Placentia Bay

Placentia Bay Placentia Bay, from the French plaisance, is a large, deep bay formed by Newfoundland's Burin Peninsula to the west, and the southwestern AVALON PENINSULA to the east. It is around 100 mi (160 km) long and up to 80 mi (129 km) wide, SE Newfoundland, N.L., Canada. There are many fishing settlements and canneries along the shore. Placentia, established by the French in 1662, is the largest town on the bay.

From Ferryland Head in the west and CAPE ST MARY'S 90 km east, the bay runs 125 km to its head, the Isthmus of Avalon. Ringed with coves and harbours, the bay has 2 extensive islands, Merasheen and Long, formerly populated, which divide the bay into channels to the north.

The fine fishing grounds were probably first frequented by BASQUES and French in the 1500s; by the 1660s French fishermen occupied the bay, as modern place-names still attest. After the Treaty of UTRECHT, 1713, when the French settlements were ceded to Britain, English use and settlement slowly followed in Placentia Bay.

The first visitors to Placentia Bay were Basque fishermen, followed by French fishermen and officials. The Portuguese were present as early as 1500, the first of Gaspar and Miguel Corte-Real's visits. Gaspar charted the first map of Newfoundland in 1501 following his 1500 voyage, and the 1504 Revial and 1541 Mercator maps both show Placentia Bay as "Insulae Cortrealis". The first mention of "Isle de Plazienca" was on the Kallard map of 1547. The Basque name means "a harbor within a womb of hills". This seems to refer to the level beach set among towering hills. The first settlement was behind the beach which had a number of stages.

The community's name is possibly derived from the Basque town of Placenza on the River Tagus near Lisbon, Portugal. In 1524, the King of France sent a Florentine captain, John Verozzani, to find new lands, and he explored the south coast of Newfoundland. The community of Plaisance was included on a Portuguese map of 1546, but French settlement did not officially take place until much later.

The first church in the area and in Newfoundland was built by the Portuguese in the early 1500's, rebuilt by the French as early as 1650, and again by the English in the 1700's. A Basque priest was stationed in Newfoundland, probably at Placenza, in 1549, close to the centre of the Basque fishery employing 6,000 men. Both Portuguese and Spanish ships were very active throughout the 1500's.