Editing Beothuk (section)

== European exploration ==
[[File:Territoire des Beothuks.png|thumb|250px|Tribal territory of Beothuk]]

About 1000 CE, [[Norsemen|Norse]] explorers led by [[Leif Erikson]] encountered Indigenous people in northern Newfoundland, who may have been ancestors of the later Beothuk, or [[Dorset culture|Dorset]] inhabitants of Labrador and Newfoundland. The Norse called them ''[[skræling]]jar'' ("skraelings").<ref>{{cite book |last=Fagan |first=Brian M. |title=Ancient North America: the archaeology of a continent |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London |year=2005 |isbn=0-500-28532-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientnorthamer0004faga}}</ref> Beginning in 1497, with the arrival of the Italian explorer [[John Cabot]], sailing under the auspices of [[Henry VII of England|King Henry VII]], waves of European explorers and settlers had more contacts.

Unlike some other Indigenous groups, the Beothuk tried to avoid contact with Europeans;{{sfn|Adhikari|2023|p=118}} they moved inland as European settlements grew. The Beothuk visited their former camps only to pick up metal objects. They would also collect any tools, shelters, and building materials left by the European fishermen who had dried and cured their catch before taking it to Europe at the end of the season.{{sfn|Adhikari|2023|p=118}} Contact between Europeans and the Beothuk was usually negative for one side, with a few exceptions like [[John Guy (governor)|John Guy]]'s party in 1612. Settlers and the Beothuk competed for natural resources, such as salmon, seals, and birds. In the interior, fur trappers established traplines, disrupted the caribou hunts, and ransacked Beothuk stores, camps, and supplies. The Beothuk would steal traps to reuse the metals, and steal from the homes and shelters of European settlers and sometimes ambush them.<ref name="Upton">{{cite book |editor-last=Miller |editor-first=J. |chapter=The Extermination of the Beothucks of Newfoundland |last=Upton |first=L.F.S. |title=Sweet promises: a reader on Indian-white relations in Canada |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |location=Toronto |year=1991 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=YUc-sAvji6QC&pg=PA68 68–89] |isbn=0-8020-6818-9}}</ref> These encounters led to enmity and mutual violence.{{sfn|Adhikari|2023|pp=119–121}} With superior arms technology, the settlers generally had the upper hand in hunting and warfare. (Unlike other [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] peoples, the Beothuk appeared to have had no interest in adopting firearms.){{sfn|Marshall|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ckOav3Szu7oC&pg=PA33 33]}}

Intermittently, Europeans attempted to improve relations with the Beothuk. Examples included expeditions by naval lieutenants [[George Cartwright (trader)|George Cartwright]] in 1768 and [[David Buchan]] in 1811. Cartwright's expedition was commissioned by Governor Hugh Palliser; he found no Beothuk, but brought back important cultural information.

Governor John Duckworth commissioned Buchan's expedition. Although undertaken for information gathering, this expedition ended in violence. Buchan's party encountered several Beothuk near [[Beothuk Lake]]. After an initially friendly reception, Buchan left two of his men behind with the Beothuk. The next day, he found them murdered and mutilated. According to the Beothuk Shanawdithit's later account, the marines were killed when one refused to give up his jacket and both ran away.<ref name = Upton />