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(Redirected from North American Arctic islands) Canadian islands in the Arctic Ocean

Arctic Archipelago
Archipel Arctique Canadien (Quebec French)
Polar projection map of the Arctic Archipelago
Geography
LocationNorthern Canada
Coordinates75°N 90°W / 75°N 90°W / 75; -90 (Arctic Archipelago)
Total islands36,563
Major islandsBaffin Island, Victoria Island, Ellesmere Island
Area1,407,770 km (543,540 sq mi)
Administration
Canada
Territories and provinceNunavut
Northwest Territories
Yukon
Newfoundland and Labrador
Largest settlementIqaluit, Nunavut (pop. 7,429)
Demographics
Population23,073 (2021)
Pop. density0.0098/km (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).

Situated in the northern extremity of North America and covering about 1,424,500 km (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. The archipelago is showing some effects of climate change, with some computer estimates determining that melting there will contribute 3.5 cm (1.4 in) to the rise in sea levels by 2100.

History

Around 2500 BCE, the first humans, the Paleo-Eskimos, arrived in the archipelago from the Canadian mainland. Between 1000 and 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. 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. 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.

Geography

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 km (50 sq mi), and cover a total area of 1,400,000 km (540,000 sq mi). The islands of the archipelago over 10,000 km (3,900 sq mi), in order of descending area, are:

Name Location Area Area rank Population
(2021)
World Canada
Baffin Island NU 507,451 km (195,928 sq mi) 5 1 13,039
Victoria Island NT, NU 217,291 km (83,897 sq mi) 8 2 2,168
Ellesmere Island NU 196,236 km (75,767 sq mi) 10 3 144
Banks Island NT 70,028 km (27,038 sq mi) 24 5 104
Devon Island NU 55,247 km (21,331 sq mi) 27 6 0
Axel Heiberg Island NU 43,178 km (16,671 sq mi) 32 7 0
Melville Island NT, NU 42,149 km (16,274 sq mi) 33 8 0
Southampton Island NU 41,214 km (15,913 sq mi) 34 9 1,038
Prince of Wales Island NU 33,339 km (12,872 sq mi) 40 10 0
Somerset Island NU 24,786 km (9,570 sq mi) 46 12 0
Bathurst Island NU 16,042 km (6,194 sq mi) 54 13 0
Prince Patrick Island NT 15,848 km (6,119 sq mi) 55 14 0
King William Island NU 13,111 km (5,062 sq mi) 61 15 1,349
Ellef Ringnes Island NU 11,295 km (4,361 sq mi) 69 16 0
Bylot Island NU 11,067 km (4,273 sq mi) 72 17 0

 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.

Map with links to islands

Reference map of Canadian Arctic Archipelago
Reference map of Canadian Arctic Archipelago
Islands not on map

Notes

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

Communities

Iqaluit
Community Island Region, territory Population
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
Total 23,073

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. 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.

Island Population Area
(km2) 		Area
(sq mi) 		Density
(km2) 		Density
(sq mi)
Baffin Island 13,039 507,451 315,315 0.026 0.067
Banks Island 104 70,028 43,513 0.001 0.004
Broughton Island 593 127.6 79.3 4.647 12.037
Cornwallis Island 183 6,995 4,346 0.026 0.068
Dorset Island 1,396 21 8 174.500 67.375
Ellesmere Island 144 196,236 121,935 0.001 0.002
Flaherty Island 1,010 1,585 985 0.637 1.650
Igloolik Island 2,049 114.5 71.1 17.895 46.348
King William Island 1,349 13,111 8,147 0.103 0.266
Southampton Island 1,038 41,214 25,609 0.103 0.266
Victoria Island 2,168 217,291 135,018 0.010 0.026

Mapping

See also

Map all coordinates using OpenStreetMap

Download coordinates as:

Portals:

References

  1. ^ "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. ^ "Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories, and census subdivisions (municipalities), Nunavut". Statistics Canada. 9 February 2022. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  3. ^ "Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories, and census subdivisions (municipalities), Northwest Territories". Statistics Canada. 9 February 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  4. Marsh, James H., ed. 1988. "Arctic Archipelago" The Canadian Encyclopedia. Toronto: Hurtig Publishers.
  5. Thinning of the Arctic Sea-Ice Cover
  6. Arctic sea ice decline: Faster than forecast
  7. Wayman, Erin. "Canada's ice shrinking rapidly". Science News.
  8. "Canada". World Statesmen. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  9. "Northwest Passage gets political name change". Edmonton Journal. Archived from the original on 21 January 2016 – via Canada.com.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. Arctic Archipelago
  14. "Islands By Land Area". Islands.unep.ch. Archived from the original on 20 February 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  15. "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.
  16. "Broughton Island". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada.
  17. "Cape Chidley Islands". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada.
  18. "Dorset Island". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada.
  19. "Flaherty Island". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada.
  20. "Igloolik Island". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada.

Further reading

  • Aiken, S.G., M.J. Dallwitz, L.L. Consaul, et al. Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. Ottawa: NRC Research Press; Ottawa: Canadian Museum of Nature, 2007. ISBN 978-0-660-19727-2.
  • Aiken, S. G., Laurie Lynn Consaul, and M. J. Dallwitz. Grasses of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Ottawa: Research Division, Canadian Museum of Nature, 1995.
  • Balkwill, H.R.; Embry, Ashton F. (1982). Arctic Geology and Geophysics: Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Arctic Geology (Hardcover). Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists. ISBN 0-920230-19-9.
  • Bouchard, Giselle. Freshwater Diatom Biogeography of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Ottawa: Library and Archives Canada, 2005. ISBN 0-494-01424-5
  • Brown, Roger James Evan. Permafrost in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. National Research Council of Canada, Division of Building Research, 1972.
  • Cota GF, LW Cooper, DA Darby, and IL Larsen. 2006. "Unexpectedly High Radioactivity Burdens in Ice-Rafted Sediments from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago". The Science of the Total Environment. 366, no. 1: 253–61.
  • Dunphy, Michael. Validation of a modelling system for tides in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Canadian technical report of hydrography and ocean sciences, 243. Dartmouth, N.S.: Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2005.
  • Glass, Donald J.; Embry, Ashton F.; McMillan, N. J. (26 February 1988). Devonian of the World: Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on the Devonian System (Hardcover). Calgary, Canada: Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists. ISBN 0-920230-47-4.
  • Hamilton, Paul B., Konrad Gajewski, David E. Atkinson, and David R.S. Lean. 2001. "Physical and Chemical Limnology of 204 Lakes from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago". Hydrobiologia. 457, no. 1/3: 133–148.
  • Mi︠a︡rss, Tiĭu, Mark V. H. Wilson, and R. Thorsteinsson. Silurian and Lower Devonian Thelodonts and Putative Chondrichthyans from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Special papers in palaeontology, no. 75. London: Palaeontological Association, 2006. ISBN 0-901702-99-4
  • Michel, C Ingram, R G, and L R Harris. 2006. "Variability in Oceanographic and Ecological Processes in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago". Progress in Oceanography. 71, no. 2: 379.
  • Porsild, A.E. The Vascular Plants of the Western Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Ottawa: E. Cloutier, Queen's printer, 1955.
  • Rae, R. W. Climate of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Toronto: Canada Dept. of Transport, 1951.
  • Thorsteinsson, R., and Ulrich Mayr. The Sedimentary Rocks of Devon Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Ottawa, Canada: Geological Survey of Canada, 1987. ISBN 0-660-12319-3
  • Van der Baaren, Augustine, and S. J. Prinsenberg. Geostrophic transport estimates from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Dartmouth, N.S.: Ocean Sciences Division, Maritimes Region, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, 2002.
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