The Petit Nord
The fishing zone known to the French as the Petit Nord was the
Atlantic coast of Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula. It stretched from Quirpon, in the Strait of
Belle Isle between Newfoundland and Labrador, down to Cape St John, on Newfoundland's northeast coast.
Used by migratory Breton and Norman fishing crews from about 1500 to 1900, it formed an important part
of the French Shore, where French fishers were allowed to build
seasonal shore stations, to carry out a
seasonal salt-cod fishery. The French Shore was defined diplomatically in 1713, by the Treaty of Utrecht
between France and Great Britain, and redefined by the Treaty of Versailles in 1783. The Petit Nord is
the focus of our project to understand the
archaeology of the French migratory fishery.
