The search for a Northwest Passage fundamentally shaped the history of Newfoundland, where John Cabot landed in 1497 while seeking a northwestern sea route to Asia. As Ainsley Hawthorn writes, the quest persisted for centuries and cost hundreds of lives.

With the clocks set to change, cultural historian Ainsley Hawthorn takes a broader look at time: specifically, why Newfoundland has a time zone to call its own.

Seafaring idioms aren't restricted to seafaring cultures, they're in wide use everywhere English is spoken, from the American Midwest to the Australian Outback. So how did they become such a mainstay of our vocabulary?

In Newfoundland and Labrador, we're known for doing things a little bit differently, so it should come as no surprise that Labour Day in the province has a history that's distinct from the rest of Canada, writes Ainsley Hawthorn.

Funeral processions have existed throughout recorded history, writes Ainsley Hawthorn, emerging independently in many different parts of the world, for purely practical reasons. But the tradition is under threat.

Somewhere in the Strait of Belle Isle dividing Newfoundland from Labrador lies an island perpetually shrouded in mist. No one lives on the fabled Isle of Demons because any human being who sets foot on its shores is harassed day and night by evil spirits who jabber unintelligibly and conjure terrifying illusions.