L'Anse Amour () is a small village on the
Strait of Belle Isle
The Strait of Belle Isle (; french: Détroit de Belle Isle ) is a waterway in eastern Canada that separates the Labrador Peninsula from the island of Newfoundland, in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Location
The strait is the northern o ...
in
Labrador
, nickname = "The Big Land"
, etymology =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Canada
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 ...
, a part of the
Canadian province
Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...
of
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
. As of 2006, it had a population of 8 (1996), down from a total of 14 returned five years earlier. The settlement has not been returned separately since, though the 'between communities' population of Subdivision 10A has grown in the intervening years to a total of 20 by 2016 (up from 10 in 2011), of which L'Anse Amour may reasonably be assumed to contain much of it. L'Anse Amour is located along
Route 510 (
Trans-Labrador Highway
The Trans-Labrador Highway (TLH) is a highway located in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is the primary public road in Labrador. Its total length is . The complete paving of the highway was completed in July 2022.
The ...
).
Demographics
The figures below pertain to Division No. 10, Subd. A, which includes L'Anse Amour.
* Population, 2001: 64
* Population, 1996: 83
* Population change, 1996-2001: -22.9 percent
* Area (square kilometers): 3,755.19
* Number of families: 25
No statistics for the town of L'Anse Amour itself are available, though
tourist Web sitelists the town's population at 8.
History
![20050608-143617 Labrador-AnseAmour TombeauIndien](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/20050608-143617_Labrador-AnseAmour_TombeauIndien.jpg)
Literally translated from
French as "The Love Cove," L'Anse Amour is a corruption of an earlier name, L'Anse aux Morts, which means "The Cove of the Dead."
Human settlement in the area dates back at least 7,500 years as evidenced by the burial mound of a Maritime Archaic boy here. His body was wrapped in a shroud of bark or hide and placed face down with his head pointed to the west. A sign at the site describes the significance of the burial mound and reproductions of artifacts found there are located at the Labrador Straits Museum in
L'Anse au Loup
L'Anse-au-Loup is a town in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The town had a population of 692 in the Canada 2021 Census, up from 558 in 2016. In the Canada 2006 Census, there were 593 inhabitants. Common Surnames are Barney, Be ...
, Labrador.
The burial mound site was designated a
National Historic Site of Canada
National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment
An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of t ...
in 1978.
Iceberg
An iceberg is a piece of freshwater ice more than 15 m long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open (salt) water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially-derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". The ...
s and a narrow passage make the
Strait of Belle Isle
The Strait of Belle Isle (; french: Détroit de Belle Isle ) is a waterway in eastern Canada that separates the Labrador Peninsula from the island of Newfoundland, in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Location
The strait is the northern o ...
a hazardous body of water. However, the route provided a shortcut between the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and larger ports such as
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, Quebec.
The wreck of one of the ships to go aground in the passage,
HMS ''Raleigh'', is located near Point Amour. A trail along the shore allows visitors to see the rusting remains of the ship, which went aground on August 8, 1922 and was demolished by explosives in 1926.
Attractions
L'Anse Amour was nominated in a 2007
CBC Seven Wonders of Canada The Seven Wonders of Canada was a 2007 competition sponsored by CBC Television's '' The National'' and CBC Radio One's '' Sounds Like Canada''. They sought to determine Canada's "seven wonders" by receiving nominations from viewers, and then from o ...
competition. The nomination cited the very small friendly population of the community and many attractions of the area.
The tallest
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mar ...
in
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...
is located at nearby Point Amour. A Maritime Archaic mound burial dating to 7500 years ago, L' Anse Amour Burial National Historic Site, is also located nearby.
See also
*
List of communities in Newfoundland and Labrador
This article lists unincorporated communities of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
Incorporated towns and cities are incorporated municipalities and can be found on List of municipalities in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Newfoundla ...
References
External links
A description of L'Anse AmourL'Anse Amour Burial National Historic Site
{{coord, 51, 28, 26.70, N, 56, 52, 12.11, W, region:CA-NL_type:city, display=title
Populated coastal places in Canada
Populated places in Labrador