Advances in transportation during the late 1800s and the early 1900s affected the development of the forestry and mining industries in Newfoundland and Labrador.
During the mid-1960s, American entrepreneur John Shaheen arranged with Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Joseph Smallwood to construct an oil refinery at Come By Chance.
German firms established thirteen of the sixteen manufacturing plants created in Newfoundland during the 1950s due to Alfred Valdmanis' business contacts.