Dixon Entrance

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Islands and major straits of the northern Pacific Northwest Coast

The Dixon Entrance is a strait about 80 km (50 miles) long and wide in the Pacific Ocean at the International Boundary between the state of Alaska in the United States and the province of British Columbia in Canada. The northern and southern islands of Haida Gwaii which are the continuously occupied homelands of the Haida Indigenous Peoples lie on either side of the Strait.

It lies between the Clarence Strait in Alexander Archipelago in Alaska to the north, and the Hecate Strait into Haida Gwaii, also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia, Canada, to the south. Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, is the largest of the Alaskan islands on the north side of the entrance, and is also home to a branch of the Haida, known as the Kaigani Haida.

The Dixon Entrance is part of the Inside Passage. Part of the maritime boundary between two of the nations in Dixon Entrance is disputed by the U.S. and Canada. The Haida nation maintains free access across the Strait.

The Dixon Entrance is named after Capt. George Dixon who surveyed the area in 1787. The more ancient name in Haida is Seegaay.

The Dixon Entrance was claimed as Canadian territory by the 1903 Alaska Boundary Award, which set the A-B Line [54°40'N] as the land and marine boundary between Canada and the U.S, however territorial fishing disputes between the countries remain today as the United States does not recognize the A-B Line for purposes of seafloor resources or fishing rights.