it would’ve been very hard to stop breton fishermen from making stations on the north american coast since they were fishing there since the early 16th century. putting them up in a specific place was presumably more conveinient than dealing with them pulling up in any random port, regardless of legality
side-bar–the prompt and extensive utilization of north atlantic fisheries by europeans is a big vector of psuedohistorical narratives of pre-colombian contact. early explorers just talked about how rich the area was and fishermen followed immediately, but there are stories about breton/basque fishermen predating columbus or whatever
it would’ve been very hard to stop breton fishermen from making stations on the north american coast since they were fishing there since the early 16th century. putting them up in a specific place was presumably more conveinient than dealing with them pulling up in any random port, regardless of legality
side-bar–the prompt and extensive utilization of north atlantic fisheries by europeans is a big vector of psuedohistorical narratives of pre-colombian contact. early explorers just talked about how rich the area was and fishermen followed immediately, but there are stories about breton/basque fishermen predating columbus or whatever