Home > St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

1 History

• St. John's is one of the oldest settlements in North America. On August 5, 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert took possession of the region for England. The settlement changed hands several times between France and England, until becoming permanently British in 1762 and serving as a naval base during both the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

• The worst disaster to befall St. John's was on July 18, 1892 and is commonly called The Great Fire of 1892.

• It was at St. John's that Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless message, and it was from there that the first nonstop transatlantic flight was made in 1919Events January January 1 Edsel Ford succeeds his father as head of the Ford Motor Company January 5 Spartacist uprising Socialist demonstrations in Berlin turn into attempted communist revolution with Spartacist League in the forefront January 9 Spartacus by Alcock and BrownAlcock and Brown (Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown) made the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1919. Flying a modified Vickers Vimy IV twin-engined bomber, they took off from Munday's Pond, Newfoundland in the late a.

• During the Second World War, the harbour was used by Royal NavyThe Royal Navy is the navy of the United Kingdom. It operates a number of aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates, fifteen nuclear submarines, and various other ships, as well as aircraft and Britain's amphibious forces, the Royal Marines. The Royal Navy and Royal Canadian NavyThe Royal Canadian Navy RCN was the navy of Canada from 1911 until 1968 when the three branches of the Canadian military were merged into the Canadian Armed Forces. The modern Canadian navy has been known as Canadian Forces Maritime Command (MARCOM) since ships used for protecting convoyThis article is about the general concept, particularly its use by the military. Convoy is also the name of a trucker's song by C. McCall and of a movie by Sam Peckinpah and Kris Kristofferson inspired by the song, as well as the Japanese name for the Tras. It was also the site of a large US Army base called "Fort Peperrell". This base was established as part of the " Lend-leaseThe Lend-lease Act of March 11, 1941 permitted the President of the United States to "sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of, to any such government [whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United Sta" agreement between the UK and USA.

2 Geography

The city is located on the northeast coast of the Avalon PeninsulaThe Avalon Peninsula is a large peninsula (9,270 km²) that makes up the southeast portion of the island of Newfoundland. The peninsula is home to forty percent of Newfoundland's population, and is the location of the capital, St. It is connected to the ma, in southeastern Newfoundland island, and on the Atlantic Ocean. In fact, it is said to be the easternmost city in North America. The downtown area exists to the north of St. John's Harbour (thus the apostrophe in the city name), and the rest of the city expands uphill and to the west, north, and east. The city of Mount Pearl borders St. John's to the east, and is substantially smaller in population, yet only slightly smaller in size. St. John's is the largest city in Division No. 1. The following table is a representation of St. John's and its surrounding areas: