Thread: Understand Newfoundland

"If one ignores the improbable voyage of Madoc (the quasi-historical Welsh prince who supposedly discovered North America circa 1170) but accepts the probability that Welshmen sailed with John CABOT from Bristol on his epic voyage of 1497, a 500-year-old Welsh connection with Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island can be accepted. Another unsubstantiated view claims that Welsh seafarer John Lloyd (John the Skilful) reached Hudson Bay as early as 1475. In 1612 Sir Thomas BUTTON, a Welsh naval officer in command of HMS Resolution, searched unsuccessfully for the NORTHWEST PASSAGE and for Henry HUDSON. A Welsh settlement was established on the southern Avalon Peninsula in 1617 by Sir William VAUGHAN, an ardent supporter of colonial expansion. Despite the failure of the venture, Vaughan wrote 2 books promoting Newfoundland, and thereby provided 2 of the earliest works about English North America. In 1759, at the siege of Qu?bec, a Major Gwillim served under General James WOLFE. His daughter (Elizabeth SIMCOE) later married the first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada. Explorer David THOMPSON, although English-born, was of Welsh descent. In the early 18th century, eastern coastal waters were plagued by the puritanical Welsh pirate and slaver Bartholomew ROBERTS, and the volatile Acadian population of Nova Scotia experienced British rule under the sincere and practical Governor Richard PHILIPPS. "

Welsh - The Canadian Encyclopedia

This is the most interesting post I have read on here.