vikings in Newfoundland

Nearly five hundred years before Christopher Columbus discovered North America, the Vikings from Norway, along with Lief Ericsson landed on a glacier area which is believed to be present day Baffin Island. He continued to travel along with his crew until they reached what is present day Newfoundland. Here the crew discovered plentiful salmon bigger than they had ever seen along with lush forests and beaches. It was here that the Vikings met the Beothuk indians. Believed to be relatives of the Algonquin indians, the Beothuk supposedly traveled to Newfoundland from Labrador across the Strait of Belle Isle. From the start the Beothuk's land was exploited by the white man. This land was filled with lumber and fish which was sent to Europe. In many cases small numbers of Beothuk's were even sent to Europe as slaves. By the 1700s Newfoundland was becoming more colonized and the Beothuk people were driven further away from their "native lands". Fearing the white man, the natives stayed out of sight but sadly still contracted many European diseases. Tuberculosis was the main reason so many Beothuk's perished, and the last Beothuk was believed to have died in 1823.