- The Vikings settled in L‘Anse aux Meadows in 1000 AD.
- For 500+ years, ocean industry has played a central role in the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador.
- Since John Cabot’s arrival in 1497, fishing has been the primary industry until the 1990s, when the offshore oil and gas industry became the dominant economic sector.
- St. John’s, the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador, is the oldest city in North America.
- Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal on Signal Hill in St. John’s in 1901.
- Newfoundland was an island nation until it joined Canada in 1949. Living on an island in the North Atlantic has fostered a strong sense of community and networking among Newfoundlanders, which has driven the development of the ocean technology cluster.
- Newfoundland and Labrador has become an international centre for ice engineering and cold oceans research and development.