Paper short abstract:

The 16th-century Newfoundland fishery was built on a seasonal, cyclical migratory system that emerged as an adaptation to and expression of the unique environmental pressures of the northwest Atlantic. Seasonal natural rhythms encouraged seasonal, cyclical migrations for mariners and First Nations

Paper long abstract:

In the first decades of the sixteenth century mariners from across Europe established a commercial, transnational cod- and whale-fishery in the northwest Atlantic. Such an achievement was only made possible when mariners abandoned fixed colonies and permanent migration. The transatlantic fisheries thrived through the adoption of new patterns of cyclical, seasonal labour migrations between Europe and Newfoundland. This cycle was dictated by natural rhythms, including the seasons and the migratory patterns of marine life and changes in north Atlantic climate.

This paper will explore how cyclical, seasonal migration shaped the far north Atlantic by considering two major points. First, this paper will outline how the sixteenth century fisheries at Newfoundland were only made possible by a system of seasonal, migratory maritime labour. A cyclical, seasonal model of migration was well suited to the particular environmental conditions of the far north Atlantic and represents one of the most successful adaptations of European populations in the emerging Atlantic world of the sixteenth century.

This paper will then argue that the migratory patterns of European fishermen closely resembled the seasonal migrations of indigenous societies in northeast North America, including the Algonkian and Inuit peoples. Both mariners and First Nations practiced a form of seasonal migration that was dictated by marine life. What this suggests is that the particular environmental conditions of the northwest Atlantic exerted a powerful pressure on both terrestrial and maritime societies in the region. Two societies from different sides of the Atlantic ultimately adopted the same systemic response to the environmental pressures they faced in Newfoundland.