The rugged triangular island of Newfoundland lies between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of St Lawrence and consists mainly of a low, forested plateau rolling gently to the north-east; it has a miserably infertile interior, and most of its population (a little over 600,000) live along the inhospitably irregular coast, especially in the south-east. It was discovered by John Cabot in 1497 and eventually became an English fishing station; along with the sparsely populated Coast of Labrador (the region is now known as the province of Newfoundland and Labrador), it was made a dominion during the First World War, and in 1949 the area formed Canada’s most recently acquired province (one of ten).

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