‘Discovery’ of New Found Land and Cape Breton: Who was Caboto and what was his claim on Canada?
In 1496 John Cabot traveled what is now called Newfoundland and Cape Breton and claimed the lands on behalf of Britain. Tony Seed looks at the devastation this “discovery” wrought upon Mi’kmaq and Beothuk populations and the invalidity of the doctrine of discovery and the colonizers’ claims of dominion.