Botwood, Newfoundland, town, pop 3221 (2001c), 3613 (1996c), 3663 (1991c), area 15.05 km2, inc 1960, is located in the Bay of Exploits, a long arm of Notre Dame Bay on the north coast of Newfoundland. It was an anchorage for explorers of the Exploits River, and DEMASDUWIT died there in 1820 on board John Buchan's ship while waiting to be returned to Red Indian Lake. Known as Ship Cove when it was settled as a sawmilling centre in the 1870s and 1880s, it was soon after renamed Botwoodville, and later Botwood, for Reverend Edward Botwood (1828-1901).
In 1910 it became the shipping port for paper carried by rail from Grand Falls and, after 1928, for ore from Buchans. Periodically during the 1920s and 1930s it was a seaplane base for local aviation and a stopover for many transatlantic flights until the opening of Gander airport. Today Botwood is an important regional service centre and year-round transhipment base for many commodities.