Labrador Peninsula
55 - 70Koordinaten: 55 ° 0 ' 0 "N, 70 ° 0' 0 " W
Labrador is a large part very sparsely populated North American peninsula in eastern Canada. Administratively, it is divided between the province of Quebec and the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Name
Accordingly, it was also tried by the Portuguese, arrest Columbus and his crew on his return from America on the Azores island of Santa Maria and not to allow it to return to Spain against Portugal already knew from respected as East Asian coast directly accessible country continent to the west and already in 1493 the division of the Spanish and Portuguese spheres of interest by Pope Alexander VI. was imminent, and a year later, the Treaty of Tordesillas was concluded. The Portuguese approach towards Columbus was almost the same as with the surviving crews of the ships of Magellan after their world tour.
In 1495 Labrador was again visited by the Portuguese navigators João Fernandes Lavrador and Pero de Barcelos. 1500 was also the country 's youngest son, Corte- Real, Gaspar. He named the land in his report to his king Terra do Lavrador, ie "Land of the landed gentry " (referring to was the title of his father João ). His older brother Miguel attempted in 1502 to date only nominal family claim to Labrador enforce locally, but failed it.
Location
The peninsula is bordered on the north by the Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay, which is followed by the Baffin Island, on the west by the Hudson Bay and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean belonging to the Labrador Sea with opposite island of Greenland. In the southeast Labrador adjacent to the Belle Isle Strait, to which the island of Newfoundland joins, and the St. Lawrence River. In the southwest, it is south of the James Bay into the Canadian mainland.
Size
Because the southwestern side of the peninsula is obviously determined not one hundred percent, their size in a variety of reference works on 1.3 to 1.5 million square kilometers is estimated; with these various types of information it is still the fourth largest peninsula of the earth. However, the southwestern boundary to correspond to some straight line from the southern end of James Bay to the north-eastern outskirts of Quebec City; The latter describes the place where a bay is from the St. Lawrence River.
Located in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador portion has an area of 294,330 km ² and is about the size of Italy. Its population is 27,860 (2001), with about 30 % Native American, (Inuit, Innu and Métis ). Located in the province of Québec portion has about 1.0 to 1.2 million square kilometers. Its population is 300,000.
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The bulk of the peninsula consists of tundra and boreal forest; in the south there are coniferous forest. Around 25 % of its area is occupied by lakes, streams and rivers. The climate is arctic and subarctic. The northern part of the peninsula is called Ungava.
The name "Labrador " is one of the oldest names with a European origin in Canada, much older than the name " Newfoundland ". He probably comes from the Portuguese navigator João Fernandes Lavrador. The word taken over from the Azores " Lavrador " in Portuguese means " farmer " or " small landowners ".
Geology
Labrador is the eastern part of the Canadian Shield, which here consists of gneisses and granites and rises from the Hudson Bay from sea level to the east up to 1652 m altitude. At the plateau-like center of the peninsula joins the east, the Atlantic coast characterized by deeply incised fjords. The northeastern tip of the Labrador Peninsula with the Torngatbergen forms a part of the Arctic Cordillera.
Terms
With the entire Labrador Labrador Peninsula is referred to most often. In some contexts, however, is meant only that part lying within the province of Newfoundland and Labrador; then the part lying in Quebec is called North -du -Québec.