Queen Maud Gulf

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Queen Maud Gulf
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Queen Maud Gulf
Location of Queen Maud Gulf in Nunavut
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Queen Maud Gulf
Location of Queen Maud Gulf in Canada
Location Nunavut, Canada
Coordinates 68°20′N102°00′W / 68.333°N 102.000°W / 68.333; -102.000 (Queen Maud Gulf)
Type Gulf
Ocean/sea sources Arctic Ocean
Basin  countriesCanada
Islands Jenny Lind Island, King William Island, Royal Geographical Society Island
Designations
Official nameQueen Maud Gulf
Designated24 May 1982
Reference no.246 [1]

Queen Maud Gulf lies between the northern coast of the mainland and the southeastern corner of Victoria Island in Nunavut, Canada. At its western end lies Cambridge Bay, leading to Dease Strait; to the east lies Simpson Strait; and to the north, Victoria Strait. It is home to the Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary.

Contents

History

In 1839, it was crossed by Peter Warren Dease and Thomas Simpson. It was named by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen in 1905 for the Norwegian queen Maud of Wales.

The wreck of HMS Erebus from Franklin's lost expedition of 1845 to find the Northwest Passage was found in 2014. The wreck lies at the bottom of the eastern portion of Queen Maud Gulf, west of O'Reilly Island. [2]

Islands

Islands in the Queen Maud Gulf include:

See also

Related Research Articles

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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 2 settlements, the larger of which is in Nunavut and the other of which is in the Northwest Territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Rae (explorer)</span> Scottish explorer (1813–1893)

John Rae was a Scottish surgeon who explored parts of northern Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King William Island</span> Island in Nunavut, Canada

King William Island is an island in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, which is part of the Arctic Archipelago. In area it is between 12,516 km2 (4,832 sq mi) and 13,111 km2 (5,062 sq mi) making it the 61st-largest island in the world and Canada's 15th-largest island. Its population, as of the 2021 census, was 1,349, all of whom live in the island's only community, Gjoa Haven.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amundsen Gulf</span> Gulf in the Northwest Territories, Canada

Amundsen Gulf is a gulf located mainly in the Inuvik Region, Northwest Territories, Canada with a small section in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut. It lies between Banks Island and Victoria Island and the mainland. It is approximately 250 mi (400 km) in length and about 93 mi (150 km) across where it meets the Beaufort Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boothia Peninsula</span> Peninsula in Nunavut, Canada

Boothia Peninsula is a large peninsula in Nunavut's northern Canadian Arctic, south of Somerset Island. The northern part, Murchison Promontory, is the northernmost point of mainland Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coronation Gulf</span> Gulf between Victoria Island and mainland Nunavut in Canada

Coronation Gulf lies between Victoria Island and mainland Nunavut in Canada. To the northwest it connects with Dolphin and Union Strait and thence the Beaufort Sea and Arctic Ocean; to the northeast it connects with Dease Strait and thence Queen Maud Gulf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Crozier</span> Irish naval officer and polar explorer (1796–1848?)

Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier was an Irish officer of the Royal Navy and polar explorer who participated in six expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic. In May 1845, he was second-in-command to Sir John Franklin and captain of HMS Terror during the Franklin expedition to discover the Northwest Passage, which ended with the loss of all 129 crewmen in mysterious circumstances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dease Strait</span> Waterway in Nunavut, Canada

Dease Strait is an east–west waterway between the mainland's Kent Peninsula and Victoria Island in Nunavut, Canada. It is part of the Northwest Passage. At its eastern end, approximately 19 km (12 mi) wide, is Cambridge Bay; to the west it widens to approximately 61 km (38 mi) and becomes Coronation Gulf. The strait is 163 km (101 mi) long.

<i>Maud</i> (ship) Ship built for Roald Amundsen for his second expedition to the Arctic

Maud, named for Queen Maud of Norway, was a ship built for Roald Amundsen for his second expedition to the Arctic. Designed for his intended voyage through the Northeast Passage, the vessel was built in Asker, a suburb of the capital, Oslo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Strait</span> Strait in Nunavut, Canada

Victoria Strait is a strait in northern Canada that lies in Nunavut off the mainland in the Arctic Ocean. It is between Victoria Island to the west and King William Island to the east. From the north, the strait links the M'Clintock Channel and the Larsen Sound with the Queen Maud Gulf to the south. The strait is about 160 km (100 mi) long and anywhere from 80 to 130 km wide.

The Royal Geographical Society Islands formerly the Royal Geographical Society Group are a group of islands lying west of King William Island in Victoria Strait, within the Queen Maud Gulf, in the north Canadian territory of Nunavut.

The Minto Islands are a Canadian Arctic island group in the Nunavut Territory. The islands lie in the western portion of Queen Maud Gulf, between Kent Peninsula on Nunavut's mainland, and Melbourne Island. Back Point, Victoria Island is approximately 47.9 km (29.8 mi) to the north.

The Simpson Strait is a natural, shallow waterway separating King William Island to the north from Adelaide Peninsula on Nunavut's mainland to the south. The strait, an arm of the Arctic Ocean, connects the Queen Maud Gulf with Rasmussen Basin's Rae Strait.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copper Inuit</span> Inuit in Canada

Copper Inuit, also known as Inuinnait and Kitlinermiut, are a Canadian Inuit group who live north of the tree line, in what is now the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut and in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories. Most of them historically lived in the area around Coronation Gulf, on Victoria Island, and southern Banks Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kiillinnguyaq</span> Peninsula in Nunavut, Canada

Kiillinnguyaq, formerly the Kent Peninsula, is a large Arctic peninsula, almost totally surrounded by water, in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut. Were it not for a 8.0 km (5 mi) isthmus at the southeast corner it would be a long island parallel to the coast. From the isthmus it extends 169 km (105 mi) westward into the Coronation Gulf. To the south, Melville Sound separates it from the mainland. To the north is Dease Strait and then Victoria Island. To the west is Coronation Gulf and to the east, Queen Maud Gulf. Cape Flinders marks the western tip of the peninsula, Cape Franklin is at the northwestern point, and Hiiqtinniq, formerly Cape Alexander marks the northeastern point.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Simpson (explorer)</span> Scottish explorer (1808–1840)

Thomas Simpson was a Scottish Arctic explorer, Hudson's Bay Company fur trader, and cousin of Company Governor Sir George Simpson. He helped chart the northern coasts of Canada. He died by violence near the Turtle River while traveling through the wilderness in what is now the U.S. state of North Dakota but was then part of the Territory of Iowa. The circumstances of his final hours—in which he allegedly killed himself after gunning down two companions—have long been a subject of controversy.

Peter Warren Dease was a Canadian fur trader and Arctic explorer.

O'Reilly Island is an uninhabited island in Nunavut Territory, Canada. It lies to the south of King William Island and to the west of the Klutschak and Adelaide Peninsulas, in the easternmost part of the Queen Maud Gulf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kangiqhuk</span> Fjord on Victoria Island

Kangiqhuk, formerly West Arm, is a fiord on the southeast coast of Victoria Island in Canada. The fiord is short, about 5 km (3.1 mi), and flows into Cambridge Bay and then to Dease Strait and Queen Maud Gulf. The hamlet of Cambridge Bay is located close to the fiord and Cambridge Bay Airport is situated on the north side of the arm.

References

  1. "Queen Maud Gulf". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  2. Chase, Steven (9 September 2014). "Finding of Franklin ship fuels Harper's new nationalism". The Globe and Mail . Ottawa. Retrieved 10 September 2014.