[citation needed] Due to it being covered almost entirely by the Canadian Shield — a vast, rocky plateau with a history of glaciation — the peninsula has a large number of lakes.

The longest, the La Grande River, is 900 kilometres (560 mi) long and flows westwards across nearly half the peninsula.

[5] Other peoples on the peninsula include the East Cree of Eeyou Istchee (ᐄᔨᔨᐤ/ᐄᔨᔫ/ᐄᓅ ᐊᔅᒌ), the Naskapi whose territories are called St'aschinuw (ᒋᑦ ᐊᔅᒋᓄᐤ, also meaning "our land")[6] as well as the Inuit of Nunavik, Nunatsiavut and NunatuKavut.

He was granted a patent by King Manuel I of Portugal in 1499 that gave him the right to explore that part of the Atlantic Ocean as set out in the Treaty of Tordesillas.

Together with Pero de Barcelos, he first sighted Labrador in 1498, and charted the coasts of southwestern Greenland and of adjacent the northeastern North America around 1498 and gave notice of them in Portugal and Europe.