ABSTRACT
The hundreds of outports of Newfoundland and Labrador, and its much smaller number of inland communities, have endured dramatic changes in recent decades, but also over centuries of colonialism that have given the province a unique experience. At the same time, this history shares similarities with other places which can serve as a warning for troubles coming, an inspiration for other rural or island regions, and a reminder of causal links that might have been forgotten. The Province of Newfoundland and Labrador was incorporated late into Canada, prior to which it remained in a colonial status within the British Empire for almost a century. Of course, colonialism endures today with the continuing legacy of displacement of Indigenous peoples, traditions, and cultures. This colonial legacy has also affected settler Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, albeit in a different way, wherein the British government and merchant families exercised power over communities but did not invest adequately in them, instead concentrating administrative and political development in the colonial capital of St. John’s. This core-periphery dynamic continues to impact the contemporary institutional landscape of the province.
