There is no solid proof of the exact years when the people around the Gulf of Biscay, including Normandy, the Basque country and the Celtics from Galicia, sailed westward towards the lands of the Grand Banks. Nevertheless, there is a mention in the Green Michelin Guide of Canada to the effect that circa the XIIth and XIIIth centuries, and naturally after the Vikings, Celtic, Basque and Normand fishermen reached the shores of what is now known as Newfoundland and Labrador. It is worthwhile mentioning the relevent importance of Biarritz from 1250 to 1350 and its whale fishing laws already obtained.

And all through the XVIth and XVIIth centuries the main source of income in Biarritz, Bayona, etc., was fisheries. In 1579 it is written that "Most people are fishermen and live most of the time from what they fish and the industry related to fisheries in Newfoundland and elsewhere."

Historical documents have been discovered (Barkham 1980, 1988; Turgeon 1982, 1985, 1990, 1992; Tuck 1987; Huxley 1987; Bakker 1989a/b; Egaña Goya 1992) which show the pioneer role played by the Basques and their influence in amerindian toponimy and ethnonimy in Newfoundland and Labrador. The Institute of General Linguistics at the University of Amsterdam has investigated this subject and some examples depecting the Basque origin of hundreds of names both in toponimy and ethnography are shown below: Port-aux-Basques, Ile-aux-Basques, Havre-aux-Basques, Eskimalak, (Bakker 1990), Kanadaquoa from the Basque Canada-koa= Canadian; Gaspeiquois; Basquoa; (Whitehead 1993:79).

It is also worthwhile mentionining that the first commercial documents among amerindians and europeans were produced with the Basques ever since they traded in the XVIth century.

In any case, at the Museum of Civilization in Hull, Province of Quebec, whose vision was so clearly pereceived by Douglas Cardinal, the third gallery which takes visitors through the history of Canada begins with a very large Galleon, a reproduction of the "San Juan" which sank in the Atlantic Ocean, and vividly depicts the courage, skill and faith of the Basques who came from the 2 other "San Juanes", San Juan de Luz in France and San Juan de Pasajes in Spain, sailing westward and founding the first city in the North American continent, possibly in the early 1400's, which they named "San Juan de Terranova".

In the Galleon, visitors can admire the operations of the fishermen, relating especially to cod and whales. Fishermen used to come with ships loaded with tiles, wood, brick and survival kits for the numerous men off-shore who managed the cod and whale fisheries.

Vistors can also see, in that same presentation, the first will ever made in the Americas -- by Juan de Echaniz, from the Province of Guipuzcoa of the Kingdoms of Spain, who later died of scurvy.

Since then, descriptions of the whale trails are often depicted in the history of Basque cities such as Bayona, Donostia, Guetaria, etc., which at the end of the XVIIIth century, ran from the Gulf of Biscay to the Saint-Lawrence River. The main interest of the fishermen then was, naturally, the fisheries. But as they were also searching for the passage to Cipango, over the past 4 to 5 centuries, explorers went from east to west.

It is also interesting to note that in modern and contemporary Spanish poetry, mainly Galizian, like María Luisa Castro in her book "Ballenas", Hiperión 1992, a very clear picture of this fishing village areas is reminded like in this poem:

Irlanda."

Acknowledgments