Beothuks

4 Pages 875 Words

The article chosen for review by myself was “The Collapse of the Beothuk World” written by Ralph Pastore and printed in the Acadiensis Reader volume #1 third edition. This author speaks of the demise of the Beothuk people in the now province of Newfoundland from the time of first contact with European settlers until their withdrawal to central portions of the province. The main argument the author establishes is that the reason for the extinction of the Beothuks was their withdrawal from the coastal regions into the interior portion of the island of Newfoundland.

Mr. Pastore backs up his argument mainly using archeological evidence. He states that during the time of Beothuk-European co-existence there was very little documented on paper. Mr. Pastore uses evidence unearthed at Beothuk camps such as scavenged European irons1 from seasonally abandoned fishing villages to substantiate his writings. The author states in his article that the Beothuk people were a coastal based unit. Again evidence of this has been unearthed at various archeological sites in Notre Dame bay and Trinity bay. The author believes that the Beothuk people relied on seasonal stocks such as salmon, caribou and seals to meet the necessities of life. The problem that arises from this “bond” to the sea is that what happens when this “ bond” is broken. Well, the author states that the early Europeans broke this bond and drove the Beothuk inland or away from them. The Europeans were settling in the coastal area therefore for the Beothuk to remain away from them they had to go inland. Inland to a region that was harsh and could not provide the food and necessities that the Beothuk people were used to. Mr. Pastore again backs this up with evidence of archeological sites where spruce root was used instead of caribou sinew was used to repair clothing. This showing a group of people that was desperate for supplies.2 Another factor, which this article does not ...