The Beothuk Peoples

The Beothuk People lived where we now call Newfoundland/Labrador, and were probably the people described by the Vikings as the Skraeligs (heathens) they had encountered at L'Anse aux Meadows. They had a tradition of colouring their faces with red ocher, giving rise to the slang and offensive term " Red Indian or Red Skin ". They were hunter/gatherers and found their food on land and sea. They were a very private people; keeping to themselves; suggesting this was the reason why they avoided contact with the Europeans as much as possible. It is believed they spoke a derivative of the Algonquian Language.

Model of Beothuk Village Site found near Boyd's Cove
Reproduced by permission of the Provincial Historic Sites and Museums, Department of Tourism, Culture, and Recreation – Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Photo ©1999. Model by David Coldwell. Original in the Boyd's Cove Interpretation Centre, Boyd's Cove, Newfoundland.

They traded with the Europeans by stealth; that is; they would leave their trade goods and come back the next day to take what was left in exchange, avoiding any contact. They were proficient at making tools, Beothuk Tools Made From Nails

and after their encounters with Europeans fashioned tools out of old nails, metal traps, and tools left or taken from the Europeans as trade goods. They created elaborate traps to capture caribou which was one of their food sources and lived in tipi like houses called mamateeks, of which there was a winter and summer version. Expansion by the French and British via armed attacks, disease, and starvation drove them to extinction. The last known surviving Beothuk was Shanawdithit a captive servant woman who died in 1829 of Tuberculosis.

Beothuk Tools ..... Courtesy ... Natural Resources Canada,
Dr. Ralph Pastore Memorial University Newfoundland Labrador

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This Site Funded By Harvey Kirsch ... 2005