Posted by Murrisk on July 01, 2001 at 19:46:28:
Newfoundland (and Labrador) is the most Irish of the Canadian provinces. Residues of Gaelic are still to be found in some outports and Irish music is dominant. The province was largely settled by immigrants from the English west counties and southeast Ireland starting around 1760. This was the only Canadian province where the penal laws were enforced against catholics. The province was governed from London until 1855. Thereafter, it was a self governing British colony. It finally joined the Dominion of Canada in 1949, the last of the Canadian colonies to do so.
The battle of the Somme began on July 1, 1916, which is also Canadian Confederation Day. The Royal Newfoundland Regiment, 801 strong, attacked the German line at Beaumont Hamel. Within one half hour the attack was over and defeated. At the next day's roll call only 68 men answered their name. The rest were either dead, wounded or missing. The dead and wounded included a great many Irish names including Breen, Cahill, Carroll,, Cleary, Connors, Corcoran, Doyle, Dunphy, Kelly, Lahey, Linehan, Mooney, Moore, Murphy, O'Brien, O'Driscoll, O'Flynn, O'Keefe, O' Leary, O'Neill........
Newfoundland also hosts an authenticated viking site at L'Anse aux Meadows.