Makkovik, Newfoundland and Labrador
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| Makkovik | |
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| Coordinates: | |
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| Country |  Canada |
| Province |  Newfoundland and Labrador |
| Settled | 1860 |
| Population (2001) | |
| - Total | 384 |
| Time zone | Atlantic Time (UTC-4:00) |
| - Summer (DST) | Atlantic Daylight (UTC-3:00) |
| Area code(s) | 709 |
Makkovik is a community in Labrador in northern Canada. It had a population of 384 persons in 2001. The main industries are fishing (snow crab) and a fishing cooperative.
The population is mainly composed of residents of mixed Norwegian and Inuit heritage. Settled by Torsten Kverna Andersen and his wife Mary Ann Thomas who set up a trading post there in 1860, the population gradually increased over the next three decades as European settlers and Inuit established roots in the community. Permanence was assured in 1896 when the Moravian Church established a mission station and boarding school there. Both the mission and school were destroyed by a fire in 1948 but the economy was invigorated in the 1950's by two notable events. First was the resettlement to Makkovik of 150 Inuit residents of the northern communities of Nutak and Hebron. Second was the establishment nearby of a radar warning station by the United States government.
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[edit] Geography
The community lies at the end of a peninsula in northern Labrador about 215 kilometres northeast of Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Travel is by air year round and by boat in summer. Winter travel is by snowmobile. The community is situated on a sheltered bay in a sadlle between two hills. In the lee of the northernmost hill is a large copse of tall spruce trees, which is remarkable given the paucity of tree cover for miles around. Known as the Moravian Wood, there is a small cemetery in the centre.
[edit] The other Makkovik
For three years in the late 1950's the United States Air Force maintained a remote radar base about 15 kilometres north of the settlement. Called Cape Makkovik, it was constructed between 1955 and 1957 and operated until 1961 and was dismantled later in the decade. It was a so-called "gap-filler" in the Pinetree Line set up to monitor the skies for foreign invaders from the north.
[edit] Early Moravian settlement
Not far from Makkovik, in 2001 archaeologists discovered the remains of a dwelling built in 1752 by a Moravian missionary group headed by John Christian Erhardt. It has been confirmed as the first Moravian landing site in Labrador.
[edit] External links
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