1.
Flag
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A flag is a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or as decoration. National flags are patriotic symbols with varied wide-ranging interpretations, often including strong military associations due to their original, flags are also used in messaging, advertising, or for other decorative purposes. The study of flags is known as vexillology, from the Latin word vexillum, due to the use of flags by military units, flag is also used as the name of some military units. A flag is equivalent to a brigade in Arab countries, and in Spain, in antiquity, field signs or standards were used in warfare that can be categorized as vexilloid or flag-like. During the High Middle Ages flags came to be used primarily as a device in battle. Already during the medieval period, and increasingly during the Late Middle Ages. Regimental flags for individual units became commonplace during the Early Modern period, flags also became the preferred means of communications at sea, resulting in various systems of flag signals, see, International maritime signal flags. One of the most popular uses of a flag is to symbolize a nation or country, some national flags have been particularly inspirational to other nations, countries, or subnational entities in the design of their own flags. Some prominent examples include, The flag of Denmark, the Dannebrog, is attested in 1478, the flag of the Netherlands is the oldest tricolour. Its three colours of red, white and blue go back to Charlemagnes time, the 9th century, the coastal region of what today is the Netherlands was then known for its cloth in these colours. Maps from the early 16th century already put flags in these colours next to this region, a century before that, during the 15th century, the three colours were mentioned as the coastal signals for this area, with the three bands straight or diagonal, single or doubled. As state flag it first appeared around 1572 as the Princes Flag in orange–white–blue, soon the more famous red–white–blue began appearing, becoming the prevalent version from around 1630. Orange made a comeback during the war of the late 18th century. During World War II the pro-Nazi NSB used it, any symbolism has been added later to the three colours, although the orange comes from the House of Orange-Nassau. This use of orange comes from Nassau, which today uses orange-blue, not from Orange, however, the usual way to show the link with the House of Orange-Nassau is the orange pennant above the red-white-blue. It is said that the Dutch Tricolour has inspired many flags but most notably those of Russia, New York City, the national flag of France was designed in 1794. As a forerunner of revolution, Frances tricolour flag style has been adopted by other nations, examples, Italy, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ireland, Haiti, Romania and Mexico. The Union Flag of the United Kingdom is the most commonly used, british colonies typically flew a flag based on one of the ensigns based on this flag, and many former colonies have retained the design to acknowledge their cultural history
2.
Newfoundland and Labrador
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Newfoundland and Labrador is the most easterly province of Canada. Situated in the countrys Atlantic region, it comprises the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador to the northwest, in 2013, the provinces population was estimated at 526,702. About 92% of the population lives on the island of Newfoundland. The province is Canadas most linguistically homogeneous, with 97. 6% of residents reporting English as their mother tongue in the 2006 census, historically, Newfoundland was also home to unique varieties of French and Irish, as well as the extinct Beothuk language. In Labrador, local dialects of Innu-aimun and Inuktitut are also spoken, Newfoundland and Labradors capital and largest city, St. Johns, is Canadas 20th-largest census metropolitan area and is home to almost 40 percent of the provinces population. St. Johns is the seat of government, home to the House of Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador and to the highest court in the jurisdiction and it became the tenth province to enter the Canadian Confederation on March 31,1949, as Newfoundland. On December 6,2001, an amendment was made to the Constitution of Canada to change the official name to Newfoundland. The name Newfoundland is a translation of the Portuguese Terra Nova, the influence of early Portuguese exploration is also reflected in the name of Labrador, which derives from the surname of the Portuguese navigator João Fernandes Lavrador. Newfoundland and Labrador is the most easterly province in Canada, and is located at the corner of North America. The Strait of Belle Isle separates the province into two divisions, Labrador, which is a large area of mainland Canada, and Newfoundland. The province also includes over 7,000 tiny islands, each side is about 400 km long, and its area is 108,860 km2. Newfoundland and its small islands have a total area of 111,390 km2. Newfoundland extends between latitudes 46°36′N and 51°38′N, Labrador is an irregular shape, the western part of its border with Quebec is the drainage divide of the Labrador Peninsula. Lands drained by rivers that flow into the Atlantic Ocean are part of Labrador, most of Labradors southern boundary with Quebec follows the 52nd parallel of latitude. Labradors extreme northern tip, at 60°22′N, shares a border with Nunavut. Together, Newfoundland and Labrador make up 4. 06% of Canadas area, Labrador is the easternmost part of the Canadian Shield, a vast area of ancient metamorphic rock comprising much of northeastern North America. Colliding tectonic plates have shaped much of the geology of Newfoundland, gros Morne National Park has a reputation as an outstanding example of tectonics at work, and as such has been designated a World Heritage Site. The Long Range Mountains on Newfoundlands west coast are the northeasternmost extension of the Appalachian Mountains, the north-south extent of the province, prevalent westerly winds, cold ocean currents and local factors such as mountains and coastline combine to create the various climates of the province
3.
Red Ensign
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The Red Ensign or Red Duster is the civil ensign of the United Kingdom. It is one of the British ensigns, and it is used either plain and it is the flag flown by British Merchant ships since 1707. Prior to 1707 an English red ensign and a Scottish red ensign were flown by the English and Scottish navies respectively. The precise date of the first appearance of these earlier red ensigns is not known, in 1674, a Royal Proclamation of Charles II confirmed that the Red Ensign was the appropriate flag to be worn by English merchant ships. The wording of the 1674 proclamation indicates that the flag was customarily being used by English merchantmen before that date, at this time, the ensign displayed the English Cross of St George in the canton. It is probable that the cross-saltire was adopted by the Scots as an ensign at a very early period. The earliest Scottish records were lost at sea in the ship that was sent to them to that country, whence they had been carried off, with the Stone of Destiny. Prior to 1707 the Scottish Red Ensign was flown by ships of the Royal Scots Navy and this resulted in a new red ensign which placed the first Union Flag in the first quarter. The new design of the Red Ensign was proclaimed by Queen Anne and this was the flag flown by ships of the thirteen American colonies before the American Revolution and was a precursor to the colonies Grand Union Flag. In 1801, with another Act of Union, Ireland joined with Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the St Patricks Cross was added to the Union Flag and, accordingly, to the first quarters of the British ensigns. In 1854, the Merchant Shipping Act included a provision that the Red Ensign was the appropriate flag for a British merchantman. This provision was repeated in successive British shipping legislation, the white ensign and the blue ensign were also used by the Royal Navy. Many in the Admiralty felt that the Royal Navys use of three separate ensigns was outdated and confusing, many also felt that steam merchantmen should be clearly distinguishable from warships. In July 1864, an order-in-council provided that the White Ensign was the ensign of the Royal Naval Service, the Blue Ensign was designated as the proper national colours for ships commanded by an officer of the Royal Naval Reserve, and as national colours for ships in government service. The Red Ensign was assigned to British merchantmen, most British colonies needed to use the blue ensign due to the fact that most had government vessels, some colonies, such as South Australia, had warships. As a result, the Blue Ensign was used throughout the Empire and thus became the model for the used by a number of colonies. At the same time, the red ensign was used by merchantmen of those colonies which obtained an Admiralty warrant. Not all colonies obtained an Admiralty warrant, however, the ones that did tended to be larger and those areas that did not have an Admiralty warrant used the plain Red Ensign, although unofficial local versions of the Red Ensign were used
4.
Charles II of England
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Charles II was king of England, Scotland and Ireland. He was king of Scotland from 1649 until his deposition in 1651, Charles IIs father, Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, Cromwell became virtual dictator of England, Scotland and Ireland, and Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands. A political crisis followed the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy. On 29 May 1660, his 30th birthday, he was received in London to public acclaim, after 1660, all legal documents were dated as if he had succeeded his father as king in 1649. Charless English parliament enacted laws known as the Clarendon Code, designed to shore up the position of the re-established Church of England, Charles acquiesced to the Clarendon Code even though he favoured a policy of religious tolerance. The major foreign policy issue of his reign was the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In 1670, he entered into the treaty of Dover. Louis agreed to aid him in the Third Anglo-Dutch War and pay him a pension, Charles attempted to introduce religious freedom for Catholics and Protestant dissenters with his 1672 Royal Declaration of Indulgence, but the English Parliament forced him to withdraw it. In 1679, Titus Oatess revelations of a supposed Popish Plot sparked the Exclusion Crisis when it was revealed that Charless brother, the crisis saw the birth of the pro-exclusion Whig and anti-exclusion Tory parties. Charles sided with the Tories, and, following the discovery of the Rye House Plot to murder Charles and James in 1683, Charles dissolved the English Parliament in 1681, and ruled alone until his death on 6 February 1685. He was received into the Roman Catholic Church on his deathbed, Charless wife, Catherine of Braganza, bore no live children, but Charles acknowledged at least twelve illegitimate children by various mistresses. He was succeeded by his brother James, Charles II was born in St Jamess Palace on 29 May 1630. His parents were Charles I and Henrietta Maria, Charles was their second son and child. Their first son was born about a year before Charles but died within a day, England, Scotland and Ireland were respectively predominantly Anglican, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic. At birth, Charles automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay, at or around his eighth birthday, he was designated Prince of Wales, though he was never formally invested. During the 1640s, when Charles was still young, his father fought Parliamentary, by spring 1646, his father was losing the war, and Charles left England due to fears for his safety. Charles I surrendered into captivity in May 1646, at The Hague, Charles had a brief affair with Lucy Walter, who later falsely claimed that they had secretly married
5.
Schooner
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A schooner /ˈskuːnər/ is a type of sailing vessel with fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts, the foremast being shorter than the main and no taller than the mizzen if there is one. While the schooner was originally gaff-rigged, modern schooners typically carry a Bermuda rig, such vessels were first used by the Dutch in the 16th or 17th century. They were further developed in North America from the early 18th century, the most common type, with two masts, were popular in trades requiring speed and windward ability, such as slaving, privateering, blockade running, and offshore fishing. In the Chesapeake Bay area several distinctive schooner types evolved, including the Baltimore clipper, bugeye, schooners were also popular among pirates in the West Indies during the Golden Age of Piracy, for their speed and agility. They could also sail in shallow waters, and while being smaller than other ships of the time period. Schooners first evolved in the late 17th century from a variety of small two-masted gaff-rigged vessels used in the coast, most were working craft but some pleasure yachts with schooner rigs were built for wealthy merchants and Dutch nobility. Following the arrival of the Dutch monarch William of Orange on the British throne and this vessel, captured in a detailed Admiralty model, is the earliest fully documented schooner. Royal Transport was quickly noted for its speed and ease of handling, North American shipbuilders quickly developed a variety of schooner forms for trading, fishing and privateering. According to the language scholar Walter William Skeat, the term comes from scoon. The Dutch word schoone means nice, good looking, robinson replied, A schooner let her be. The launch is variously described as being in 1713 or 1745, naval architects such as Howard Chapelle have dismissed this invention story as a childish fable, but some language scholars feel that the legend may support a Gloucester origin of the word. Other sources state the etymology as unknown and uncertain, the first detailed definition of a schooner, describing the vessel as two-masted vessel with fore and aft gaff-rigged sails appeared in 1769 in William Falconers, Universal Dictionary of the Marine. Although a schooner may have up to four masts, the schooner has only two, with the foremast shorter than the mainmast. There may be a bowsprit to help balance the rig, the principal issue with a schooner sail plan is how to fill the space between the two masts most effectively. Traditional schooners were rigged, and the trapezoid shape of the foresail occupied the inter-mast space to good effect, with a useful sail area. A Bermuda rigged schooner typically has four sails, a mainsail, a main staysail abaft the foremast, plus a forestaysail. An advantage of the schooner is that it is easily handled and reefed by a small crew. The main staysail will not overlap the mainsail, and so little to prepare the wind for the mainsail
6.
Moravian Church
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The modern Unitas Fratrum, with about 750,000 members worldwide, continues to draw on traditions established during the eighteenth century. The Moravians continue their tradition of missionary work, for example in the Caribbean. This is reflected in their global distribution. The Church places a value on ecumenism, personal piety, missions. The Church’s emblem is the Lamb of God with the flag of victory, surrounded by the Latin inscription, Vicit agnus noster, eum sequamur. The Hussite movement that was to become the Moravian Church was started by Jan Hus in early 15th century Bohemia, since these actions predate the Protestant Reformation by a century, some historians claim the Moravian Church was the first Protestant church. The movement gained support in the Crown of Bohemia, however, Hus was summoned to attend the Council of Constance, which decided that he was a heretic and had him burned at the stake on 6 July 1415. In 1434, an army of Utraquists and Catholics defeated the Taborites at the Battle of Lipany, the Utraquists signed the Compacts of Basel on 5 July 1436. Within fifty years of Hus death, a contingent of his followers had become independently organised as the Bohemian Brethren or Unity of the Brethren, a brother known as Gregory the Patriarch was very influential in forming the group, as well as the teachings of Peter Chelcicky. This group held to a strict obedience to the Sermon on the Mount, which included non-swearing of oaths, non-resistance, because of this, they considered themselves separate from the majority Hussites that did not hold those teachings. They received episcopal ordination through the Waldensians in 1467 and these were some of the earliest Protestants, rebelling against Rome some fifty years before Martin Luther. By the middle of the 16th century as many as 90 per cent of the inhabitants of the Bohemian Crown were Protestant, the majority of nobility was Protestant, the schools and printing-shops established by the Moravian Church were flourishing. Protestantism had an influence to the education of the population. Even in the middle of the 16th century there was not a town without a Protestant school in the Bohemian crown lands. With the University of Prague also firmly in hands of Protestants, therefore, the Jesuits were invited, with the backing of the Catholic Habsburg rulers, to come to the Bohemian Crown and establish a number of Catholic educational institutions. One of these is the university in the Moravian capital of Olomouc, in 1582 they forced closure of local Protestant schools. The Revolt started by unplanned second Defenestrations of Prague and was defeated in 1620 in the Battle of White Mountain near Prague, as consequence the local Protestant noblemen were either executed or expelled from the country while the Habsburgs placed Catholic nobility in their place. The war, plague, and subsequent disruption led to a decline in the population from over 3 million to some 800,000 people, by 1622 the entire education system was in the hands of Jesuits and all Protestant schools were closed
7.
Hudson's Bay Company
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The Hudsons Bay Company, commonly referred to as The Bay, is a Canadian retail business group. HBCs head office is in the Simpson Tower in Toronto, Ontario, the company is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol HBC. It was once the worlds largest landowner, with the area of the Hudson Bay watershed, known as Ruperts Land, having 15% of North American acreage. From its long-time headquarters at York Factory on Hudson Bay, the company controlled the fur trade throughout much of the English, undertaking early exploration, its traders and trappers forged relationships with many groups of aboriginal peoples. Its network of trading posts formed the nucleus for later official authority in areas of Western Canada. By the mid-19th century, the company evolved into a business selling everything from furs to fine homeware. They quickly introduced a new type of client to the HBC – one that shopped for pleasure and not with skins, in July 2008, HBC was acquired by NRDC Equity Partners, which also owns the upmarket American department store Lord & Taylor. From 2008 to 2012, the HBC was run through a company of NRDC, Hudsons Bay Trading Company. Since 2012, the HBC directly oversees its Canadian subsidiaries Hudsons Bay and Home Outfitters, on 29 July 2013, the HBC announced its takeover of Saks, Inc. operator of the Saks Fifth Avenue brand. The merger was completed on 3 November 2013, in September 2015, HBC acquired the German department store chain Galeria Kaufhof and its Belgian subsidiary from Metro Group for $3.2 billion U. S. In May 2016, HBC announced it would expand to the Netherlands by taking over up to 20 former Vroom & Dreesmann sites by 2017, v&D was an historic Dutch department store chain that went bankrupt and shut down in early 2016. HBC said the expansion would cost CAD $340 million and create 2,500 jobs in the stores, the Dutch stores would operate under the Hudsons Bay and Saks Off Fifth brands. In January 2016, HBC announced it would also expand deeper in the space with its acquisition of online flash sales site. In the 17th century the French had a de facto monopoly on the Canadian fur trade with their colony of New France. Assuming this was Hudson Bay, they sought French backing for a plan to set up a trading post on the Bay, despite this refusal, in 1659 Radisson and Groseilliers set out for the upper Great Lakes basin. A year later returned with premium furs, evidence of the potential of the Hudson Bay region. Subsequently, they were arrested for trading without a licence and fined, determined to establish trade in the Hudson Bay, Radisson and Groseilliers approached a group of businessmen in Boston, Massachusetts to help finance their explorations. The Bostonians agreed on the plans merits but their speculative voyage in 1663 failed when their ship ran into pack ice in Hudson Strait, boston-based English commissioner Colonel George Cartwright learned of the expedition and brought the two to England to raise financing
8.
Labrador
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Labrador /ˈlæbrədɔːr/ LAB-rə-dor is the distinct northerly region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It comprises the portion of the province, separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle. It is the largest and northernmost geographical region in Atlantic Canada, Labrador occupies the eastern part of the Labrador Peninsula. It is bordered to the west and the south by the Canadian province of Quebec, Labrador also shares a small land border with the Canadian territory of Nunavut on Killiniq Island. Though Labrador covers 71 percent of the land area, it has only 8 percent of the provinces population. The aboriginal peoples of Labrador include the Northern Inuit of Nunatsiavut, the Southern Inuit-Métis of Nunatukavut, many of the non-aboriginal population in Labrador did not permanently settle in Labrador until the natural resource developments of the 1940s and 1950s. Before the 1950s, very few people lived in Labrador year-round. The few European immigrants who worked seasonally for foreign merchants and brought their families were known as Settlers, Labrador has a roughly triangular shape that encompasses the easternmost section of the Canadian Shield, a sweeping geographical region of thin soil and abundant mineral resources. Its western border with Quebec is the divide of the Labrador Peninsula. Lands that drain into the Atlantic Ocean are part of Labrador, Northern Labradors climate is classified as polar, while Southern Labradors climate is classified as subarctic. Labrador can be divided into four regions, the North Coast, Central Labrador, Western Labrador. Each of those regions is described below, from Cape Chidley to Hamilton Inlet, the long thin northern tip of Labrador holds the Torngat Mountains, named after an Inuit spirit believed to inhabit them. The mountains stretch along the coast from Port Manvers to Cape Chidley, the Torngat Mountain range is also home to Mount Caubvick, the highest point in the province. This area is predominantly Inuit, with the small Innu community of Natuashish being the exception, the north coast is the most isolated region of Labrador, with snowmobiles, boats, and planes being the only modern modes of transportation. The largest community in this region is Nain, Nunatsiavut is an Inuit self-government region in Labrador created on June 23,2000. The Settlement area comprises the majority of Labradors North Coast, while the area also includes land farther to the interior. Nain is the center of Nunatsiavut. The most populous region of Labrador, Central Labrador extends from the shores of Lake Melville into the interior and it contains the Churchill River, the largest river in Labrador and one of the largest in Canada
9.
Dominion
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Dominions were semi-independent polities under the British Crown, constituting the British Empire, beginning with Canadian Confederation in 1867. They included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State, and then from the late 1940s also India, Pakistan, and Ceylon. The Balfour Declaration of 1926 recognised the Dominions as autonomous Communities within the British Empire, earlier usage of dominion to refer to a particular territory dates to the 16th century and was used to describe Wales from 1535 to 1801 and New England between 1686 and 1689. At the outset, a distinction must be made between a British dominion and British Dominions, all territories forming part of the British Empire were British dominions but only some were British Dominions. At the time of the adoption of the Statute of Westminster, there were six British Dominions, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Newfoundland, at the same time there were many other jurisdictions that were British dominions, for example Cyprus. The Order in Council annexing the island of Cyprus in 1914 declared that, from 5 November, Dominion, as an official title, was conferred on the Colony of Virginia about 1660 and on the Dominion of New England in 1686. These dominions never had full self-governing status, the creation of the short-lived Dominion of New England was designed—contrary to the purpose of later dominions—to increase royal control and to reduce the colonys self-government. Under the British North America Act 1867, what is now eastern Canada received the status of Dominion upon the Confederation of several British possessions in North America. However, it was at the Colonial Conference of 1907 when the colonies of Canada. Two other self-governing colonies—New Zealand and Newfoundland—were granted the status of Dominion in the same year and these were followed by the Union of South Africa in 1910 and the Irish Free State in 1922. The Statute of Westminster 1931 converted this status into legal reality, following the Second World War, the decline of British colonialism led to Dominions generally being referred to as Commonwealth realms and the use of the word dominion gradually diminished. Nonetheless, though disused, it remains Canadas legal title and the phrase Her Majestys Dominions is still used occasionally in legal documents in the United Kingdom. The phrase His/Her Majestys dominions is a legal and constitutional phrase that refers to all the realms and territories of the Sovereign, thus, for example, the British Ireland Act,1949, recognised that the Republic of Ireland had ceased to be part of His Majestys dominions. The later sense of Dominion was capitalised to distinguish it from the general sense of dominion. The word dominions originally referred to the possessions of the Kingdom of England, oliver Cromwells full title in the 1650s was Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, and the dominions thereto belonging. In 1660, King Charles II gave the Colony of Virginia the title of dominion in gratitude for Virginias loyalty to the Crown during the English Civil War, the Commonwealth of Virginia, a State of the United States, still has the Old Dominion as one of its nicknames. Dominion also occurred in the name of the short-lived Dominion of New England, in all of these cases, the word dominion implied no more than being subject to the English Crown. The foundation of Dominion status followed the achievement of internal self-rule in British Colonies, Colonial responsible government began to emerge during the mid-19th century
10.
Union Jack
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The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the national flag of the United Kingdom. Further, it is used as a flag in some of the smaller British overseas territories. The Union Jack also appears in the canton of the flags of several nations, the claim that the term Union Jack properly refers only to naval usage has been disputed, following historical investigations by the Flag Institute in 2013. The origins of the flag of Great Britain date back to 1606. King James also began to refer to a Kingdom of Great Britaine, the present design of the Union Flag dates from a Royal proclamation following the union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. Notably, the country of Wales is not represented separately in the Union Jack, being only indirectly represented through the cross of St George. The terms Union Jack and Union Flag are both historically correct for describing the de facto flag of the United Kingdom. Whether the term Union Jack applies only when used as a flag on a ship is a modern matter of debate. According to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Until the early 17th century England and Scotland were two independent kingdoms. This changed dramatically in 1603 on the death of Elizabeth I of England, because the Queen died unmarried and childless, the English crown passed to the next available heir, her cousin James VI, King of Scotland. England and Scotland now shared the same monarch under what was known as a union of the crowns, in 1606, James VI gave orders for a British flag to be created which bore the combined crosses of St. George and of St. Andrew. The result was the Union Jack, Jack being a shortening of Jacobus, the institute also notes, it is often stated that the Union Flag should only be described as the Union Jack when flown in the bows of a warship, but this is a relatively recent idea. In 1908, a government minister stated, in response to a parliamentary question, notwithstanding Their Lordships circular of 1902, by 1913 the Admiralty described the Union Flag and added in a foot note that A Jack is a Flag to be flown only on the Jack Staff. However, the authoritative A Complete Guide to Heraldry published in 1909 by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies uses the term Union Jack, the term Union Flag is used in King Charles Is 1634 proclamation. Andrew and St. Patrick Quarterly per Saltire, counterchanged Argent and Gules, when the first flag representing Britain was introduced on the proclamation of King James I in 1606, it became known simply as the British flag or the flag of Britain. The royal proclamation gave no name to the new flag. The word jack was in use before 1600 to describe the maritime bow flag, by 1627 a small Union Jack was commonly flown in this position. Reinforcing the distinction the Kings proclamation of the day concerning the arms
11.
Colonial Building
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Colonial Building was the home of the Newfoundland government and the House of Assembly from January 28,1850, to July 28,1959. In 1974 it was declared a Provincial Historic Site, in 1832 when the Colony of Newfoundland governed itself by representative government there was not a formal building assigned to house the legislature. The first home of the Legislature was a tavern and lodging house owned and operated by a Mrs. Travers, the stay was brief as in the legislatures haste and inexperience it forgot to vote approval for the funds to pay rent. For the next seventeen years they would meet in various temporary quarters, in 1846 an act was approved authorizing the construction of a Colonial Building as a permanent home. On May 24,1847, the cornerstone was laid by the Governor, the official opening of the Colonial Building took place on January 28,1850, by Governor Le Marchant for the second session of the Houses fourth general assembly. James Purcell was the architect and Patrick Keough was the contractor. Colonial Building, built in the style of neoclassical was constructed of white limestone specially imported from Cork, the facade features a massive portico consisting of six ionic columns supporting an entablature triangular pediment. The pediment is decorated with the Royal Arms sculpted in deep relief, the interior hall is screened with ionic columns supporting a quadrangular lantern dome. The two legislative chambers, each with a height of twenty eight feet, are decorated with corinthian pilasters. The whole structure was built at a cost of £18,335, to this day the ruling party in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly continues to sit on the left side of the speaker of the house. It was the site where responsible government was given Newfoundland in 1855 and it was also the site of a number of political riots and disturbances. The Prime Minister, Sir Richard Squires, barely escaped the building at that time, the building was also the site of Newfoundlands first bank robbery, in 1850. Located in the basement of the Colonial Building was the Newfoundland Savings Bank, on July 28,1959, the provincial legislature had its last working session in the building before relocating to the newly completed Confederation Building on Prince Philip Drive. From 2010 to 2015 restoration work in the interior of building will be undertaken to stabilize, the front facade and interior lobby area will be restored to the period during the 1850s. The Department of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development currently has its Provincial Historic Sites of Newfoundland, history of the Colonial Building by the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador Picture of the Colonial Building
12.
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
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St. Johns is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador. It is on the tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. St. Johns covers 446.04 square kilometres and is North Americas most easterly city, excluding those of Greenland. Its name has been attributed to the Nativity of John the Baptist, existing on maps as early as 1519, it is considered by some to be the oldest English-founded city in North America. It was officially incorporated as a city in 1888, the city has a rich history, having played a role in the Seven Years War, the French and Indian War, the American Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812. Italian inventor, Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal in St. Johns and its history and culture have made it one of the worlds top ocean-side tourist destinations. St. Johns is one of North Americas oldest settlements, with setting up seasonal camps in the early 16th century. Sebastian Cabot declares in a handwritten Latin text in his original 1545 map, that St. However, the earliest record of the location appears as São João on a Portuguese map by Pedro Reinel in 1519. When John Rut visited St. Johns in 1527 he found Norman, Breton, on 3 August 1527, Rut wrote a letter to King Henry on the findings of his voyage to North America, this was the first known letter sent from North America. St. Jehan is shown on Nicholas Desliens world map of 1541 and it was during this time that Water Street was first developed, making it the oldest street in North America. On 5 August 1583, an English Sea Dog, Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed the area as Englands first overseas colony under Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I. There was no permanent population, however, and Gilbert was lost at sea during his return voyage, the Newfoundland National War Memorial is on the waterfront in St. Johns, at the purported site of Gilberts landing and proclamation. By 1620, the fishermen of Englands West Country controlled most of Newfoundlands east coast, in 1627, William Payne, called St. Johns the principal prime and chief lot in all the whole country. Sometime after 1630, the town of St. Johns was established as a permanent community, before this they were expressly forbidden by the British government, at the urging of the West Country fishing industry, from establishing permanent settlements along the English controlled coast. The population grew slowly in the 17th century, St. Johns was Newfoundlands largest settlement when English naval officers began to take censuses around 1675, the population grew in the summers with the arrival of migratory fishermen. In 1680, fishing ships set up fishing rooms at St. Johns, the towns first significant defenses were likely erected due to commercial interests, following the temporary seizure of St. Johns by the Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter in June 1665. The inhabitants fended off a second Dutch attack in 1673, when it was defended by Christopher Martin, Martin landed six cannons from his vessel, the Elias Andrews, and constructed an earthen breastwork and battery near Chain Rock commanding the Narrows leading into the harbour. With only 23 men, the valiant Martin beat off an attack by three Dutch warships, when 1500 English reinforcements arrived in late 1697, they found rubble where the town and fortifications had stood
