Burgeo: Located on the south coast of Newfoundland about 95 km (60 mi) east from Channel-Port aux Basques, Burgeo is typically thought of as the most westerly community that made up the southern "French Shore".

The following history of "early" Burgeo comes from the town's website: Burgeo has a rich history of nearly 500 years. It is believed by some that the area was discovered by the Portuguese and given the name Virgio; this subsequently over time became Burgeo, possibly a British pronunciation or adaptation.

It should be honorably mentioned that before the Europeans came to the area that Indigenous peoples such as Dorset Eskimos and Beothuck Indians frequented the many bays of the local archipelago and adjacent mainland. Another native American peoples, the Micmac Indians (although not Indigenous to Newfoundland) were fishing and hunting in this part of the island for several hundred years.

They originated from mainland Canada, possibly Nova Scotia and/or New Brunswick. In 1756, Captain James Cook who was surveying and exploring the local islands experienced a solar eclipse. In recognition of this astonishing event he named one of the isles Eclipse Island.

The 1790s saw the first influx of permanent settlers who made a living fishing the inshore waters mainly for cod. In the early years Burgeo was in essence several smaller pocket communities that were growing and it was inevitable that they would merge and become one. The Town of Burgeo was officially incorporated in 1950.

Further to the derivation of the town's name, it has been suggested that Burgeo is a corruption of Mill Virgeo (or "a thousand virgins" referring to the tale of 11,000 virgins said to be martyred in the 4th or 5th century); if that is the case the derivation has an interesting "story" to tell.

Gagnon (1964), in his book "Critical Maps in the Early Cartography and Place Nomenclature of the Atlantic Coast" writes the following: to OMZE MYLL VIRGES, that is the Eleven Thousand Virgins, was said... apply to three islands (apparently large) in the form of a triangle, with the islets around them, clearly the St. Pierre, Miquelon-Langley group.

The name, doubtless through its poetic appeal, survives upon later maps, with the islands magnified in number, moved variously about, and even combine with those of St. Pantelioms Archipelago.... Finally, on subsequent French maps, it settles down, west of Fortune Bay as VIERGES, which seems clearly to survive in our Burgeo Islands.

Cunningham (n.d.) said this about the derivation of the name: It is not known when Burgeo was first "discovered" by Europeans. However, we do know that Juan Fugandez (a Portuguese explorer) sailed by 1520 and named this compact group of islands Ilas Dos Onze Mill Vierges in an apparent fit of exaggeration.

For some reason, Juan decided to commemorate St. Ursula of Cologne, and his bizarre 14th-century crusade to liberate the holy land from the "pagans." Most of the 11,000 virgins didn't get very far, as was the case with his name for this part of the New World.

It eventually somehow evolved and shortened to Burgeo now the largest community on this coast (around two thousand) and the only one east of Rose Blanche connected by road. The present day town encompasses both the islands and the adjoining the mainland.

It has been reported that in 1766 Captain Cook was actively surveying the south shore, including the islands around Burgeo.

After settlement the population slowly grew to the point that by 1802 there were 23; by 1836 there were 143 and it peaked in 1922 with 1,039. At first it was cod that was fished in the area; that was followed by herring, and then salmon.

In the late 1880s the lobster fishery was important, but it quickly declined in the early 1900s. The population in Burgeo has fluctuated as employment opportunities came and went; it peaked in 1976 at 2,374, but by 2016 there were only 1,307 residents, a 10.7% decrease from 2011 when there were 1,464 citizens.

Used with permission from "Uncovering the Origin of 1001 Unique Place Names in Newfoundland and Labrador" 2021 Jennifer Leigh Hill

Address of this page: http://nl.ruralroutes.com/Burgeo