migratory fishermen and whalers. The island was visited by the Genoese navigator John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto), working under contract to King Henry VII of England on his expedition from Bristol in 1497. In 1501, Portuguese explorers Gaspar Corte-Real and his brother Miguel Corte-Real charted part of the coast of Newfoundland in a failed attempt to find the Northwest Passage. After European settlement, colonists first called the island Terra Nova, from “New Land” in Portuguese and Latin. The name Newfoundland in popular discourse came from people discussing the “New founde land” in the new world.
In 1934, Newfoundland became the only dominion to give up its self-governing status. That episode came about because of a crisis in Newfoundland’s public finances in 1932. Newfoundland had accumulated a significant amount of debt by building a railway across the island, which was completed in the 1890s, and by raising its own regiment during World War I. In November 1932, the government warned that Newfoundland would default on payments on the public debt.] The British government quickly established the Newfoundland Royal Commission to inquire into and report on the position. The commission’s report, published in October 1933, recommended for Newfoundland to give up its system of self-government temporarily and to allow the United Kingdom to administer the dominion by an appointed commission.
The Newfoundland parliament accepted the recommendations and presented a petition to the King to ask for the suspension of the constitution and the appointment of commissioners to administer the government until the country became self-supporting again. To enable compliance with the request, the British Parliament passed the Newfoundland Act 1933, and on 16 February 1934, the British government appointed six commissioners, three from Newfoundland and three from the United Kingdom, with the Governor as chairman. The system of a six-member Commission of Government continued to govern Newfoundland until it joined Canada in 1949 to become Canada’s tenth province.
Blogs
- Big Blue 1840-1940: The Classic Stamps of Newfoundland
- Re-Entries: Newfoundland Re-entries
- Stamp Forgeries: Forged Stamps of Newfoundland
Websites
YouTube
- Philatelic Specialists Society of Canada: New Canadian Air Mail Catalogue
- Postal Pleasures: Newfoundland Stamps – Goodwill Haul Bag 3
- Richard Philatelist: Stamps of Newfoundland
