Archeological evidence, especially that excavated by Dr. Lisa Rankin indicates an early and year round Inuit presence.

In 1775, Captain George Cartwright, for whom the place is named, settled there, establishing a fish and fur trading business.

Since 2002, Cartwright has been connected by road (a section of the Trans-Labrador Highway, Route 516) with Blanc Sablon, Quebec, where there is a car ferry to Newfoundland.

[2] Since December 2009 the remaining link between Cartwright and Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador has been completed and open to the public.

Owing to its maritime location, the winters are however a little milder than on most of the Labrador Peninsula, but snow depth from the stormy Icelandic Low, which circulates cold and saturated air around the region, is extreme: it averages around 160 centimetres (63 in) at its peak early in March and has reached as high as 351 centimetres (138 in) on April 7, 2003.