St. John’s is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The area was discovered and explored in 1497 by the Venetian Giovanni Caboto, who called the land Terra de prima vista, or the newly found land. The discovery of the natural harbor where St. John’s arose, happened on John the Baptist’s name day, from which the town name comes.

However, it took until 1583 before England proclaimed the area a British colony, and a permanent settlement did not appear until after 1630. The town grew slowly and was attacked and conquered several times by the Dutch and French before two forts were built at the entrance to the harbor at the end of the 18th century.

Throughout the 19th century, St. John’s continued to be a major fishing port, but developed as a garrison town, administrative town and trading center as well. With St. John’s location as the easternmost city in Canada, the city was in several cases also used as a connection to Europe, which also happened during World War II.

Today, St. John’s is a cozy town, with the downtown located along the water centered on Water Street and Duckworth Street. Both streets take you back to the city of yesteryear from the 1800s, and in the southern part of downtown you can walk down George Street, which is known as the main street in St. John’s when it comes to bars, pubs and restaurants.

You can see the city’s two cathedrals west of the center. Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Baptist is the main Anglican church in the province. It was built from 1847 but had to be rebuilt after a big fire in 1892. Close to this is the Catholic Basilica Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. It is a cathedral, which was completed as one of the city’s most characteristic buildings in 1855.

In the same area as the cathedrals are The Rooms. It is a large complex that opened in 2005 as the Provincial Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador. The museum building’s architecture was inspired by the gabled houses from the province’s fishing villages, and the site’s collections tell the stories of the region’s natural and cultural history, and there is also an art gallery as part of The Rooms.

North of downtown is the Confederation Building, home to the provincial parliament. The 64-metre-high parliament building stands on Confederation Hill, and the complex was completed in 1960 as a replacement for St. John’s’ Colonial Building, which first housed the colonial government and then the provincial parliament until 1959. The Colonial Building was dedicated in 1850 and today it is used for public offices.

St. John’s is surrounded by beautiful nature and is close to the sea. You can easily explore it on walks from the city, for example along Signal Hill Road northeast of downtown. On the way there are fantastic views, and you can visit the science museum Johnson Geo Centre. If you continue, you come to Signal Hill with the Cabot Tower. The tower was built in 1898 to commemorate Giovanni Caboto’s landing in Newfoundland in 1497.