Cartwright, Newfoundland and Labrador
Cartwright is a community located on the eastern side of the entrance to Sandwich Bay, along the southern coast of Labrador in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It was incorporated in 1956.
Sandwich Bay is an area with a longstanding Inuit presence known to resident Inuit as Natsiktok or place of the ring seals. Archeological evidence, especially that excavated by Dr. Lisa Rankin, indicates an early and year round Inuit presence.
History
Cartwright has been a settled community since 1775. In 1775, Captain George Cartwright, for whom the place is named, settled there, establishing a fish and fur trading business. He left Labrador in 1786, maintaining a business interest there until it was sold to Hunt and Henley in 1815.The residents of Sandwich Bay were described by Rev. Bishop Field in 1848 as either 'pure Esquimaux' or 'Anglo-Esquimaux, with an admixture of old English settlers'.
In 1873, the Hudson's Bay Company bought the fishery and trading post from A.B. Hunt & Company, together with Grady Harbour, Sandhill, and Round Island. In the early 20th century, the fur trade went into decline, so the post's main business was pickling and preserving salmon. In 1959, the business became part of the HBC Northern Stores Department. HBC divested this department in 1987 to The North West Company, which still operates a Northern Store in Cartwright.
Since 2002, Cartwright has been connected by road with Blanc Sablon, Quebec, where there is a car ferry to Newfoundland. Since December 2009 the remaining link between Cartwright and Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador has been completed and open to the public.