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The capital and largest city of Newfoundland, Canada, on the southeast coast of the island. One of the oldest settlements in North America, it was first colonized by the English in 1583 but did not come under permanent British control until 1762. Population: 101,000.
For more information on Saint John's, visit Britannica.com.
Although the exact date of its first settlement is not known, St. John's is one of the oldest settlements in North America. In 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert took possession of the region for England. Since that time fishing boats from many countries have based there. The settlement was captured and recaptured by France and England, becoming permanently British in 1762 and serving as a naval base during the American Revolution and in the War of 1812. It was at St. John's that Marconi heard (1901) the first transatlantic wireless message and from there that the first nonstop transatlantic flight was made in 1919. The city has been partially destroyed by fire several times. It is the site of the provincial government offices, of Roman Catholic and Anglican cathedrals, of the Newfoundland Museum, of several science museums, and of Memorial Univ.
Local Time: Jul 26, 1:39 AM
| City of St. John's | |||
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| Nickname: "The City of Legends" | |||
| Motto: Avancez ("Go forward") | |||
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| Country | Canada | ||
| Province | Newfoundland and Labrador | ||
| Established | August 5, 1583 by Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I | ||
| Government | |||
| - City Mayor | Andy Wells | ||
| - Governing body | St. John's City Council | ||
| - MPs | List of St. John's MPs | ||
| - MHAs | List of St. John's MHAs | ||
| Area | |||
| - City | km² ( sq mi) | ||
| - Metro | km² ( sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | m ( ft) | ||
| Population (2006) | |||
| - City | |||
| - Density | /km² (/sq mi) | ||
| - Metro | |||
| - Metro Density | /km² (/sq mi) | ||
| 20th Largest metropolitain area in Canada | |||
| Time zone | NST (UTC-3:30) | ||
| Website: St. John's website | |||
St. John's (IPA: /seɪnt 'dʒɔnz/) is the provincial capital of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, making it the seat of the provincial Crown; at a 2006 census population 100,646 (metropolitan population 181,113), it is the largest city in that province, and the oldest English-founded city in North America.[1] St. John's is a sister city with Waterford, Ireland.
St. John's is the oldest English-founded settlement in North America.[1] Tradition declares that the city earned its name when explorer John Cabot became the first European to sail into the harbour, on June 24, 1497 — the feast day of Saint John the Baptist. However, the exact locations of Cabot's landfalls are disputed. A series of expeditions to St. John's by the Portuguese in the Azores followed in the early 16th century, and by 1540 French, Spanish and Portuguese ships crossed the Atlantic annually to fish the waters off the Avalon Peninsula. In the Basque Country, it is a common belief that the name of St. John's was given by Basque fishermen because the bay of St. John's is very similar to the Bay of Pasaia in the Basque Country, where one of the fishing towns is also called St. John (in Spanish, San Juan).
The earliest record of the location appears as São João on a Portuguese map by Jorge Reinel in 1519. When John Rut visited St. John's in 1527 he found Norman, Breton and Portuguese ships in the harbour. On August 3, 1527, Rut wrote a letter to King Henry on the findings of his voyage to North America; this was the first known letter sent from North America. St. Jehan is shown on Nicholas Desliens' world map of 1541 and San Joham is found in João Freire's Atlas of 1546. It was during this time that Water Street was first developed, making it the oldest street in North America.
On August 5, 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed the area as England's first overseas colony under Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I. At the time, he found 16 English ships with 20 French and Portuguese vessels using the harbour. There was no permanent population, however, and Gilbert was lost at sea during his return voyage, thereby ending any immediate plans of settlement. The Newfoundland National War Memorial is located on the waterfront in St. John's, at the purported site of Gilbert's landing and proclamation.
The first permanent European settlers arrived at St. John's in 1605. By 1620 the fishermen of England's West Country had excluded other nations from most of the east coast. In 1627, St. John's was "the principal prime and chief lot in all the whole country". The resident population grew slowly in the 17th century, but St. John's was by far the largest settlement in Newfoundland when English naval officers began to take censuses around 1675. Every summer the population swelled with the arrival of migratory fishermen. In 1680, fishing ships (mostly from South Devon) set up fishing rooms at St. John's, bringing hundreds of Irish men into the port to operate inshore fishing boats.
The town's first significant defenses were probably erected due to commercial interests, following the temporary seizure of St. John's by the Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter in June, 1665. Regardless of the identity of those who built the defenses, the inhabitants were able to fend off a second Dutch attack in 1673. The British government began to plan fortifications around 1689, and these were constructed following the retaking of St. John's after the French admiral Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville captured and destroyed the town late in 1696. The French attacked St. John's again in 1705 and 1708, and devastated civilian structures with fire.
The harbour remained fortified through most of the 18th and 19th century. The final battle of the Seven Years' War in North America (the French and Indian War) was fought in 1762 in St. John's at the Battle of Signal Hill, in which the French surrendered St. John's to the British under the command of Colonel William Amherst.
The eighteenth century saw major changes in Newfoundland: population growth, beginnings of government, establishment of churches, reinforcement of commercial ties with North America and development of the seal, salmon and banks fisheries. St. John's grew slowly, and although it was still primarily a fishing station, it was also a garrison, a centre of government and, increasingly, a commercial hub. St. John's served as a naval base during both the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.
Shanawdithit, the last known individual of the indigenous Beothuk people, died in a St. John's hospital of tuberculosis in 1824.
The core of the city was destroyed by fire several times, the most famous of which was the Great Fire of 1892.
Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless message at St. John's on December 1901 from his wireless station in Poldhu, Cornwall.
St. John's was the starting point for the first non-stop transatlantic aircraft flight, by Alcock and Brown in a modified Vickers Vimy IV bomber, in June 1919, departing from Lester's Field in St. John's and ending in a bog near Clifden, Connemara, Ireland. In July 2005, the flight was duplicated by American aviator and adventurer Steve Fossett in a replica Vickers Vimy aircraft, with St. John's International Airport substituting for Lester's Field (now an urban and residential part of the city).
During the Second World War, the harbour was used by Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy ships used for protecting convoys. It was also the site of a large US Army base called Fort Pepperrell. This base was established as part of the "Lend-Lease" agreement between the UK and USA.
The city is located on the northeast coast of the Avalon Peninsula in southeastern Newfoundland, and on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the most easterly city in North America, as well as the second largest city in Atlantic Canada (after Halifax, Nova Scotia). The downtown area lies to the north of St. John's Harbour, and the rest of the city expands uphill to the west, north, and east.
St. John's is the largest city in census Division No. 1.
Of all major cities in Canada, St John's is the cloudiest (only 1,497 hours of sunshine a year), snowiest (359 cm; 11.8 ft), and has the most wet days per year (Environment Canada, 2005). However, St. John's has the third mildest winter in comparison to other Canadian cities. [2] St. John's has a continental climate (Dfb) with cool-to-warm summers, and relatively mild winters for Canada (cold by a world standard). Average highs and lows are 20°C (68°F)/10°C (50°F) in July and -1°C (30°F)/-8°C (17°F) in January. The annual precipitation is moderate to high, with an average of 1,640 millimetres (64.6 in) per year. The city is also one of the areas of the country most prone to tropical cyclone activity, as it is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, where tropical storms (and sometimes hurricanes) travel.
| St. John's Climatological Data | ||||||||||||||
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| Temperature | ||||||||||||||
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Mean | |
| Record high °C (°F) | 15 (59) | 16 (61) | 18 (64) | 24 (75) | 26 (79) | 29 (84) | 32 (90) | 31 (88) | 30 (86) | 25 (77) | 20 (68) | 16 (61) | ||
| Average high °C (°F) | -1 (30) | -2 (28) | 1 (34) | 5 (41) | 11 (52) | 16 (61) | 20 (68) | 20 (68) | 16 (61) | 11 (52) | 6 (43) | 2 (36) | 9 (48) | |
| Mean °C (°F) | -5 (23) | -5 (23) | -3 (27) | 2 (36) | 6 (43) | 11 (52) | 15 (59) | 16 (61) | 12 (54) | 7 (45) | 3 (37) | -2 (28) | 5 (41) | |
| Average low °C (°F) | -9 (16) | -9 (16) | -6 (21) | -2 (28) | 2 (36) | 6 (43) | 11 (52) | 11 (52) | 8 (46) | 3 (37) | -1 (30) | -6 (21) | 1 (34) | |
| Record low °C (°F) | -23 (-9) | -24 (-11) | -24 (-11) | -15 (5) | -7 (19) | -3 (27) | -1 (30) | 1 (34) | -1 (30) | -6 (21) | -13 (9) | -20 (-4) | ||
| Precipitation and Sunshine Hours | ||||||||||||||
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Total | |
| Total mm (in) | 150 (5.9) | 125 (4.9) | 131 (5.2) | 122 (4.8) | 101 (4.0) | 102 (4.0) | 89 (3.5) | 108 (4.3) | 131 (5.2) | 162 (6.4) | 144 (5.7) | 149 (5.9) | 1514 (59.6) | |
| Rainfall mm (in) | 74 (2.9) | 61 (2.4) | 77 (3.0) | 94 (3.7) | 94 (3.7) | 101 (4.0) | 89 (3.5) | 108 (4.3) | 131 (5.2) | 160 (6.3) | 116 (4.6) | 89 (3.5) | 1191 (46.9) | |
| Snowfall cm (in) | 80 (31.5) | 67 (26.4) | 52 (20.5) | 26 (10.2) | 6 (2.4) | 1 (0.4) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 3 (1.2) | 26 (10.2) | 61 (24.0) | 322 (126.8) | |
| Sunshine hours | 72 | 91 | 109 | 117 | 158 | 177 | 216 | 196 | 140 | 106 | 72 | 59 | 1513 | |
| Temperature and Precipitation data recorded at St. John's International Airport by Environment Canada. Data spans 1971 to 2000. Sunshine hours recorded at St. John's West CDA by Environment Canada. Data spans 1971 to 2000. |
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St. John's economy has been continuously connected both to its role as a regional/national/provincial capital and to the ocean. Today, its continued growth is as much tied to what lies beneath the ocean – oil and gas – as what swims in or travels across the ocean. The city's economy is growing quickly, and the city has been identified as having one of the highest proportion of scientists and engineers per capita of any city under one million population in North America. Economic forecasts suggest that the city will continue its strong economic growth in the coming years not only in the "oceanic" industries mentioned above, but also in tourism and new home construction as the population continues to grow.
This growth in St. John's and its surrounding suburban municipalities, particularly Paradise (+21%), Flatrock (+5%), Torbay (+5%), Conception Bay South (+3%) and Portugal Cove-St. Philip's (+2%) (all percentages indicate 1996-2001 growth) is in stark contrast to the population and economic collapse of much of the rest of the Province (St. John's metro area: -0.7% population; Rest of the province: -10.0% population). Many feel that the growth in St. John's has not particularly spread to the rest of the Province.
St. John's hosts the following institutions of higher learning:
St. John's is reputed to have the most bars per capita of any city in North America; George Street in downtown St. John's is reputed to have the most bars per square foot in North America.
St. John's is the eastern terminus of the Trans-Canada Highway. (Victoria, British Columbia is the western terminus.)
The city is served by St. John's International Airport.
The city's public transportation system is Metrobus.
St. John's was the eastern terminus of the Newfoundland Railway until the abandonment and closure of the railway in September 1988.
(Unless otherwise identified, all statistics below are for the St. John's metro area, not the core city of St. John's.)
| City | Metro | |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 100,646 | 181,113 |
| Growth (2001-2006) | 1.5 | |
| Dwellings | 45,317 | |
| Area (km²) | 446.04 | 804.64 |
| Area (sq mi) | 172.2 | 310.7 |
| Density (persons per km²) | 225.6 | 214.9 |
Overwhelmingly Christian, the population of St. John's was once divided along sectarian (Catholic/Protestant) lines. This division was reinforced by a religious publicly funded school system. In recent years, this sectarianism has declined significantly, and is no longer a commonly acknowledged facet of life in St. John's. St. John's is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of St. John's, and the Anglican Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador.
| Religion | 2001 | % |
|---|---|---|
| *Roman Catholic | 83,615 | 48.9% |
| *Protestant | 77,880 | 45.5% |
| **Anglican | 39,020 | 22.8% |
| **United Church | 25,670 | 15.0% |
| **Salvation Army | 5,645 | 3.3% |
| **Pentecostal | 3,865 | 2.3% |
| **Presbyterian | 1,220 | 0.7% |
| **Baptist | 495 | 0.3% |
| **Jehovah's Witness | 425 | 0.2% |
| **Other Protestant | 1,540 | 0.9% |
| *Christian, not included elsewhere | 1,310 | 0.8% |
| Muslim | 475 | 0.3% |
| Hindu | 355 | 0.2% |
| Other religions | 460 | 0.3% |
| No religion | 6,990 | 3.9% |
Many of the earliest settlers of St. John's came from southeast Ireland, primarily Waterford, Wexford and Kilkenny. These origins can still be detected in similarities between accents from southeast Ireland and the traditional St. John's accent.
| Ethnic origin | Population | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| Canadian | 81,490 | 47.63% |
| English | 73,545 | 42.98% |
| Irish | 51,180 | 29.92% |
| Scottish | 13,520 | 7.90% |
| French | 7,125 | 4.16% |
| German | 2,925 | 1.71% |
| Native American | 1,990 | 1.16% |
The information regarding ethnicities above is from the 2001 Canadian Census. The percentages add to more than 100% because of dual responses (e.g. "French-Canadian" generates an entry in both the category "French" and the category "Canadian".) Groups with greater than 1,500 responses are included.
St. John's continuously has one of the lowest crime rates in Canada.
St. John's is currently the only Canadian city served by radio stations whose call letters do not all begin with the letter C. The ITU prefix VO was assigned to the Dominion of Newfoundland before the province joined Canadian Confederation in 1949, and three AM stations kept their existing call letters. However, other commercial radio stations in St. John's which went to air after 1949 use the same range of prefixes (CF–CK) currently in use elsewhere in Canada, with the exception of VOCM-FM, which was permitted to adopt the VOCM callsign because of its corporate association with the AM station that already bore that callsign. VO also remains in use in amateur radio.
See List of mayors of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Current Mayor: Andy Wells Deputy Mayor: Dennis O'Keefe
| North: Torbay, Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove, and Flatrock, and Pouch Cove | ||
| West: Portugal Cove-St. Philip's, Paradise, Mount Pearl, Conception Bay South | St. John's | East: Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove, |
| South: Division No. 1, Subd. D, Bay Bulls |
Buildings: Anderson House | Bank of British North America Building | Basilica of St. John the Baptist | Benevolent Irish Society | Cabot Tower | Cathedral of St. John the Baptist | Colonial Building | Confederation Building | Government House | Johnson Geo Centre | Masonic Temple | Memorial University of Newfoundland | Murray Premises | National War Memorial | Newfoundland Museum | Railway Coastal Museum | Saint Bonaventure's College | St. Patrick's Church | The Rooms
Neighbourhoods: The Battery | Cowan Heights | Fort Amherst | George Street | Georgestown | Quidi Vidi | Rabbittown | Rawlins Cross | Virginia Park | Water Street | Waterford Valley
Sports: Ayre Athletic Grounds | King George V Park | Memorial Stadium | Mile One Centre | Swilers Rugby Park | St. Patrick's Park | Wishingwell Park
Nature & Parks: Bannerman Park | Bowring Park | Cape Spear | Grand Concourse | Pippy Park | Signal Hill | Victoria Park
Performing arts: Arts and Culture Centre | LSPU Hall | Nickel Theatre
Transportation: Metrobus | St. John's International Airport | Newfoundland Railway
 Subdivisions of Newfoundland and
Labrador |
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| Census divisions | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 |
| Cities | Corner Brook · Mount Pearl · St. John's |
| Other communities | Bishop's Falls · Bonavista · Botwood · Carbonear · Channel-Port aux Basques · Clarenville · Deer Lake · Ferryland · Fogo · Gander · Grand Falls-Windsor · Happy Valley-Goose Bay · Harbour Grace · Labrador City · Marystown · Nain · Pasadena · Peterview · Placentia · Red Bay · St. Anthony · Stephenville · Twillingate · Woody Point |
| Provincial and territorial capitals of Canada | |
|---|---|
| Victoria, BC · Edmonton, AB · Regina, SK · Winnipeg, MB · Toronto, ON · Quebec City, QC · Fredericton, NB · Halifax, NS · Charlottetown, PE · St. John's, NL · Whitehorse, YT · Yellowknife, NT · Iqaluit, NU |
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| Canadian Census metropolitan areas (CMAs) by size |
|---|
| Toronto, ON · Montreal, QC · Vancouver, BC · Ottawa–Gatineau, ON/QC · Calgary, AB · Edmonton, AB · Quebec City, QC · Winnipeg, MB · Hamilton, ON · London, ON · Kitchener, ON · St. Catharines-Niagara, ON · Halifax, NS · Oshawa, ON · Victoria, BC · Windsor, ON · Saskatoon, SK · Regina, SK · Sherbrooke, QC · St. John's, NL · Barrie, ON · |
