Confronting Marginality in the North Atlantic: Archaeological and Historical Perspectives from the French Colony of Plaisance, Newfoundland

Abstract

The French colony at Plaisance, Newfoundland, Canada—occupied from 1662 to 1714—was France’s only official colony in Newfoundland. It was a fishing settlement in which colonists caught, processed, and exported dried codfish to various European ports. Despite being the largest French settlement in Newfoundland, Plaisance (known to the English as Placentia) has typically been regarded as a peripheral and insignificant outpost in the northern region of French North America. In this historiographical tradition, the colony suffers in its remote, inhospitable environment, which contributed to the impoverishment of its residents and rendered them utterly dependent on overseas trade for their survival. Detailed analysis of a previously unstudied archival series reveals that this standard narrative exaggerates the situation. The Vieux Fort site (dating from 1662 to 1690) provides a well-preserved archaeological context with which the standard historiography of the colony can be confronted. Economic, social, and environmental marginality are relative concepts, and perceptions of Plaisance’s marginal status differ, depending on the interpreter and the interpretation.