Canadian Arctic Archipelago

Information about Canadian Arctic Archipelago

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World map depicting Canadian Arctic Archipelago
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Polar projection map of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago
The Canadian Arctic Archipelago, also known as just the Arctic Archipelago, is an archipelago north of the Canadian mainland in the Arctic. Situated in the northern extremity of North America and covering about  km ( sq mi), this group of 36,563 islands comprises much of the territory of Northern Canada – most of Nunavut and part of Northwest Territories.

The archipelago extends some  km ( mi) longitudinally and  km ( 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 north 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 Northwestern Passages. Two large peninsulas, Boothia and Melville, extend northward from the mainland.

The archipelago contains 94 major islands (greater than  km ( sq mi)), including three of the world's ten largest islands, and 36,469 minor islands. The sizeable islands of the archipelago (over  km ( sq mi), in order of descending size) are:

Name Location* Area Area rank Population
(2001)
World Canada
Baffin Island NU km ( sq mi)519,563
Victoria Island NT, NU km ( sq mi)921,707
Ellesmere Island NU km ( sq mi)103168
Banks Island NT km ( sq mi)245114
Devon Island NU km ( sq mi)2760
Axel Heiberg Island NU km ( sq mi)3270
Melville Island NT, NU km ( sq mi)3380
Southampton Island NU km ( sq mi)349721
Prince of Wales Island NU km ( sq mi)40100
Somerset Island NU km ( sq mi)46120
Bathurst Island NU km ( sq mi)54130
Prince Patrick Island NT km ( sq mi)55140
King William Island NU km ( sq mi)6115960
Ellef Ringnes Island NU km ( sq mi)69160
Bylot Island NU km ( 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 areas. Most of the islands are uninhabited; human settlement is extremely thin and scattered, being mainly coastal Inuit settlements on the southern islands.

British claims on the islands were based on the explorations in the 1570s by Martin Frobisher. Canadian sovereignty, originally (1870-80) only over island portions that drained into Foxe Basin, Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait, over all of them was not established until the 1880 transfer by Britain to Canada of the remaining islands; the District of Franklin was established in 1895, which comprised almost all of the archipelago; the district was dissolved upon the creation of Nunavut in 1999. Canada claims sovereignty in a sector continuing to the North Pole, a claim that is not universally recognized. In addition, Canada claims all the waterways of the Northwestern Passages as Canadian Internal Waters; however the United States and most other maritime countries view these as international waters.[1] Disagreement over the passages' status has raised Canadian concerns about environmental enforcement, national security, and general sovereignty. Hans Island, in the Nares Strait east of Ellesmere Island, is a territory currently contested between Canada and Denmark.

Map with links to islands
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Reference map of Canadian Arctic Archipelago

Islands not on map

References

Marsh, James H., ed. 1988. "Arctic Archipelago" The Canadian Encyclopedia. Toronto: Hurtig Publishers.

See also

Coordinates:
archipelago is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago literally means "chief sea", from Greek arkhon (arkhi-) ("leader") and pelagos ("sea").
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This page is currently protected from editing until disputes have been resolved.
Protection is not an endorsement of the current [ version] ([ protection log]).
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Arctic is the region around the Earth's North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around the South Pole. In the northern hemisphere, the Arctic includes the Arctic Ocean (which overlies the North Pole) and parts of Canada, Greenland (a territory of Denmark), Russia, the United
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North is one of the four cardinal directions, specifically the direction that, in Western culture, is treated as the primary direction: north is used (explicitly or implicitly) to define all other directions; the (visual) top edges of maps usually correspond to the
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North America is a continent [1] in the Earth's northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the south and west
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island (IPA: /aɪ.lɪnd/) or isle (IPA: /aɪ.ʌl
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Northern Canada is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics.

Definitions and usage

Also referred to as the Canadian North or (locally) as the North
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Nunavut


Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Nunavut Sannginivut
(Inuktitut: Our land, our strength)

Capital Iqaluit
Largest city Iqaluit
Official languages Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, English, French
Government
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Northwest Territories
Territoires du Nord-Ouest

Flag Coat of arms
Motto: none

Capital Yellowknife
Largest city Yellowknife
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Cape Columbia is the northernmost point of land of Canada, located on Ellesmere Island at . It marks the westernmost coastal point of Lincoln Sea in the Arctic Ocean.
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Ellesmere Island
French: Île d'Ellesmere
Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada
Coordinates:
Country Canada
Territory Nunavut
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Beaufort Sea (French: mer de Beaufort) is the portion of the Arctic Ocean located north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska and west of Canada's Arctic islands.
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Earth's oceans
(World Ocean)
  • Arctic Ocean
  • Atlantic Ocean
  • Indian Ocean
  • Pacific Ocean
  • Southern Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the northern hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest of the world's five
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Anthem
Nunarput utoqqarsuanngoravit
Nuna asiilasooq


Capital
(and largest city) Nuuk (Godthåb)

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Baffin Bay (French: Baie de Baffin) is a sea between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. It is 1 130 km (700 mi) across from north to south. It is not navigable most of the year because of the presence of large numbers of icebergs.
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Davis Strait (French: Détroit de Davis); lies between mid-western Greenland and Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut.

With a water depth of one to two km the strait is substantially shallower than the Labrador Sea to the south or Baffin Bay to the
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Hudson Bay (French: baie d'Hudson) is a large (1.23 million km²), relatively shallow body of water in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, parts of North Dakota and Minnesota, and
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The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via the waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
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A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered on three sides by water. A peninsula can also be a headland, cape, island promontory, bill, point, or spit.[1]

Europe

  • Europe itself is a peninsula.

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Boothia Peninsula (formerly Boothia Felix) is a large peninsula in the Canadian Arctic, south of Somerset Island. The northern part, Murchison Promontory, is the northernmost point of mainland Canada, and thus North America.
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Melville Peninsula is a large peninsula in the Canadian Arctic. Since 1999, it has been part of Nunavut. Before that, it was part of the District of Franklin.

Coordinates:
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This is a list of islands in the world ordered by area. It includes all islands with an area greater than 2,500 km² (970 square miles). For comparison, continental landmasses are also shown.

Continental land masses

These figures are rough approximations only.
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Baffin Island (Inuktitut: ᕿᑭᖅᑖᓗᒃ, Qikiqtaaluk, French: Île de Baffin) is one of the Canadian Arctic islands in the territory of Nunavut.
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Nunavut


Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Nunavut Sannginivut
(Inuktitut: Our land, our strength)

Capital Iqaluit
Largest city Iqaluit
Official languages Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, English, French
Government
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Victoria Island is an island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and straddles the boundary between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the 9th largest island of the world, and at  km ( sq mi) is Canada's second largest island and nearly double the
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Northwest Territories
Territoires du Nord-Ouest

Flag Coat of arms
Motto: none

Capital Yellowknife
Largest city Yellowknife
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Nunavut


Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Nunavut Sannginivut
(Inuktitut: Our land, our strength)

Capital Iqaluit
Largest city Iqaluit
Official languages Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, English, French
Government
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Ellesmere Island
French: Île d'Ellesmere
Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada
Coordinates:
Country Canada
Territory Nunavut
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Nunavut


Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Nunavut Sannginivut
(Inuktitut: Our land, our strength)

Capital Iqaluit
Largest city Iqaluit
Official languages Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, English, French
Government
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Banks Island () is one of the Canadian Arctic islands situated in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is separated from Victoria Island to its east by the Prince of Wales Strait and from the mainland by Amundsen Gulf
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