Newfoundland is a large Canadian island off the east coast of the North American mainland, and the most populous part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It has 29 percent of the province’s land area. The island is separated from the Labrador Peninsula by the Strait of Belle Isle and from Cape Breton Island by the Cabot Strait. It blocks the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, creating the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the world’s largest estuary. Newfoundland’s nearest neighbour is the French overseas community of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.
With an area of 108,860 square kilometres (42,031 sq mi), Newfoundland is the world’s 16th-largest island, Canada’s fourth-largest island, and the largest Canadian island outside the North.
The provincial capital, St. John’s, is located on the southeastern coast of the island; Cape Spear, just south of the capital, is the easternmost point of North America, excluding Greenland. It is common to consider all directly neighboring islands such as New World, Twillingate, Fogo and Bell Island to be ‘part of Newfoundland’ (i.e., distinct from Labrador). By that classification, Newfoundland and its associated small islands have a total area of 111,390 square kilometres (43,008 sq mi).
