The Beothuk PeopleDrew 8C

Pre-Colonization Not much is known

about the Beothuk, since we have no living Beothuk people to ask. Their ancestors had migrated to Newfoundland in around AD 1, and their most recent culture emerged around AD 1500.

A Beothuk camp

Pre-Colonization 2 One of the main things

the people were known for was decorating things with red ochre. They would paint themselves, their children, their belongings, everything. This is likely where the term “Red Indian” came from. They generally lived in large, self-sufficient family groups of 30-50 people, and had their own religion and language.

A model of a Beothuk boat

Red ochre powder

Contact with Europeans

In around AD 1000, Norse explorers visited the island and called the people there “Skrælingjar,” Old Norse and Icelandic for “Barbarians.” They left after a short time, leaving the people on their own for almost half a century.

Recreated sod longhouse at L’anse aux Meadows in Northern Newfoundland

Contact with Europeans 2

Starting in the late 1400s, more explorers from Europe started to visit the island and set up settlements. The Beothuk generally avoided contact with them, and moved inland as their settlements grew. Any contact between the two peoples usually resulted in injury and bloodshed. The Europeans would raid their camps and take supplies, and the Beothuk would in turn steal their animal traps and reuse the metal for their own tools.

John Cabot, or Zuan Chabotto,The first European to explore Newfoundland since the Norse

Extinction By the early 19th century, the

population of the Beothuk people had significantly dwindled, due to disease, and violence and competition for resources with the Europeans and the Mi’kmaq. The last known Beothuk person, Shanawdithit, died of Tuberculosis in St. John’s in 1829. A life-sized statue of Shanawdithit

Extinction 2 However, oral history

tells that some Beothuk continued to live around the Exploits River in Central Newfoundland for a while afterwards, forming unions with the Europeans, the Mi’kmaq, and the Inuit, and passing on their genes. To this day, some families in the Twillingate area claim to be of partial Beothuk descent.

A view of Twillingate

Bibliographyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skr%C3%A6linghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beothuk_peoplehttp://www.heritage.nf.ca/aboriginal/beothuk.htmlhttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Beothuk_camp.jpghttp://www.bnminerals.com/red-ochre-mineral.htmhttp://collections.rmg.co.uk/mediaLib/401/media-401473/large.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:L%27Anse_aux_Meadows,_recreated_long_house.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cabothttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Twillingate.jpg