BEOTHUNK INDIANS IN GREENLAND

BEOTHUNK INDIANS WERE HERE FROM 200 A.D. NO ONE KNOWS HOW THEIR POPULATION CHANGED BUT BY 1829 THEY WERE EXTINCT. THEY MAY HAVE CROSSED OVER INTO LABRADOR AND MERGED WITH THE MONTAGNAIS. THEY KEPT TO THEMSELVES AND AVOIDED EUROPEANS. THEIR ENEMIES THE MICMACS LIKED THE FOLKS IN QUEBEC. THEIR GROWING SEASON IS SHORT SO THEY HAVE AGRICULTURE. THEY WERE SEMI NOMADIC HUNTERS AND GATHERERS ORGANIZED INTO SMALL BANDS. THEY MOVED SEASONALLY IN SUMMER AND WENT TO THE COAST. THEN MOVED INLAND IN WINTER. THEY HUNTED VARIOUS CARIBOU AND VARIOUS TYPES OF SEALS. THEY HUNTED CARIBOU AND VARIOUS TYPES OF SEALS. THEY WERE GOOD AT BUILDING. THEY ATE SALMON AND OTHER FISH.

SCIENTISTS BELIEVE THEIR DECLINE WAS DUE TO STARVATION. THEY COVERED THEIR BODIES WITH RED OCHRE, AS WELL AS THEIR TOOLS.RED OCHRE PROTECTED THEM FROM INSECTS. IN WINTER THEY WORE CARIBOU SKIN CLOTHING AND MITTENS. THEY WERE COMFORTABLE WITH THESE.

THEY AVOIDED ANGLOS. THEY BORROWED RAILROAD SPIKES TO MAKE PROJECTILE POINTS. NEWFOUNDLAND WAS OCCUPIED BY THE ICE AGE HUNTERS 9000 YEARS AGO. VIKINGS CAME HERE ABOUT 900 A.D. THEY EXPLORED THE COAST AND TRADED WITH THE BEOTHUK AND SOME FOUGHT THEM.

ENGLISH FOLKS CAME HERE IN 1497. IN 1500 A PORTUGUESE EXPLORER CAPTURED 50 BEOTHUNK MEN AS SLAVES AHEM TO HIS COUNTRY. NO EUROPEANS STAYED HERE IN WINTER. THEY CAUGHT FISH AND BROUGHT THEM HOME.

BY 1500 THE BRITISH DECIDED NEW FOUNDLAND WAS THEIRS. AT FIRST THEY DID NOT DECIDE TO BUILD ANY SETTLEMENTS. THEY JUST FISHED. IN 1610 THE BRITISH MADE THEIR FIRST ATTEMPT TO TO BUILD A PERMANENT SETTLEMENT. THE BEOTHUNK BY THEN HAPPILY TRADED WITH THEM. ONE CAPTAIN FIRED HIS CANYON AT THEM AND THEY THEY NEVER REGAINED FRIENDSHIP.

IN 1613 THE MICMAC FROM CAPE BRITON VISITED THEM. THEY WERE FRIENDS WITH THE FRENCH WHO GAVE THEM GUNS. THE BEOTHUK WERE DRIVEN INLAND AND NEVER CAME BACK TO THE COAST. THE FISHING GROUNDS WERE FOUGHT OVER BY THE FRENCH AND BRITISH IN 1627.

A WAR FROM 1687 TO 1696 OCCURRED WITH FRENCH AND BRITISH. THEY BROUGHT 120 SOLDIERS AND 40 ABENAKI WARRIORS TO DESTROY THE BRITISH SETTLEMENTS AND AGAIN IN 1701 THE FRENCH DESTROYED THE BRITISH. THE LAST BEOTHUK PERSON DIED IN 1829.

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