The Treaty of Utrecht 1713
April 11, 1713
The British and their allies achieved the major aims expressed at the beginning
of the War of the Spanish Succession. The French were driven from the Spanish
Netherlands, which went to the Emperor. They lost their foothold in Italy, and
accepted - as did the Spanish - that the crowns of the two countries would never
be united.
The treaty expanded the British empire in the following ways:
Britain acquired Gibraltar and Minorca, valuable trading concessions in Spanish
America, and
the island of St. Kitt's in the West Indies.
In North America, France recognised the British claim to the Hudson Bay territory,
and
ceded mainland Acadia (modern Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) to Britain, but
not Cape Breton.
In addition, by article 13 of the treaty, France recognised that the island of Newfoundland was a British possession, though retaining the right to fish on a part of the coast which became known as the "French Shore". France surrendered the fort at Plaisance, and the French settlers moved to Cape Breton, renamed Île Royale.
Article 13. The Island called Newfoundland, with the adjacent islands, shall,
from this time forward, belong of right wholly to Great Britain; and to that
end the town and fortress of Placentia, and whatever other places in the said
island, are in the possession of the French, shall be yielded and given up ....
Moreover it shall not be lawful for the subjects of France to fortify any place
in the said Island of Newfoundland, or to erect any buildings there, besides
stages made of boards, and huts necessary and usual for fishing and drying of
fish; or to resort to the said island beyond the time necessary for fishing
and drying of fish. But it shall be allowed to the subjects of France, to catch
fish, and to dry them on land, in that part only, and in no other besides that,
of the said Island of Newfoundland, which stretches from the place called Cape
Bonavista, to the northern point of the said island, and from thence running
down the western side, reaches as far as the place called Point Riche. But the
island called Cape Breton, as also all others, both in the mouth of the river
St. Lawrence and in the Gulf of the same name, shall hereafter belong of right
to the French
