#shanawdithit

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Shanawdithit was one of the last of the Beothuk people, a group native to Newfoundland. The encroachment of settlers into the area in the 18th century, as well as conflicts with other peoples, cut the Beothuk off from the sea, one of their primary food sources. Diseases introduced by the Europeans, including tuberculosis, also proved devastating for the Beothuk, whose population dwindled precipitously as a result of starvation and disease.

Shanawdithit was abducted by settlers in 1819 alongside her mother and sisters, who died of tuberculosis. At the time of her capture, she estimated that no more than fifteen Beothuk remained in Newfoundland. At first forced into domestic servitude, Shanawdithit, dubbed "Nancy April" by her captors, eventually came to live with philanthropist William Eppes Cormack. Shanawdithit provided Cormack with sketches and oral histories describing her people's culture, including their material culture and their mythology. It is because of her that we know what we do about the Beothuk today. She died of tuberculosis aged 29 in 1829. Her body was dissected; an unfitting end for so courageous and strong a woman.

Learn more: https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/aboriginal/beothuk-disappearance.php

[archaeologicalnews]

Genes from 'culturally extinct' Indigenous group discovered in unsuspecting Tennessee man

The last known members of the Indigenous Beothuk people of Newfoundland were thought to have died out 200 years ago. But genes from these people have been found in a man living in Tennessee today, researchers reported.

Shanawdithit, a Beothuk woman who died of tuberculosis in 1829, was the last known Beothuk. The group had thrived in Newfoundland with as many as 2,000 people there, until the Europeans arrived in the early 1500s, bringing disease and pushing the Beothuk inland, away from their traditional fishing and hunting grounds, which led to their starvation.

However, even though the Beothuk culture is extinct, their genes are not. The new genetic study found "identical" Beothuk genes from Shanawdithit's uncle in a Tennessee man. They also found fairly-well matched genetic sequences in members of the modern-day Ojibwe (also known as the Chippewa) people, said study researcher Steven Carr, a professor of biology at Memorial University in Newfoundland, with a cross-appointment in population genetics with the university's Faculty of Medicine. Read more.

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Shanawdithit #MMIW

Today I say the name of Shanawdithit, the last known survivor of the Beothuk people. She died of tuberculosis 06 June 1829 in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Shanawdithit #MMIW

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Shanawdithit

Shanawdithit (vers/ca 1801-1829), dernière représentante connue des Indiens Béothuks de Terre-Neuve / last known surviving Beothuks from Newfoundland

(portrait supposé par William Gosse)

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Shanawdithit by Orion 2 Via Flickr: Shanawdithit statue from the Boyd's Cove Beothuk Site. She was the last recorded surviving member of the Beothuk people of Newfoundland. Info on the Boyd's Cove site. www.heritage.nf.ca/aboriginal/beo_boydscove.html

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Shanawdithit Profile (possible self portrait) Canada (1823) [Source]

Commentary from Ingeborg Marshall’s ‘A History and Ethnography of the Beothuk’ [Source]

Wikipedia says:

Shanawdithit (ca. 1801 – June 6, 1829), also noted as Shawnadithititis, Shawnawdithit, Nancy April and Nancy Shanawdithit, was the last known living member of the Beothuk people of Newfoundland, Canada. Also remembered for drawings she made towards the end of her life, Shawnawdithit was in her late twenties when she died of tuberculosis in St. John's, Newfoundland.

[comiccartography]

The Taking of Mary March

Shanawdithit

The Beothuks, or the Red Indians

[archaeologicalnews]

Calls made to repatriate Beothuk remains

Aboriginal groups want bones of the extinct Beothuk people to be removed from museum vaults and brought back to Newfoundland.

A woman named Shanawdithit was the last known member of her people, with her 1829 death in St. John's marking the end of the Beothuk. Disease, persecution and the Beothuk's decision to withdraw from coastal communities have been cited as causes of wiping out the Beothuk.

The location of Shanawdithit's grave is not known, but the skulls of her aunt and uncle — a chief — languish in a museum in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The remains of at least 22 Beothuk are held in Canadian museum vaults.

"They're sacred," said Jenelle Duval, a Mi'kmaq who took part in a ceremony this week in St. John's. They were given to the land, and that's where they should stay. Yes, they should be returned. Absolutely." Read more.