Placentia is a town located in the Canadian province of
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises t ...
. It consists of the
Argentia
Argentia ( ) is a Canadian commercial seaport and industrial park located in the Town of Placentia, Newfoundland and Labrador. It is situated on the southwest coast of the Avalon Peninsula and defined by a triangular shaped headland which r ...
Industrial Park and amalgamated communities of Townside,
Freshwater,
Dunville, Southeast,
Point Verde and Jerseyside.
History
There is considerable evidence that Placentia Bay was intermittently occupied by Little Passage people.
[I. Marshall, ''A History and Ethnography of the Beothuk'' (Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2014): 273.] Their descendants, the
Beothuk
The Beothuk ( or ; also spelled Beothuck) were a group of indigenous people who lived on the island of Newfoundland.
Beginning around AD 1500, the Beothuk culture formed. This appeared to be the most recent cultural manifestation of peoples w ...
, continued to settle there until the 17th century. Remnants of Beothuk occupation from the surrounding area has been carbon dated back to as far as 1500 CE.
[ Whether the Beothuk had come to permanently settle or just to fish has proved difficult to ascertain.][ By the late 17th century, the English and French settlers and fishermen had claimed the bays of Placentia.][Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Web Site, accessed March 5, 2019]
Disappearance of the Beothuk
/ref> This effectively cut the natives off from valuable salmon, seal, and other valuable coastal resources. This is one of several reasons attributed as to why the Beothuk eventually disappeared from Placentia, as well as other several other areas of Newfoundland.
It is unclear when Placentia terrain was first settled by Europeans, but Spaniards
Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both in ...
from Biscay
Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao.
B ...
fishermen were fishing in the area as early as the beginning of the 16th century, using Placentia as a seasonal centre of operations. The last will of a Basque region seaman has been discovered in an archive in Spain in which Domingo de Luca asks in 1563, “that my body be buried in this port of ''Plazençia'' in the place where those who die here are usually buried.” It is believed to be the oldest original civil document written in Canada.
Contemporary scholars think that land called Vinland
Vinland, Vineland, or Winland ( non, Vínland ᚠᛁᚾᛚᛅᚾᛏ) was an area of coastal North America explored by Vikings. Leif Erikson landed there around 1000 AD, nearly five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus and John ...
extending from Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
to L'Anse aux Meadows
L'Anse aux Meadows ( lit. Meadows Cove) is an archaeological site, first excavated in the 1960s, of a Norse settlement dating to approximately 1,000 years ago. The site is located on the northernmost tip of the island of Newfoundland in the ...
consisted of at least a few settlements; probably on the Avalon Peninsula too. "Placentia" may be derived from a similar name of an old Basque villa called Placencia de las Armas (Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
: ''Soraluze''), which is located in the Gipuzkoa
Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...
province of the Basque Country.
Placentia may also be derived from the Latin ''placentia'' ("smooth"), a name also probably given by the Basques. Placentia's large, rocky beach meant that fish could be salted and dried on the beach rocks rather than on a constructed wooden fishing stage A fishing stage is a wooden vernacular building, typical of the rough traditional buildings associated with the cod fishery in Newfoundland, Canada. Stages are located at the water's edge or "landwash", and consist of an elevated platform on the s ...
, saving both time and effort.
In 1655, the French, who controlled more than half of the island of Newfoundland, and most of Atlantic Canada, made Placentia (French: ''Plaisance'') their capital. They built Fort Plaisance
Fort Plaisance was a French fort built in the 17th century on the island of Newfoundland at the time of the New France.
In 1662, the French established a strategic trading post in a well protected cove overlooking Placentia Bay that separates Aval ...
in 1662, which was followed by Fort Royal
Fort-de-France (, , ; gcf, label= Martinican Creole, Fodfwans) is a commune and the capital city of Martinique, an overseas department and region of France located in the Caribbean. It is also one of the major cities in the Caribbean.
Histo ...
in 1687, and Fort Saint Louis in 1691. The establishment of a fort with a garrison allowed fishermen to pursue their activities with greater safety in neighbouring harbours. The French garrisons at Plaisance were small, but despite that fact, the soldiers and French privateers managed to hold their own in the face of numerous English attacks during the two major conflicts of the Nine Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...
, which marked the colony's history. Recollect (Franciscan) friars from New France built a friary here in 1689, which lasted until the expulsion of the French in 1714. In 1692, Louis-Armand de Lom d'Arce de Lahontan, Baron de Lahontan
Louis Armand, Baron de Lahontan (9 June 1666 – prior to 1716) served in the French military in Canada where he traveled extensively in the Wisconsin and Minnesota region and the upper Mississippi Valley. Upon his return to Europe he wrote an eno ...
defended the French port.
In 1711, the British Rear-Admiral Hovenden Walker
Rear-Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker (1656 or 1666 – 1725 or 1728) was a British naval officer noted for, during Queen Anne's War, having led an abortive 1711 expedition against Quebec City, then the capital of New France.
Early career
Walker ...
considered attacking the French at Placentia with a Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
fleet containing fifteen ships, armed with a total of nine hundred cannons, and transporting 4,000 soldiers. However, he decided that doing so was not a viable option.
In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht
The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne ...
forced the French to abandon their Placentia Bay settlements and migrate to Louisbourg, and Placentia became a British possession. Many of the French fishermen who had to abandon the fisheries in Placentia ended up at the fisheries in Isle Royale, otherwise known as Cape Breton Island.[Peace Treaty at Utrecht Changes Map of North America](_blank)
Parks Canada - Archives, January 17, 2017, , accessed March 5, 2019 In the spring of 1714, the governor of Plaisance began organizing the emigration. Three royal ships accompanied by merchant vessels took the French residents of Placentia to the future site of Louisbourg. The group consisted of 116 men, 10 women and 23 children. The Miꞌkmaq
The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the nort ...
who had resided there also abandoned Placentia following the Treaty of Utrecht.[I. Marshall, ''A History and Ethnography of the Beothuk'' (Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2014): 45.] William Taverner claims that the Miꞌkmaq likely left because they had been deprived of their French trading partners.
For a time in the 18th century, it still rivalled St. John's in size and importance, as evidenced by the future King William IV
William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded hi ...
's summering at Placentia in 1786 and using it as his base of operations when acting as surrogate judge in Newfoundland. The town was described by the then-Prince as "a more decent settlement than any we have yet seen in Newfoundland" and was reported as having a population between 1,500 and 2,000 people.[
Considering that the population of Newfoundland was reported as 8,000 11 years earlier, in 1775, Placentia's relative size and importance becomes apparent.
]
By the 19th century, it was more fully eclipsed by St. John's and Harbour Grace
Harbour Grace is a town in Conception Bay on the Avalon Peninsula in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. With roots dating back to the 16th century, it is one of the oldest towns in North America.
It is located about northwest of ...
, Placentia continued to be an important town, regional centre to the southern Avalon Peninsula and the eastern Burin Peninsula
The Burin Peninsula ( ) is a peninsula located on the south coast of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Marystown is the largest population centre on the peninsula.Statistics Canada. 2017. Marystown, T ensu ...
.
From the mid-18th century through to the 1830s, numerous Irish immigrants from Waterford
"Waterford remains the untaken city"
, mapsize = 220px
, pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe
, pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe
, pushpin_relief = 1
, coordinates ...
, Wexford
Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 ...
, Kilkenny and Cork settled in Placentia, so that the population of the modern town is largely of a mixture of West Country
The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glo ...
English and south-eastern Irish background. In the 18th century there were also a large number of settlers from the Channel Islands
The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
, from which Jerseyside, a prominent section of the town, derives its name. Some time after 1810 General George Garth
George Garth (1733–1819) was a British General, a commander in the American Revolutionary War, and Colonel of the 17th Regiment of Foot.
Life
He was son of John Garth MP and Rebecca, the daughter of John Brompton and granddaughter of Sir ...
was appointed as Lieutenant Governor of Placentia, a post he held until his death in 1817.
In 1940, via an agreement between the British and American governments (Newfoundland not joining Canada until 1949), a large American military base was constructed at nearby Argentia
Argentia ( ) is a Canadian commercial seaport and industrial park located in the Town of Placentia, Newfoundland and Labrador. It is situated on the southwest coast of the Avalon Peninsula and defined by a triangular shaped headland which r ...
(which is now within the town of Placentia's boundaries). For a time, this was the largest American military base outside of the United States, and it played an integral role in World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, earning the nickname "the Gibraltar of the Atlantic."
This huge development revolutionized the Placentia area both economically and culturally. Essentially, the American base introduced a widespread cash-based economy. Suddenly, people who had fished all of their lives (engaging in a type of barter system called the truck system) had access to good-paying jobs on the American base. American technology enriched the living standards of Placentia residents, while the local culture was influenced strongly by the American presence. Similarly, it prompted a huge population boom, growing from 1,900 people in 1935 to well over 8,000 in the 1960s (note: these figures account for the current boundaries of Placentia, which at the time consisted of four separate towns: Placentia, Dunville, Jerseyside, and Freshwater).
The post office was established in 1851. The first postmistress in 1863 was Mary Morris.
Ecclesiastical history
On September 16, 1870 it became the seat of the Catholic pre-diocesan Apostolic Prefecture of Placentia, but instead of becoming a diocese it was suppressed in 1891, its territory being merged into the Diocese of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population
The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...
conducted by Statistics Canada, Placentia had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
In the 2016 census, Placentia's population was reported as 3,496, down significantly from the 2001 figure of 4,426. This population decline has been ongoing since the early 1990s; in the 1996 census, Placentia was, proportionately, the 2nd fastest shrinking town in Canada, dropping from 5,515 to 5,013 between 1991 and 1996.
Historical demographics
Economy
From the outset, it was fish that brought the Europeans to Newfoundland, as well as their patterns of settlement.[Fisheries](_blank)
Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Web Site, accessed February 27, 2018. While Placentia was considered a military base, it was also a colony with an economy based on the cod fishery and cod
Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus '' Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not call ...
trade. Fishing was a consistently shared activity between French ships and resident boatkeepers. The fisheries of Placentia played a large role in ultimately securing Newfoundland as the world's largest exporter of salt codfish. After the war of 1689 had set back the colonial fishing industry, Placentia quickly renewed its seasonal fisheries, and in 1698 had sent more than 3,916 tonnes of cod to France. Following the Treaty of Utrecht, Placentia's residential fisheries met their ultimate demise.
The American base at Argentia was scaled back in the 1970s, and closed totally in 1994. This, along with the collapse of the Atlantic northwest cod fishery
In 1992, Northern Cod populations fell to 1% of historical levels, due in large part to decades of overfishing. The Canadian Federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, John Crosbie, declared a moratorium on the Northern Cod fishery, which fo ...
and the moratorium introduced by the Canadian government a few years earlier, left the town of Placentia without an economic base for some time, although recent developments by Vale Inco
Vale Canada Limited (formerly Vale Inco, CVRD Inco and Inco Limited; for corporate branding purposes simply known as "Vale" and pronounced in English) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brazilian mining company Vale. Vale's nickel mining and ...
are beginning to stabilize the town's rocky economic situation.
Education
Placentia is home to one primary education school: St. Anne's Academy, a K-6 school in Dunville. There currently exists one high school, Laval High School, which educates students from grades 7 to 12. The original Laval High School was demolished in 2010, with a new state of the art facility replacing it in September 2010. All schools are home to many extracurriculars, including student council, sports, drama and music, and volunteer organizations.
Placentia is also home to a post-secondary institution; a campus of the College of the North Atlantic
College of the North Atlantic (CNA, formerly CONA) is one of the largest post-secondary educational and skills training centres in Atlantic Canada, with a history dating back 50 years. The college has 17 campus locations throughout the province ...
, offering programs in heavy duty equipment mechanics, heavy equipment operation, welding, machinist, and industrial machinery.
Tourism and culture
Placentia has many features that make it a popular tourist attraction in Newfoundland and Labrador. It has a unique lift-bridge that spans the tumultuous tides of 'the gut' (the narrow opening to the harbour). Around Placentia, countless buildings and sites reflect the deep history of the area.
There are many archaeological sites (some partially re-constructed), several excellent examples of late-19th century Newfoundland architecture, two museums (O'Reilly House
The O'Reilly House, known officially known as the Father Miguel O'Reilly House Museum, and also known as the House of Don Lorenzo de Leon, is a historic home in St. Augustine, Florida. It is located at 131 Aviles Street. On October 15, 1974, i ...
and Castle Hill), and one of the two Marine Atlantic
Marine Atlantic Inc. (french: Marine Atlantique) is an independent Canadian federal Crown corporation which is mandated to operate ferry services between the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.
Marine Atlantic's corporate he ...
ferry links from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
(via Argentia). It is from the capital city, St. John's, and is within easy distance of the scenic Cape Shore (including the Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve), and St. Mary's Bay, Conception Bay, and the inner reaches of Placentia Bay
Placentia Bay (french: Baie de Plaisance) is a body of water on the southeast coast of Newfoundland, Canada. It is formed by Burin Peninsula on the west and Avalon Peninsula on the east. Fishing grounds in the bay were used by native people lo ...
.
In 2009, Placentia celebrated the opening of the Placentia Bay Cultural Arts Centre with a month of artistic events, including drama productions, art exhibitions (three shows recognizing art from elementary students, high school students, and adults), and musical performances.
The town has an established summer stock theatre troupe, Placentia Area Theatre D'Heritage (PATH), which performs historical plays of significance in the Placentia area. The primary production is Faces of Fort Royale, performed at Castle Hill National Historic Site, depicting the lives of the early inhabitants of Placentia under the leadership of Governor De Broullion. They also perform a dinner theatre cabaret set in the 1950s during the Argentia Base heyday, and a ghost walk. The troupe generally consists of post-secondary students under the direction of the province's finest theatre producers.
Placentia in Literature
''Hannah: The Lighthouse Girl of Newfoundland'' by Don Ladolcetta
Notable people
* Rex Murphy
Rex Murphy (born March 1947) is a Canadian commentator and author, primarily on Canadian political and social matters. He was the regular host of CBC Radio One's ''Cross Country Checkup'', a nationwide call-in show, for 21 years before stepping d ...
, commentator and journalist (born in Carbonear but raised in the area)
* Greg Power, lyric poet and influential promoter of confederation with Canada
* Alastair Ralphs, known as A-1 (wrestler)
Alastair Charles Ralphs (born May 22, 1977) is a Canadian professional wrestler and former bodybuilder, better known by his ring name, A-1 (alternatively spelled A1 or A-One). He is best known for his appearances with Total Nonstop Action Wrestli ...
, professional wrestler
* Sylvana Tomaselli, married to George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews
* Shannon Tweed
Shannon Lee Tweed Simmons (born March 10, 1957) is a Canadian actress and model. One of the most successful actresses of mainstream erotica, she is identified with the genre of the erotic thriller. Tweed has appeared in more than 60 films and in ...
, actress
* Agnes Walsh, poet and playwright
See also
* List of municipalities in Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the ninth-most populous province in Canada, with 510,550 residents recorded in the 2021 Canadian Census, and is the seventh-largest in land area, with . Newfoundland and Labrador has 278 municipalities, including 3 ...
* Newfoundland Railway
The Newfoundland Railway operated on the island of Newfoundland from 1898 to 1988. With a total track length of , it was the longest narrow-gauge railway system in North America.
Early construction
]
In 1880, a committee of the Newfoundland Leg ...
* List of lieutenant governors of Newfoundland and Labrador, Governors of Placentia
References
External links
Town of Placentia's official site
Around the Cape Shore Loop
Placentia Area Event Calendar on placentiabay.ca
The Charter, Placentia's local newspaper
Placentia Area Historical Society
Placentia - Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, vol. 4, p. 317-318.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Placentia, Newfoundland And Labrador
Populated coastal places in Canada
Towns in Newfoundland and Labrador