Human Rights A Day

Shanawdithit, Newfoundland’s last surviving Beothuk aboriginal, dies. Hundreds of years before European settlers arrived, groups of aboriginals crossed the Strait of Belle Isle to live in what became Newfoundland. Known as Beothuk, they were the first indigenous people to meet European settlers in the 1500s, and archaeologists estimate they numbered between 500 and 1,000. The Beothuk tradition of painting their bodies with red ochre prompted settlers to call all aboriginals “reds.” As European settlers arrived in greater numbers and claimed land that the Beothuks used for hunting and fishing, conflict and white diseases – including tuberculosis and influenza – killed many Beothuks. In the 1800s, their survival was further threatened by conflict and intermarriage with the Mi’kmaqs, who traveled to Newfoundland from the mainland. In 1769, having noted the population’s devastation, Newfoundland authorities made killing a Beothuk a capital crime. But as Beothuk numbers continued to decline, authorities tried to