Arctic Archipelago

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Arctic Archipelago
Archipel Arctique Canadien (French)
Arcticisl.png
Polar projection map of the Arctic Archipelago
Canadian Arctic Archipelago.svg
Geography
Location Northern Canada
Coordinates 75°N90°W / 75°N 90°W / 75; -90 (Arctic Archipelago)
Total islands36,563
Major islands Baffin Island, Victoria Island, Ellesmere Island
Area1,407,770 [1]  km2 (543,540 sq mi)
Administration
Canada
Territories and province Nunavut
Northwest Territories
Yukon
Newfoundland and Labrador
Largest settlement Iqaluit, Nunavut(pop. 7,429 [2] )
Demographics
Population23,073 (2021 [3] [4] )
Pop. density0.0098/km2 (0.0254/sq mi)

The Arctic Archipelago, also known as the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, is an archipelago lying to the north of the Canadian continental mainland, excluding Greenland (an autonomous territory of Denmark) and Iceland (an independent country).

Contents

Situated in the northern extremity of North America and covering about 1,424,500 km2 (550,000 sq mi), this group of 36,563 islands, surrounded by the Arctic Ocean, comprises much of Northern Canada, predominately Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. [5] The archipelago is showing some effects of climate change, [6] [7] with some computer estimates determining that melting there will contribute 3.5 cm (1.4 in) to the rise in sea levels by 2100. [8]

History

Around 2500 BCE, the first humans, the Paleo-Eskimos, arrived in the archipelago from the Canadian mainland. Between 1000–1500 CE, they were replaced by the Thule people, who are the ancestors of today's Inuit.

British claims on the islands, the British Arctic Territories, were based on the explorations in the 1570s by Martin Frobisher. Canadian sovereignty was originally (1870–80) only over island portions that drained into Foxe Basin, Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait. Canadian sovereignty over the islands was established by 1880 when Britain transferred them to Canada. [9] The District of Franklin – established in 1895 – comprised almost all of the archipelago. The district was dissolved upon the creation of Nunavut in 1999. Canada claims all the waterways of the Northwest Passage as Canadian Internal Waters; however, most maritime countries view these as international waters. [10] [ failed verification ] Disagreement over the passages' status has raised Canadian concerns about environmental enforcement, national security, and general sovereignty. East of Ellesmere Island, in the Nares Strait, lies Hans Island, ownership of which is now shared between Canada and Denmark, after a decades-long dispute. [11] [12] [13]

Geography

Satellite image of Baffin Island, the largest island by total area of the Arctic Archipelago Wfm baffin island.jpg
Satellite image of Baffin Island, the largest island by total area of the Arctic Archipelago

The archipelago extends some 2,400 km (1,500 mi) longitudinally and 1,900 km (1,200 mi) from the mainland to Cape Columbia, the northernmost point on Ellesmere Island. It is bounded on the west by the Beaufort Sea; on the northwest by the Arctic Ocean; on the east by Greenland, Baffin Bay and Davis Strait; and on the south by Hudson Bay and the Canadian mainland. The various islands are separated from each other and the continental mainland by a series of waterways collectively known as the Northwest Passage. Two large peninsulas, Boothia and Melville, extend northward from the mainland. The northernmost cluster of islands, including Ellesmere Island, is known as the Queen Elizabeth Islands and was formerly the Parry Islands.

The archipelago consists of 36,563 islands, of which 94 are classified as major islands, being larger than 130 km2 (50 sq mi), and cover a total area of 1,400,000 km2 (540,000 sq mi). [14] The islands of the archipelago over 10,000 km2 (3,900 sq mi), in order of descending area, are:

NameLocation*AreaArea rankPopulation
(2021)
WorldCanada
Baffin Island NU 507,451 km2 (195,928 sq mi)5113,039 [2] [3]
Victoria Island NT, NU 217,291 km2 (83,897 sq mi)822,168 [3] [4]
Ellesmere Island NU 196,236 km2 (75,767 sq mi)103144 [3]
Banks Island NT 70,028 km2 (27,038 sq mi)245104 [4]
Devon Island NU 55,247 km2 (21,331 sq mi)2760
Axel Heiberg Island NU 43,178 km2 (16,671 sq mi)3270
Melville Island NT, NU 42,149 km2 (16,274 sq mi)3380
Southampton Island NU 41,214 km2 (15,913 sq mi)3491,038 [3]
Prince of Wales Island NU 33,339 km2 (12,872 sq mi)40100
Somerset Island NU 24,786 km2 (9,570 sq mi)46120
Bathurst Island NU 16,042 km2 (6,194 sq mi)54130
Prince Patrick Island NT 15,848 km2 (6,119 sq mi)55140
King William Island NU 13,111 km2 (5,062 sq mi)61151,349 [3]
Ellef Ringnes Island NU 11,295 km2 (4,361 sq mi)69160
Bylot Island NU 11,067 km2 (4,273 sq mi)72170

* NT = Northwest Territories, NU = Nunavut

After Greenland, the archipelago is the world's largest high-Arctic land area. The climate of the islands is Arctic, and the terrain consists of tundra except in mountainous regions. Most of the islands are uninhabited; human settlement is extremely thin and scattered, being mainly coastal Inuit settlements on the southern islands.

Reference map of Canadian Arctic Archipelago Canadarcticislands.gif
Reference map of Canadian Arctic Archipelago
Islands not on map

Notes

  • ^A Population: 183 [3]
  • ^B Formerly Jens Munk Island
  • ^C Formerly Vansittart Island
  • ^D Formerly White Island
  • ^E Formerly Big Island
  • ^F Population: 593 [3]
  • ^G Population: 1,396 [3]
  • ^H Population: 1,010 [3]
  • ^I Population: 2,049 [3]
  • ^J Formerly Jenny Lind Island
  • ^K Formerly Gateshead Island

Communities

CommunityIslandRegion, territoryPopulation [3] [4]
Arctic Bay Baffin Island Qikiqtaaluk, NU 944
Clyde River Baffin Island Qikiqtaaluk, NU 1,181
Iqaluit Baffin Island Qikiqtaaluk, NU 7,429
Kimmirut Baffin Island Qikiqtaaluk, NU 426
Pangnirtung Baffin Island Qikiqtaaluk, NU 1,504
Pond Inlet Baffin Island Qikiqtaaluk, NU 1,555
Sachs Harbour Banks Island Inuvik, NT 104
Qikiqtarjuaq Broughton Island Qikiqtaaluk, NU 593
Resolute Cornwallis Island Qikiqtaaluk, NU 183
Kinngait Dorset Island Qikiqtaaluk, NU 1,396
Grise Fiord Ellesmere Island Qikiqtaaluk, NU 144
Sanikiluaq Flaherty Island Qikiqtaaluk, NU 1,010
Igloolik Igloolik Island Qikiqtaaluk, NU 2,049
Gjoa Haven King William Island Kitikmeot, NU 1,349
Coral Harbour Southampton Island Kivalliq, NU 1,038
Cambridge Bay Victoria Island Kitikmeot, NU 1,760
Ulukhaktok Victoria Island Inuvik, NT 408
Total23,073

Populated islands

Of the more than 36,000 islands, only 11 are populated. Baffin Island, the largest, also has the largest population of 13,309. [2] [3] The population accounts for 67.37 per cent of the 19,355 people in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, 56.51 per cent of the population of the Arctic Archipelago, and 35.38 per cent of the population of Nunavut. [2] [3] [4]

IslandPopulation [2] [3] [4] Area [1] [15] [16]
(km2)
Area
(sq mi)
Density
(km2)
Density
(sq mi)
Baffin Island 13,039507,451315,3150.0260.067
Banks Island 10470,02843,5130.0010.004
Broughton Island 593127.679.34.64712.037
Cornwallis Island 1836,9954,3460.0260.068
Dorset Island 1,396218174.50067.375
Ellesmere Island 144196,236121,9350.0010.002
Flaherty Island 1,0101,5859850.6371.650
Igloolik Island 2,049114.571.117.89546.348
King William Island 1,34913,1118,1470.1030.266
Southampton Island 1,03841,21425,6090.1030.266
Victoria Island 2,168217,291135,0180.0100.026

Mapping

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Island</span> Island in Arctic Canada

Victoria Island is a large island in the Arctic Archipelago that straddles the boundary between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the eighth-largest island in the world, and at 217,291 km2 (83,897 sq mi) in area, it is Canada's second-largest island. It is nearly double the size of Newfoundland (111,390 km2 [43,010 sq mi]), and is slightly larger than the island of Great Britain (209,331 km2 [80,823 sq mi]) but smaller than Honshu (225,800 km2 [87,200 sq mi]). The western third of the island lies in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories; the remainder is part of Nunavut's Kitikmeot Region. The population of 2,168 is divided among two settlements, the larger of which is Cambridge Bay (Nunavut) and the other Ulukhaktok.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baffin Bay</span> Marginal sea between Greenland and Baffin Island, Canada

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References

  1. 1 2 "Atlas of Canada – Sea Islands". Atlas.nrcan.gc.ca. 12 August 2009. Archived from the original on 22 January 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories, and census subdivisions (municipalities), Nunavut". Statistics Canada. 9 February 2022. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories, and census subdivisions (municipalities), Nunavut". Statistics Canada. 9 February 2022. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories, and census subdivisions (municipalities), Northwest Territories". Statistics Canada. 9 February 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  5. Marsh, James H., ed. 1988. "Arctic Archipelago" The Canadian Encyclopedia . Toronto: Hurtig Publishers.
  6. Thinning of the Arctic Sea-Ice Cover
  7. Arctic sea ice decline: Faster than forecast
  8. Wayman, Erin. "Canada's ice shrinking rapidly". Science News .
  9. "Canada". World Statesmen. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  10. "Northwest Passage gets political name change". Edmonton Journal . Archived from the original on 21 January 2016 via Canada.com.
  11. Levin, Dan (7 November 2016). "Canada and Denmark Fight Over Island With Whisky and Schnapps". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  12. Bender, Jeremy. "2 countries have been fighting over an uninhabited island by leaving each other bottles of alcohol for over 3 decades". Business Insider. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  13. Hopper, Tristin (13 June 2022). "Canada to get new land border with Denmark as decades-long Hans Island dispute ends". National Post. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  14. Arctic Archipelago
  15. "Islands By Land Area". Islands.unep.ch. Archived from the original on 20 February 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  16. "Sector13.Hudson Strait" (PDF). National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. pollux.nss.nima.mil. pp. 14–15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2004. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  17. "Broughton Island". Geographical Names Data Base . Natural Resources Canada.
  18. "Cape Chidley Islands". Geographical Names Data Base . Natural Resources Canada.
  19. "Dorset Island". Geographical Names Data Base . Natural Resources Canada.
  20. "Flaherty Island". Geographical Names Data Base . Natural Resources Canada.
  21. "Igloolik Island". Geographical Names Data Base . Natural Resources Canada.

Further reading