Carbonear, Nfld, Town, pop 4759 (2001c), 5168 (1996c), 5259 (1991c), area 11.81 km2, inc 1948, is located on the west shore of CONCEPTION BAY. The name may come from the Spanish Carbonera ("a seller of charcoal"), or the French family name Carbonnier or place-name La Carbonnière. Near excellent fishing grounds, Carbonear was first fished in the early 1600s. In 1631 Nicholas Guy from the CUPIDS colony was fishing and farming there. It was settled in the late 1600s by English West Country fishermen and Channel Islanders.
Nearby Carbonear Island was fortified in the 1680s and was the only Newfoundland site to resist French attacks in 1696 and 1697, although Carbonear itself was razed. The town again fell to the French in 1704 and 1705, and was the object of numerous other attacks by French and American privateers until the early 1800s.
With the rise of the seal hunt and the Labrador cod fishery, Carbonear became a major commercial centre in the 1800s. Violent political riots here in the early and mid-1800s led to the dissolution of the Newfoundland Legislature 1840 and the suspension of the constitution. In the 1900s the economy diversified; Carbonear has become a regional service, transportation, government and fish-processing centre.