CA-K241History

Red Bay, a 16th-century Basque whaling station

Red Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, photographed in 2017. Red Bay Labrador 01 · Cephas · Photo source · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized for display; item previews may be cropped. The image remains under the licence shown.

Factual accuracy review: No recorded challenge

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From the 1540s to the early 1600s, up to 2,000 Basque men and boys sailed each year from southern France and northern Spain to the Strait of Belle Isle to hunt right whales and render their blubber into oil for European markets. Red Bay, Labrador, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2013, is the most extensive and best-preserved whaling station of its kind.

Scope & context

The Basque whaling station and its archaeology, not Indigenous use of the region.

Sources behind this record

Red Bay Basque Whaling Station ↗

Parks Canada (World Heritage Sites in Canada)

Date of Inscription; Justification of outstanding universal value