This book looks at history through a broad, systematic study of the place names of one of the first European settlements in North America. It is rich in quotations from old literature, and it delves into the origins of such evocative names as Butter Pot, Burst Heart Hill, and Mistaken Point.
The first nine chapters form an historical and analytical introduction. This section is followed by two bibliographies -- one of maps, the other of texts -- and a gazetteer and index which lists the situation, description, chronological citations, and other relevant data for each place name. This construction enables Dr. Seary to evaluate the source materials, cartographic and textual, then relate them to phases of discovery, settlement, and social history, and to examine in detail the more significant names and name-groups within the historical context, without loss of simplicity or speed in the mechanics of lexicographic reference.
This lucidly constructed, elegantly presented work lays a methodological foundation not only for the study of Newfoundland toponymy but for that of other parts of North America as well. It is not confined to the narrow field of toponymy, but it is a useful contribution to the human geography and local history of Newfoundland, and to the history of the seventeenth and eighteenth century cartography of the province.
The text is enhanced by distribution maps showing place names of different linguistic or ethnic origin and by facsimile reproductions of two seventeenth century maps.
