[1] In 1612, Welsh captain Thomas Button wintered on the shores of Hudson Bay, at the mouth of the river he named the Nelson.
"[2] Seven years later, in 1619, Danish captain Jens Munk would winter nearby at the mouth of the Churchill River, naming those environs Nova Dania[3] (Latin for "New Denmark").
The region would again be visited twelve years later in 1631 by Captains Thomas James and Luke Foxe.
Supposedly, Captain Foxe, upon discovering a cross erected by Button at Port Nelson, christened the shore north of the Nelson River as New North Wales, and all the lands south as New South Wales.
[4] Another account attributes the event to Captain James, while crediting Foxe with having bestowed upon the region the since-forgotten label of New Yorkshire.