The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea lane between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arctic coasts of Norway and Siberia is accordingly called the Northeast Passage (NEP). The various islands of the archipelago are separated from one another and from Mainland Canada by a series of Arctic waterways collectively known as the Northwest Passages, Northwestern Passages or the Canadian Internal Waters.
Baffin Island, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is 507,451 km2 (195,928 sq mi) with a population density of 0.03/km²; the population was 13,039 according to the 2021 Canadian census; and it is located at 68°N70°W. It also contains the city of Iqaluit, which is the capital of Nunavut.
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.
Melville Island is an uninhabited member of the Queen Elizabeth Islands of the Arctic Archipelago. With an area of 42,149 km2 (16,274 sq mi), It is the 33rd largest island in the world and Canada's eighth largest island.
HMS Resolute was a mid-19th-century barque-rigged ship of the British Royal Navy, specially outfitted for Arctic exploration. Resolute became trapped in the ice and was abandoned in 1854. Recovered by an American whaler, she was returned to Queen Victoria in 1856. Timbers from the ship were later used to construct the Resolute desk which was presented to the President of the United States and is located in the White House Oval Office.
Somerset Island is a large, uninhabited island of the Arctic Archipelago, that is part of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. The island is separated from Cornwallis Island and Devon Island to the north by the Parry Channel, from Baffin Island to the east by Prince Regent Inlet, from the Boothia Peninsula to the south by Bellot Strait, and from Prince of Wales Island to the west by Peel Sound. It has an area of 24,786 km2 (9,570 sq mi), making it the 46th largest island in the world and Canada's twelfth largest island.
A member of the Arctic Archipelago, Prince Patrick Island is the westernmost of the Queen Elizabeth Islands in the Northwest Territories of Canada, lying northwest of Melville Island. The area of Prince Patrick Island is 15,848 km2 (6,119 sq mi), making it the 55th largest island in the world and Canada's 14th largest island. It has historically been icebound all year, making it one of the least accessible parts of Canada. Located at the entrance of the M'Clure Strait, Prince Patrick Island is uninhabited.
Melville Peninsula is a large peninsula in the Canadian Arctic north of Hudson Bay. To the east is Foxe Basin and to the west the Gulf of Boothia. To the north the Fury and Hecla Strait separates it from Baffin Island. To the south Repulse Bay and Frozen Strait separate it from Southampton Island at the north end of Hudson Bay. On the southwest it is connected to the mainland by the Rae Isthmus, named after the Arctic explorer John Rae.
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.
Stefansson Island is an uninhabited island in the Arctic Archipelago in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, Canada. It has a total area of 4,463 km2 (1,723 sq mi), making it the 128th largest island in the world, and Canada's 27th largest island. The island is located in Viscount Melville Sound, with M'Clintock Channel to the east. It lies just off Victoria Island's Storkerson Peninsula, separated by the Goldsmith Channel. Stefansson Island's highest mount is 256 m (840 ft). A weather station, at 73°45′56″N105°17′44″W, is located on the northern part of the island as part of an automated weather station array operated by Environment and Climate Change Canada in the Arctic. The first European sighting of the island was in 1917 by Storker T. Storkerson who was travelling with Canadian explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879-1962), for whom the island was named.
Resolution Island is one of the many uninhabited Canadian Arctic islands in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut. It is a Baffin Island offshore island located in Davis Strait. It has an area of 1,015 km2 (392 sq mi). The Lower Savage Islands lie between Resolution Island and Baffin Island, while Graves Strait separates Resolution Island from the more northern Edgell Island.
Foxe Basin is a shallow oceanic basin north of Hudson Bay, in Nunavut, Canada, located between Baffin Island and the Melville Peninsula. For most of the year, it is blocked by sea ice and drift ice made up of multiple ice floes.
The Prince of Wales Strait is a strait in the Northwest Territories of Canada separating Banks Island to the northwest from Victoria Island to the southeast. It extends from Viscount Melville Sound in the northeast to Amundsen Gulf in the southwest. From late winter it is filled by ice that usually does not break up until August, if at all. Its namesake, Prince of Wales Island, lies over 200 mi (320 km) to the east.
Lancaster Sound is a body of water in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located between Devon Island and Baffin Island, forming the eastern entrance to the Parry Channel and the Northwest Passage. East of the sound lies Baffin Bay; to the west lies Viscount Melville Sound. Further west a traveller would enter the M'Clure Strait before heading into the Arctic Ocean.
The Gulf of Boothia is a body of water in Nunavut, Canada. Administratively it is divided between the Kitikmeot Region on the west and the Qikiqtaaluk Region on the east. It merges north into Prince Regent Inlet, the two forming a single bay with different names for its parts. It is surrounded by, clockwise, Baffin Island, Fury and Hecla Strait, the Melville Peninsula, the Canadian mainland, and the Boothia Peninsula. The south end is Committee Bay, northwest of which are the Simpson Peninsula and Pelly Bay.
Fury and Hecla Strait is a narrow Arctic seawater channel located in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of 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 Parry Channel is a natural waterway through the central Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Its eastern two-thirds lie in the territory of Nunavut, while its western third lies in the Northwest Territories. It runs east to west, connecting Baffin Bay in the east with the Beaufort Sea in the west. Its eastern end is the only practical entrance to the Northwest Passage. Its western end would be a natural exit from the archipelago were it not filled with ice. The channel separates the Queen Elizabeth Islands to the north from the rest of Nunavut.
Richard Collinson Inlet is a large inlet on the north side of Victoria Island, Northwest Territories, Canada. It opens into Viscount Melville Sound to the north. It is named after Richard Collinson, a Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. It should not be confused with the similarly named Collinson Inlet on King William Island.
The Canadian Arctic Rift System is a major North American geological structure extending from the Labrador Sea in the southeast through Davis Strait, Baffin Bay and the Arctic Archipelago in the northwest. It consists of a series of interconnected rifts that formed during the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras. Extensional stresses along the entire length of the rift system have resulted in a variety of tectonic features, including grabens, half-grabens, basins and faults.
