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Fogo Island (Newfoundland and Labrador)

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Fogo village, Newfoundland

Fogo Island, the largest of Newfoundland's offshore islands, is off the Northeast Coast of Newfoundland near Lewisporte and Twillingate. The Island is about 25 km long and 14 km wide. The total area is 237.71 km² (91.78 sq mi).

The island consists of eleven communities and had a population of 2,706 people in the 2006 census.

Because the original settlement took place in the 18th Century and the area remained isolated well into the twentieth century, the descendants of the first inhabitants retained traces of their Elizabethan dialect which can be heard on the Island today. The Island has many ancient folk customs brought from England that are now disappearing.

History

Fishermen's Union general store, Seldom-Come-By, Newfoundland

Fogo Island, like most of the Newfoundland outports, was built upon the fishery. Until the widespread depletion of fish stocks in the 1990's, cod was king.

Fishing has always been a hard life. Before Confederation with Canada, the mercantile classes of St John's, Newfoundland became rich by holding a near-monopoly stranglehold on both the supply of goods to the Newfoundland outports and on the sale of fish from them.

In the early 20th century, the Fisherman's Protective Union was formed in an attempt to break this stranglehold. It was a form of co-operative with general stores owned by fishermen for fishermen. One of the Fishermen's Union stores still stands at Seldom-Come-By on Fogo Island, now open as a museum complete with general store, port installations, fishing implements and equipment for the manufacture of cod liver oil.

Crab and lobster fisheries have largely replaced the cod fishery; a fish-packing plant remains in operation in the town of Fogo.

A Marconi radio transmitting station was once operational atop a hill near the town of Fogo; operating with a spark-gap transmitter to establish maritime communications, the station was forced to close around the time that radio became common for household use as the spark-gap design generated unacceptable levels of radio interference. Efforts to rebuilt this station as a historic site commenced in 2002.

Communities

The eleven communities of Fogo Island are (with their 2006 census population):

Name

File:Carlb-fogo-newfoundland-ducks-2002.jpg
Scene from Fogo Island

Fogo Island was once called Y del Fogo, meaning Isle of Fire. There are two theories for the name:

  • Many accidental or natural forest fires destroyed the dense forests of the Northern part of the Island.
  • Europeans continually saw the burning fires of the Beothuks, when they were visiting from across the Atlantic.

See also

External links

References

Subdivisions of Newfoundland and Labrador
Subdivisions and
statistical units
Communities
Cities

49°40′N 54°10′W / 49.667°N 54.167°W / 49.667; -54.167

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