A History and Ethnography of the Beothuk

Following their extinction, the Beothuk came to be viewed as a people whose origins, history, and fate were shrouded in mystery. On a quest to sort fact from fiction, Ingeborg Marshall, a leading expert on the Beothuk, has produced an elegant, comprehensive, and scholarly review of the history and culture of the Beothuk that incorporates an unmatched amount of new archival material with up-to-date archaeological data. The book is beautifully and extensively illustrated with maps, portraits, photographs of Beothuk artifacts, burial sites, and camps, and a set of drawings by Shanawdithit. A History and Ethnography of the Beothuk is a compelling story and an indispensable reference tool for anyone interested in the Beothuk or Native peoples of North America.

The Beothuk’s story is tragic. The aboriginal inhabitants of Newfoundland, they were hunters, gatherers, and fishers who moved seasonally between the coast and the interior. With the influx of European settlements and fisheries in the 1700s the Beothuk found their territory increasingly reduced and conflict between the two groups escalated. The Beothuk population steadily declined and by the early 1800s the Beothuk had ceased to exist as a viable cultural group. Shanawdithit, the last Beothuk, died in 1829.

“The essential and standard reference on the Beothuk.” Tony Hall, Globe and Mail “A fascinating book … It is an excellent example of the craft of the historian in bringing together information from diverse sources to construct a highly readable and plausible story.” David Newhouse, Quill & Quire “A masterful and definitive epic written with both engaging empathy and rigorous scholarship.” R.A. Bucko, Choice