Important Dates in Newfoundland Prehistory

7000 to 5500 BC (about 9000 to 7500 years ago)

The first native people come to central and southern Labrador. They travelled along the St. Lawrence River, and probably came from what are now the Maritime provinces of Canada.

3500 BC (about 5500 years ago)

The first native people come to the island of Newfoundland. Around this time, the people who have lived in Labrador for more than 4000 years die out. We do not know why.

2000 BC (about 4000 years ago)

New and different people come to Labrador from the east. They are related to people who came to North America from Asia through Alaska. They travelled east and south across the Arctic following food animals like Musk Oxen. They were probably something like modern Inuit people. They spread through Labrador and into northern Newfoundland. The archaeological site at Port-aux-Choix is filled with small tools, bones of food animals, camping sites and even some graves of people from this group. No one knows why, but these people seem to have disappeared about 2200 years ago.

1500 BC (about 3500 years ago)

New people come to Newfoundland. They are probably the ancestors of the native peoples who were in Newfoundland when settlers arrived from Europe thousands of years later-the Beothuks and Innu people. We still do not know when the ancestors of the Mi'kmaq (Mic Mac) people came to Newfoundland.

Around 900 AD

Modern Inuit people come to northern Labrador.