S02E04: Newfoundland Audio

In this episode of 80 Days: an exploration podcast, we return to the north of North America and explore Newfoundland, a Canadian island in the North Atlantic. At over 100,000 square kilometres (40,000 sq mi), Newfoundland is the world’s 16th-largest island, and Cape Spear, just south of the capital, St Johns, is the easternmost point of North America, excluding Greenland. Newfoundland has long been a sparsely populated and harsh land, with residents traditionally relying heavily on fishing to survive. The area has a significant Gaelic heritage, with strong connections to Ireland and Britain. Modern-day Newfoundland has a population of just under half a million, and is the most populous part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Your hosts are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Hong Kong, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in the UK, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Switzerland. (Theme music by Thomas O’Boyle). Our guest contributor this week is Dr Philip Hiscock (Department of Folklore, Memorial University, Newfoundland)

Table of Contents :

[01:16] Intro

[01:57] Early history – indigenous peoples and pushy Catholics

[09:00] Eric the Red – bad egg/ass

[13:00] Soil update – no codding you

[20:10] As usual the British turn up

[25:40] 80 Days Guest Dr Philip Hiscock – with some local knowledge

[30:00] The French arrive and shrug disinterestedly

[41:54] Beothuk people try to avoid conflict… uh oh

[47:40] Census, politics and telegraphy

[54:11] World wars, & reluctant Canadification

[1:09:06] I’m here from the government and I’m here to help (resettlement, cod & seals)

[1:20:24] 9/11 “We’re diverting you to Newfoundland. All of you.”

Here are a few things you may want to read/watch more about:

There is a lot of music (particularly Irish-inspired folk), some examples of which we would recommend if you enjoyed what you heard in the episode:

Thanks this week to Dr Jenn Jones and Jeffrey Doker, who backed our Kickstarter campaign. Your t-shirts should be on their way to you already. Thanks to our sponsor Hairy Baby, who in addition to making the funniest Irish-themed t-shirts, have also produced the official 80 Days shirt for our supporters. Find it by clicking here. You can get 10% off anything on http://www.hairybaby.com by using our promo code – just listen in to the episode for exact details.