Wollaston Peninsula

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Wollaston Peninsula
Location in Nunavut and Northwest Territories

The Wollaston Peninsula (previously, Wollaston Land) [1] is a west-pointing peninsula located on southwestern Victoria Island, Canada. It is bordered by Prince Albert Sound to the north, Amundsen Gulf to the west and Dolphin and Union Strait to the south. Most of the peninsula lies in Nunavut's Kitikmeot Region but a smaller portion lies within the Northwest Territories's Inuvik Region. The peninsula is 225 km (140 mi) long, and between 97 and 113 km (60 and 70 mi) wide. Its westernmost point is Cape Baring. [2] In 1826, its south coast was seen by John Richardson [3] and his surveyor Edward Nicholas Kendall, [4] and was named Wollaston Land, in honour of the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston, who discovered the elements palladium and rhodium. In 1851, John Rae went along most of its coast and proved that "Wollaston Land" was connected to that was called "Victoria Land" to the east.

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References

  1. "Wollaston Peninsula". mapplanet.com. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
  2. "Wollaston Peninsula". The Columbia Gazetteer of North America. bartleby.com. 2000. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
  3. Franklin, John (1828). Narrative of a second expedition to the shores of the Polar sea in the years 1825, 1826 and 1827, by John Franklin,... including an account of the progress of a detachment to the Eastward, by John Richardson. London: J. Murray. John Franklin 1826.
  4. Dawson, Llewellyn Styles (1830). Memoirs of hydrography: including brief biographies of the principal officers who have served in H.M. Naval Surveying Service between the years 1750 and 1885. H.W. Keay. p.  105. kendall island richardson franklin edward nicholas kendall.