The full, official name of the Canadian province colloquially referred to as Newfoundland. Newfoundland is only an island, however, and the full name emphasizes the larger, continental part, Labrador. The capital of the province is St. John's, with a population of around 177,000.

Newfoundland and Labrador would rank fourth in size behind Alaska, Texas and California if it were one of the United States. It is almost one-and-three-quarters times the size of Great Britain.

Area of the Island of Newfoundland - 111,390 km²
Area of Labrador - 294,330 km²
Area of Avalon Peninsula - 9,700 km²

This is not actually (yet) the full official name of the province in question. According to the constitution it's still just 'Newfoundland' (internally it's been Newfoundland and Labrador since the 60's).

Why? Well, Quebec claims much of the area that is part of Newfoundland's Labrador. Successive separatist governments have blocked moves by St. John's and Ottawa to change the name (seeing it as giving credence to Newfoundland's claim). They covet the territory not just in the event that they ever succeed in separating from the country, but also because of the interests Hydro Quebec has in the area.

It's all pretty pointless though, considering if they ever did succeed they'd be lucky to keep any land 200km north of the St. Lawrence (since this area is almost entirely first nations, and they aren't on the best terms with Quebec City).

All this changed this week, however, when the Quebec government finally acquiesced to the name change (separatism is seriously on the wane and they don't want to create a fuss over nothing... whereas they would have jumped at just such a chance a few years ago). They aren't giving up their claim to the territory, however. This should be made official shortly.

It has to be approved by the Senate and the Governor General, both of which are formalities (since both are largely ceremonial).

---

Update: Gritchka says the name change came into effect December 6, 2001.