Labrador

The name has been popularly applied to the whole territory

bounded by the Atlantic, Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay, which includes

not only the Labrador coast-strip, but also a portion of the North-West

Territories. Also known at one time as New Britain. The name is properly

applied to the strip of coast from Cape Chidley to Blanc Sablon, forming

a dependency of the colony of Newfoundland. On various theories as to

orig n of name, see Ganong, Cartography of Gulf of St. Lawrence (R.

S. C., 1889). The boundaries have long been in dispute between

Newfoundland and Canada, and the territory has several times changed

hands. The Labrador coast was first discovered by the Northmen, in the

tenth century. Cabot sailed along the coast in 1498, and Corte-Real in

1500. The interior remained practically unexplored till traversed by

officers of the Hudson's Bay Company about 1840. There are a few posts

of the Hudson's Bay Company on the coast. The southern portion is

inhabited by a primitive race of fishermen; in the north are several

missions of the Moravian Brethren, first established there in 1764.