Canadian Arctic Archipelago
 Polar projection map of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago |
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| Geography | |
|---|---|
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| Location | Northern Canada |
| Total islands | 36,563 |
| Major islands | Baffin Island, Victoria Island, Ellesmere Island |
| Area | 1,424,500 km2 (550,000 sq mi) |
| Country | |
 Canada |
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| Territories |  Nunavut Northwest Territories |
| Largest city | Iqaluit, Nunavut (6,184) |
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 1,424,500 km² (550,003 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 2,400 km (1,491 mi) longitudinally and 1,900 km (1,181 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 130 km² (50 sq mi)), including three of the world's ten largest islands, and 36,469 minor islands. The sizeable islands of the archipelago (over 10,000 km² (3,861 sq mi), in order of descending size) are:
| Name | Location* | Area | Area rank | Population (2001) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World | Canada | ||||
| Baffin Island | NU |
507,451 km² (195,928 sq mi) | 5 | 1 | 9,563 |
| Victoria Island | NT, NU |
217,291 km² (83,897 sq mi) | 9 | 2 | 1,707 |
| Ellesmere Island | NU |
196,236 km² (75,767 sq mi) | 10 | 3 | 168 |
| Banks Island | NT |
70,028 km² (27,038 sq mi) | 24 | 5 | 114 |
| Devon Island | NU |
55,247 km² (21,331 sq mi) | 27 | 6 | 0 |
| Axel Heiberg Island | NU |
43,178 km² (16,671 sq mi) | 32 | 7 | 0 |
| Melville Island | NT, NU |
42,149 km² (16,274 sq mi) | 33 | 8 | 0 |
| Southampton Island | NU |
41,214 km² (15,913 sq mi) | 34 | 9 | 721 |
| Prince of Wales Island | NU |
33,339 km² (12,872 sq mi) | 40 | 10 | 0 |
| Somerset Island | NU |
24,786 km² (9,570 sq mi) | 46 | 12 | 0 |
| Bathurst Island | NU |
16,042 km² (6,194 sq mi) | 54 | 13 | 0 |
| Prince Patrick Island | NT |
15,848 km² (6,119 sq mi) | 55 | 14 | 0 |
| King William Island | NU |
13,111 km² (5,062 sq mi) | 61 | 15 | 960 |
| Ellef Ringnes Island | NU |
11,295 km² (4,361 sq mi) | 69 | 16 | 0 |
| Bylot Island | NU |
11,067 km² (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 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.
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Map with links to islands
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References
Marsh, James H., ed. 1988. "Arctic Archipelago" The Canadian Encyclopedia. Toronto: Hurtig Publishers.
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[CD]. 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.
- Bouchard, Giselle. Freshwater Diatom Biogeography of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Ottawa: Library and Archives Canada = Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, 2005. ISBN 0494014245
- 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.
- 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 0901702994
- 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 0660123193
- 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.
See also
- List of islands by area
- List of islands of Canada
- List of Canadian islands by area
- British Arctic Territories