Natsitok

Natsitok, the Inuit name for Sandwich Bay on the Labrador coast, means the place of the ringed seals. The bay and its rivers were used by Inuit families who hunted, fished and travelled along this shore. Its sheltered waters lie between the open Labrador Sea and an interior of wooded rivers and hunting grounds.

In the later eighteenth century the British trader George Cartwright established fishing and trading stations around Sandwich Bay, dealing with Inuit and Innu as well as sending trappers inland. Inuit from farther north also travelled south to trade here. European men who came to work at the coastal stations formed families with Inuit women, adding new ties to the relationships already maintained along the Labrador coast.