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The Beothuk were the inhabitants of Newfoundland at the time of European colonization. Their love of red ochre as a paint for both body and dwelling lent the term "red indian" to the language of the era, and their extinction as a result of disease and armed conflict with gun-toting Europeans was an early example of the impact of European colonization on the North American peoples.

The Beothuk do not seem to have ever been a very numerous people. Some of the North American First Nations were composed of dozens of tribes and thousands, if not tens of thousands of members. The Beothuk, however, restricted to the relatively harsh island environment of Newfoundland with its short growing season, limited population of prey species, and very cold and long winters, never exceeded more than a few thousand people, scattered in small groups. Encountered as early as 1000 CE by the Vikings, who called them skraelings, they always kept to themselves as much as possible, avoiding the hairy barbarians from across the seas.

By the 1600's, the coasts of Newfoundland, on which the Beothuk had depended for access to the seals and marine life which enriched their diet, were increasingly dominated by British and French settlements. As they tended to do in the "New World," the colonial powers formed alliances with local tribes, including the Micmac, who added to the pressure on traditional Beothuk territory by colonizing the south coast of Newfoundland. Intent on avoiding contact with both the European invaders and their allied native tribes, the Beothuk were forced further and further inland, onto poorer and poorer territory with no access to the much needed resources of the Atlantic.

The ongoing squabbles between the European powers, British against French, French against Dutch, and so on every few years, made the coasts a dangerous and unpleasant place to visit for a Beothuk, but they continued to venture in for quick, surreptitious raids to obtain otherwise unavailable metal and manufactured goods. However, the poverty of the lands to which they had retreated, and the spread of smallpox, tuberculosis and likely even influenza, combined to gradually eliminate the Beothuk population. By the early 1800's, when Britain finally recognized some moral obligation not to totally eliminate an entire people, the Beothuk population was below any sustainable level.

Although it is quite likely that a scattered remnant population of Beothuk fled the island of Newfoundland when it became obvious that they could no longer survive there, the last known Beothuk died, not surprisingly, of tuberculosis in 1829.

Learn more about this author, David Thill.
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