Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPter 10
Neoproterozoic Oxygen and The Rise of Animals
The Avalon Peninsula of southeastern Newfoundland is a remarkable
place. Carved from glacial ice, its rugged terrain was further sculpted
by wind, rain, and the sea. On the Avalon Peninsula you never feel far
from the sea. It's also a place of tradition, old tradition. Already in 1534,
the noted French navigator Jacques Cartier commented that the fish
were so thick off the Newfoundland coast that “they slowed our ships
in the water.” He was not the first, however, to note the abundance of
fish, and fishing settlements were already established on the Avalon
Peninsula in the early 1500s. A colony followed in 1610 in Conception
Bay (Cupar's Cove) in the northern part of the peninsula, and in 1621
another colony was formed at Ferryland in the southern part of the
peninsula (
ig. 10.1
). The latter, which is presently under archeological
excavation, was established by Sir George Calvert, later Lord Baltimore,
and became the first permanent colonial settlement in Newfoundland.
Indeed, Sir George moved to the settlement in 1627 but left the follow-
ing summer, explaining to King Charles I:
I have found by too dear bought experience, which other men for
their private interests always concealed from me, from the middest
of October to the middest of May, there is a sad face of winter
upon this land, both sea and land so frozen for the greatest part
of time as they are not penetrable, no plant or vegetable thing
