THE FRENCH SHORE - TREATY SHORE

	The term French Shore is derived from the fact that special privileges on the north east and west coast of Newfoundland were granted to migratory French Fishermen by two eighteenth Century Treaties with the British. The French-speaking settlers, that made the Peninsula their home, came from St. Pierre, Brittany and the Arcadian Communities of Nova Scotia.
	The Treaty of Utrecht (1717)
	The Treaty of Utrecht established the boundary for the French Shore to be from the area of Cape Bonavista to Point (Cape) Riche. However, after the treaty was created, the French continued to fish off the south coast, as far as Cape Ray, claiming that the British had the wrong coordinates for Pointe Riche.

	The Treaty of Versailles (1783)
	The Treaty of Versailles established the boundary for the French Shore to be from Cape St. John in the north east to Cape Ray in the south.

	Today
	Now the French Shore is used almost interchangeably with the Port au Port Peninsula, the area of Newfoundland which has the largest French speaking population.