a. Exploration and discovery

Saint-Pierre and Miquelon’s privileged geographical position along the southern coast of Newfoundland gave the islands a particular importance in the early cartography of Newfoundland; the Barbatos of Johannes Ruysch’s map of 1506, the Ile Verte of the Corte Real expeditions, the Illa de la Trenidat of the Juan de la Cosa map of 1500 are all likely representations of the Saint-Pierre and Miquelon group of islands.

Beyond the cartographic record, it was in 1536 that the first written reference to the name Saint-Pierre was made by Jacques Cartier. Clearly not a discovery, Cartier’s reference to the “said islands of sainct Pierre” was more a summary reference to a well-known territorial beacon. In actuality, Jacques Cartier was not the first explorer to make note of his passage in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.

Some fifteen years earlier, Joao Alvarez Faguendes, an explorer from King Manuel’s Portugal baptised the Archipelago in honour of Saint Ursula, who according to Christian legend was the saviour of Eleven Thousand Virgins. The Onze Myll Virgines Archipelago or Virgines Islands were present on many maps as late as 1593; however, the Portuguese influence was short lived and the name became extinct. As the Lusitanian presence in Newfoundland waxed and waned, geographers of other European countries made episodic mention of Saint-Pierre, Miquelon and the adjoining islands. For instance, in 1541, the Spanish geographer, Alonzo de Santa Cruz described the islands of Eleven Thousands Virgins as being frequented by Breton and Irish fishermen.

Three years later, the French geographer Jean Alphonse described the islands of Saint-Pierre in his Islario and in 1579; the first mention of the island of Miquelon was made in Martin de Hoyarçabal’s navigational pilot.