The story of Nunatsiavut, "our beautiful land," is a story of time and ice. Eight hundred million years ago, a huge layer of four-billion-year-old granite pushed upwards to form the elevated land mass now called Labrador, the eastern edge of the Canadian Shield. A succession of ice masses, including a layer of up to two kilometres thick during the most recent ice age, sculpted the land. Weight and pressure carved out the fjords, lakes and the deep valleys that define the 294,000 square kilometre landscape of today's Labrador.

A land on a grand scale, Labrador contains one of the last great wilderness areas on earth. Northern Labrador has three distinct mountain ranges. The Kiglapaits include deposits of Labradorite, the iridescent stone prized by artisans and designers around the world. The Kaumajets are a distinct combination of volcanic rock, lava and granite. The northernmost mountains are the Torngats, the home of the spirits. Rising to 2000 metres, they are the highest mountain range east of the Rockies.

From mountains ranges, through forests and tundra, waters spill into the sea with its myriad islands and icebergs. The marine environment is so much a part of the physical and cultural identity of northern Labrador that the region is often called simply "The Coast." More than 7,800 kilometres of coastline support a wealth of fish, marine mammals and seabirds, which in turn have supported Labrador Inuit for millennia. In northern Labrador, the sea is also a highway; open waters bring extensive marine traffic, and in winter coastal ice is well-traveled.

The land itself features three distinct sub-arctic zones. In the south, the boreal forest features mixed woodlands of spruce and tamarack and some deciduous trees such as aspen. Moving north, boreal forest gives way to taiga, a transition zone of spruce forest interspersed with rocky outcrops and barren ground shrubs and plants. Farther north is the tundra where the tree line ends, and where there are only a few stunted conifers in a land that instead supports deciduous shrubs, such as willow, and a diversity of alpine plant species.

In a land where the human population has always remained small, wildlife abounds. It is home to the largest caribou herd in the world. As well as large mammals such as black bears and polar bears, the land supports wolves, fox, beaver, squirrels, otters, marten, porcupine, lemmings and vole. The coastal areas are home to seals and whales. Birds include bald eagles, golden eagles, owls, ducks, geese, warblers and wading birds. All are part of a rich and interdependent ecosystem.

In 5000 years of occupation of Nunatsiavut, Labrador Inuit have forged deep connections with this land and this ecosystem. Hunting, fishing, trapping and land use practices have included a strong tradition of environmental responsibility that continues through new economic development approaches today. The land and its resources also provide us with the materials and inspiration for our art, our music and our stories. The land, the people, the culture: together they shape the identity of Nunatsiavut.