The history of Saint Pierre and Miquelon is one of early settlement by Europeans taking advantage of the rich fishing grounds near Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, and is characterized by periods of conflict between the French and British.
There is evidence of prehistoric native inhabitants on the islands, but there is no record of native inhabitants at the time of European exploration. Europeans began to regularly visit from the early 16th century and their settlements are some of the oldest in the Americas. At first, Basque fishermen only visited the islands seasonally during the fishing season, but by the mid-17th century, permanent French residences existed on the islands.
From the end of the 17th century, English attacks led to the island's French settlers abandoning Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and the British took possession from 1713 to 1763. France eventually reclaimed them, and French settlers returned to live peacefully for 15 years. France joining the American Revolutionary War against Britain led to a British attack and the deportation of the French settlers. Possession of Saint Pierre and Miquelon passed back and forth between France and Great Britain for the next 38 years, as the islands experienced continued invasions from both countries, voluntary or forced removal of the island's residents, and upheaval associated with the French Revolution.
France finally reclaimed the islands after Napoleon's second abdication in 1815, and there followed 70 years of prosperity for the French fishing industry and residents. However, political and economic changes led to a slow decline of the fishing industry after the late 19th century. There was a short 13-year economic boom on the island associated with the period of Prohibition in the United States, when Saint Pierre and Miquelon were prominent bases for alcohol smuggling. This boom ended with the end of Prohibition in 1933, and the economy sank into depression.
The islands were an overseas territory of the Nazi-controlled regime of Vichy France after the fall of France in World War II, and were liberated a year and a half later by Free French forces in 1941. After the war, the fishing industry continued to languish, and now fish stocks have fallen so low that fishing is severely restricted. Saint Pierre and Miquelon are now trying to diversify their economy into tourism and other areas.
Prehistory
Beothuk and Paleoeskimo or Dorset culture artifacts have been uncovered on the island Saint-Pierre at Anse à Henry, north of the town of Saint-Pierre.
The Beothuk painted themselves with red ochre, which was the origin of the term "Red Indian". The Beothuk did not survive long after their first encounters with Europeans.
The Dorset culture preceded the Inuit or Thule people, and the last remaining Dorset culture tribes were destroyed by diseases when they encountered Europeans.
Some of the native artifacts found on the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon date back to 6000 BC. There is no record of native habitation of Saint Pierre and Miquelon by the time that Europeans arrived.
The Mi'kmaq, a group indigenous to Newfoundland and Canada's Maritime provinces, use the terms "Senpir" for the island of Saint-Pierre, "Mikliin" for the island of Miquelon, and "Wen'juikjikan" for the capital, Saint-Pierre.
Exploration The first map that showed Saint Pierre and Miquelon was the Mappa mundi of 1500 created by Juan de la Cosa, where they were labelled 'Illa de la Trenidat'. There are some who argue that the 'Green Islands' encountered during the two pre-1472 Portuguese expeditions under João Vaz Corte-Real and the 1501 Portuguese expedition under his son Gaspar Corte-Real were St. Pierre and the islands near it. A map drawn by Johannes Ruysch published in 1507 depicts Miquelon, St. Pierre and the surrounding islands, and labelled as Barbatos.
Portuguese explorer João Álvares Fagundes, on 21 October 1520, visited the islands named the St. Pierre island group the 'Eleven Thousand Virgins', as the day marked the feast day of St. Ursula and her virgin companions. By Adrian Room Jacques Cartier of France referred to Saint Pierre and Miquelon and the neighboring islands as the 'Islands of Saint-Pierre' in a written report after his visit in 1536. This was the earliest known written reference to the name 'Saint-Pierre'.
Alonzo de Santa Cruz wrote that the islands of the 'Eleven Thousand Virgins' were the destination of many fishermen from Ireland and Brittany in 1541. The Islario of Jean Alphonse, a French geographer, which was published in 1544, described St. Pierre and the nearby islands. The first use of the name 'Miquelon' for the large western island in the St. Pierre island group appears in Les voyages aventureux du Capitaine Martin de Hoyarsal, habitant du çubiburu a reference book for sailors known as a "navigational pilot", written by Basque seaman Martin de Hoyarçabal in 1579.
Early European settlement During the 16th century, the islands were used as a base for the seasonal cod fishery by the French of La Rochelle, Granville, Saint-Malo and the Basque Country. When French explorer Jacques Cartier was in Saint-Pierre in 1536 he made note of the French and Breton fishery, writing: Nous fumes ausdictes yles sainct Pierre, ou trouvasmes plusieurs navires, tant de France que de Bretaigne, depuis le jour sainct Bernabe, XIe de juing, jusques au XVIe jour dudict moys
that is,
We stayed to the so-called Saint-Pierre islands where we found several French and Breton ships, from St. Barnabe's day, 11 June, until 16th day of said month.
By this time, Basque, Breton and Norman fishermen had been fishing in the waters off these islands for over 30 years.There are writings about an island named Bacalao that was a destination of Basque fisherman in the 15th century, and was also mentioned in Portuguese documents. Some have suggested that Bacalao was Newfoundland The name Miquelon is of Basque origin as this island was used by fishermen from Saint-Jean de Luz.
The first written evidence of year-round residents on the islands was in a report in 1670 by the first intendant of New France, Jean Talon, who recorded the presence of thirteen fishermen and four settled residents. By 1687, there were three families living on the islands. Saint-Pierre supplied many of the neighboring French fishing communities, such as those in Fortune Bay and Hermitage Bay. During King William's War, from 1689 to 1697, and Queen Anne's War, from 1702 to 1712, there were at least five English attacks against French colonial settlements on the islands. This led to the abandonment of the islands by many of the French settlers by 1708. The Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 brought such wars to an end, and France ceded possession of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, as well as Newfoundland, to Great Britain.
British possession
After they took control of the islands in 1713, the British changed the name of Saint Pierre to Saint Peter's. The British government commissioned two surveys of their new possessions between 1714 and 1716. A Newfoundland planter and merchant, William Taverner, surveyed the region west of Placentia Bay for the British Board of Trade. The British Admiralty asked Lieutenant John Gaudy to conduct a cartographic survey of the area in 1716.
Some of the French settlers remained, and for a while ships from Saint-Malo continued to visit the islands. However, this trade was illegal and eventually ceased. Slowly British and Anglo-American merchants and settlers started to move to the islands. In 1722, the island of Miquelon was sold to Capt. Diamond Sarjeant, a Massachusetts resident, who sold 2/3 of Miquelon to Samuel Cutt of New Hampshire in 1756, and sold the remaining 1/3 of Miquelon to Robert Trail of Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1758.The British Period (1714–1764): Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage
In the summer of 1763, after Britain had agreed to return the islands to French possession, James Cook mapped the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Cook wrote that:
The Island is as subject to Fogs as any part in Newfoundland yes if we may credit the late Planters it is very convenient for catching and curing of Codfish.
Return to France
By the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763, France had lost a good fraction of its North American empire. However, two of the provisions of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht were that France would be granted fishing rights in the waters around Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and provided a refuge or "abri" for the fishermen. France asked that these provisions of the Treaty of Utrecht be honored, and Britain agreed to this during the Treaty of Paris negotiations. Britain therefore returned Saint Pierre and Miquelon to France in 1763, and allowed visiting French fishermen to come ashore in Newfoundland to dry their catch.
Between 1763 and 1778, the islands became a place of refuge for Acadian deportees from Nova Scotia. Several of the Acadians who were given the status of refugees were rich shipowners. Although the Acadians tried to farm the islands, these efforts were mostly unsuccessful and they had to rely more on fishing, and on offering fish-drying and other services to visiting French fishing fleets (principally from Saint-Malo). The French government made the determination in 1767 that the islands were too small and too poor for the Acadians. France moved the Acadians back to France, settling them in the ports of Brest, Saint-Malo, Lorient and Dunkirk. In 1768, the French government changed its mind and sent the Acadians back to Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.
Trade grew between New England and Saint Pierre and Miquelon for a short period while St. Pierre was rebuilding and lumber was needed. Trade also increased with the Newfoundland mainland for various goods. The Newfoundland community of Placentia Bay had a large fraction of Irish settlers, many of whom were Roman Catholic, which was illegal in Newfoundland until 1784. The Irish Catholics from Placentia Bay would travel to St. Pierre to have their weddings and baptisms performed by Catholic priests. Although the British tried to discourage the trade and contacts between Newfoundland and the islands, they were not successful.
Attacks and deportations
In 1778 the islands were attacked by a force led by Newfoundland's Governor John Montagu and the colonists deported by Montagu's men after France joined the American Revolutionary War on the side of the United States. The settlers were sent back to France and their colonial settlements were burnt. France regained the islands in 1783 after the Peace of Paris and some residents returned to the islands.
The French Revolution erupted in 1789, and events on Saint Pierre and Miquelon were not immune to the events that ensued. In the early spring of 1793, news of the trial and execution of Louis XVI reached the islands. All royal symbols were subsequently removed from Saint Pierre and Miquelon. The Acadian population of Miquelon were loyal to French royalty, and decided to leave the colony for the Magdalen Islands, a small archipelago just north of Nova Scotia.
In May 1793, after France had declared war on Great Britain as part of the War of the First Coalition, a British force attacked the islands under Captain William Affleck of Halifax. The seasonal fishermen and captured French military personnel were deported in 1793, followed by the 950 residents in 1794, who were shipped to Halifax and held for two years.
British fishermen took possession of the islands. Only 2 years later, French forces under Rear-Admiral de Richery attacked the islands in 1796, sinking 80 British vessels. The British abandoned the islands, and the French destroyed the town. After this, the islands remained deserted until 1816.
French restoration after Napoleon