Beothuck Trailers Ltd - Edmonton

The Beothuk aboriginals settled on the island of Newfoundland around 200 AD. They were tall, strong people with black hair which was braided, particularly at the back of their head. Similar to other indigenous tribes of the period, they dressed in animal hides and hunted with bows and arrows. The Aboriginal peoples covered their clothes, weapons, and bodies with a mixture of red ochre and oil because they believed the ochre had life-giving power. The oil and red ochre mixture protected them from insects in the summer and cold in the winter. They lived off the riches of the sea. It is believed that at one time more than a thousand Beothuk inhabited the island of Newfoundland.

In the 1700’s, white settlers began to migrate to the island. The Beothuk tribe were forced to move from their summer homes to the remote regions (interior) of the island. Along with the settlers came tuberculosis and many of the Aboriginal peoples died.

There is little known of the Beothuk. Early settlers and two Beothuk women who were captured in the early 1800’s provided the only information we have. They found that the Algonquin language is related to the Beothuks.

Desmasduit was one of the two women captured by settlers; while she was living in St. John, her portrait was painted. It is the only authenticated picture of a Beothuk Indian in existence. The people of Newfoundland had planned to befriend Desmasduit in order to learn more about the Beothuk. They wanted her to go back to her people and tell them that her captors had been friendly. Unfortunately, before she rejoined her people, she contacted tuberculosis and died. Her coffin was carried back to her people.

In 1823, a Beothuk girl of twenty years was captured. Shanawdithit Beothuk IndianShanawdithit lived with a family of settlers for five years. She was a gentle soul with a natural talent for drawing. She was afraid to return to her people because she feared that they would not forgive her for having lived with white people.

In 1827, W.E. Cormack realized Shanawdithit was probably the last surviving Beothuck. He took her with him to St. John’s where she drew pictures that depicted earlier encounters between the natives and whites.

Shanawdithit died in 1829 from tuberculosis.

The people of the ochre became extinct with her passing.