Shanawdithit - Notable First Nations People
Shanawdithit is known as the last living Beothuk, the indigenous people of Newfoundland, Canada. Many Beothuk descendants have been identified by DNA, however Shanawdithit seems to be the last documented and known of her people. As a child, Shanawdithit was shot by a white trapper while washing venison in a river. Many of her relatives died from the effects of European incursion : disease, murder and displacement. She and her mother and sister were encountered in 1823 by trappers and taken to St. John's (capital of Newfoundland). After this. the colonial government attempted to have her be a guide for expeditions into her people's homeland, but she refused. Eventually she went to live with William Eppes Cormack, the founder of the Beothuk Institution. Shanawdithit played a vital role in documenting what little is known about the Beothuk people by allowing Cormack to document it. Shanawdithit was recognized as a National Historic Person in 2000.
