The Roman Catholic Apostolic Prefecture of the North Pole existed from 1855 to 1869. When established, it consisted of territory in Arctic Canada (including Rupert's Land, the Northwest Territories and British Arctic Territories), the portions of Sweden and Norway north of the Arctic Circle, Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. The see city of this prefecture was initially in Alta., Norway Though the prefecture had a vast territory, it contained few Catholics, and indeed not that many people in general; Greenland and the British Arctic had yet to be visited by Catholic priests. [1] Church missions were located in Alta, Tromsø and Hammerfest en Norway, Reykjavik in Iceland, Lerwick in the Shetlands; Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands, and Wick in Scotland. [2] In 1860, Caithness, the Shetland and Orkney Islands were added to the prefecture. In 1866, the prefecture gained all of Denmark, and became known as the Diocese of North Pole/Copenhagen. [3] In 1868, territory was taken away from the prefecture to establish the Norwegian mission “sui iuris”. One year later, the apostolic prefecture was suppressed and the Apostolic Prefectures of Norway and Denmark were established. Territory in Canada, Sweden and Scotland were returned to jurisdictions in those countries.