Newfoundland and its entering into Canadian confederation: 20th century North Atlantic world revisited

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26580134
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: History of Europe and America
• Research Institution: Kagoshima University
• Principal Investigator: HOSOKAWA Michihisa 鹿児島大学, 法文教育学域法文学系, 教授 (20209240)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: ニューファンドランド / カナダ / イギリス帝国 / アメリカ合衆国 / 関係史 / 北大西洋

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research analyzes the process of Newfoundland’s entering into Canadian confederation by considering how Britain, Canada, the United States and Newfoundland reacted. When the Second World War broke out, Canada and the United States began to re-evaluate strategic importance of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic. Both countries collaborated to some extent, but they differed in the treatment of Newfoundland. With its exhausted war-time economy, Britain found it difficult to keep Newfoundland under Commission Government. Britain asked Canada to help in reconstructing Newfoundland’s finance and governance. Canada welcomed it, because it wanted to control northern part of the continent to keep out American influence. Britain and Canada worked together to obtain the support of Newfoundlanders during the National Convention in which pre-Confederates and anti-Confederates fiercely debated. After two referendums, Newfoundland finally entered into Canada as its tenth province.

Free Research Field

カナダ史