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St. John's
St. John's, NL, incorporated as a city in 1921, population 110,525 (2021 census), 108,860 (2016 census). The capital and largest city of Newfoundland and Labrador, the city of St. John's is located on the eastern side of the Avalon Peninsula of southeast Newfoundland. Its landlocked harbour is approached through a long, narrow channel and is protected by the high hills on which the city is built. The origin of the name St. John's is not known, but its use appears on a Portuguese map by Pedro Reinel (1516–20) as "Rio de San Johem" and later, in a 1527 letter by the English seaman John Rut, as the "Haven of St. John's." According to popular folklore, however, the city takes its name from the feast of Saint John the Baptist and the arrival of Italian explorer Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) on the shores of Newfoundland on 24 June 1497.
