Editing Belcher Islands (section)

==History==
The archaeological evidence present on the islands indicates that they were inhabited by the [[Dorset culture]] between 500 BCE and 1000 CE. Centuries later, from 1200 to 1500, the [[Thule people]] made their presence on the islands.<ref name="Sanikiluaq">{{cite web |title=History of Sanikiluaq – Past and Present |url=http://www.sanikiluaq.ca/i18n/english/history.html |website=Welcome to Sanikiluaq |publisher=Hamlet of Sanikiluaq |access-date=29 June 2022}}</ref>

The first European to encounter the islands was English sea explorer [[Henry Hudson]], the namesake of [[Hudson Bay]], who sighted the islands in 1610.<ref name=EB>{{cite web |title=Belcher Islands |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Belcher-Islands |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |publisher=Britannica |access-date=29 June 2022}}</ref> In 1670, the islands and the entirety of [[Hudson Bay drainage basin]] were designated by the English king, [[Charles II of England|Charles II]], as [[Rupert's Land]], managed by the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] (HBC). The islands are likely named after Captain James Belcher, an HBC employee in the early 18th-century,<ref name=HBC>{{cite web |title=Hudson's Bay Company: Belcher Islands |url=https://pam.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/PAM_AUTHORITY/AUTH_DESC_DET_REP/SISN%202032?sessionsearch |website=pam.minisisinc.com |publisher=Archives of Manitoba - Keystone Archives Descriptive Database |access-date=2025-04-25}}</ref> or after [[Royal Navy]] Admiral Sir [[Edward Belcher]] (1799–1877).<ref name=EB/>

In the early 19th century, [[reindeer|caribou]] herds which lived on the islands disappeared. In an alternative effort to find warm clothing, the inhabitants of the islands sought the [[Down feather|down]] of [[Eider|eider duck]]s, seaducks who nest on the island.<ref name="Sanikiluaq" /> In 1870, Rupert's Land was ceded to the [[Northwest Territories]].

Before 1914, English-speaking cartographers knew very little about the Belcher Islands, which they showed on maps as specks, much smaller than their true extent. In that year a map showing them, drawn by George Weetaltuk,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic36-2-214.pdf |title=George Weetaltuk (ca. 1862–1956) |access-date=2009-01-15 |archive-date=2011-05-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524151209/http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic36-2-214.pdf }}</ref> came into the hands of [[Robert Flaherty]], and cartographers began to represent them more accurately.<ref>{{cite book|last=Harvey|first=P.D.A.|title=The History of Topographical Maps|date=1980|publisher=Thames and Hudson|isbn=0-500-24105 8|pages=34–35}}</ref>

Circa 1933, the Hudson's Bay Company opened a fur trade post, which served as an outpost of the [[Kuujjuarapik|Great Whale River post]] until 1935, when it became a full post.<ref name=HBC/> In 1941, a religious movement led by Charley Ouyerack, Peter Sala, and his sister Mina caused the death by blows or [[Hypothermia|exposure]] of nine persons, an occurrence that came to be known as the Belcher Island Murders.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.adn.com/alaska-life/we-alaskans/2017/03/26/at-the-end-of-the-world-tells-a-shocking-tale-of-murder-in-the-arctic/|title='At the End of the World' tells a shocking tale of murder in the Arctic|date=March 26, 2017|website=Anchorage Daily News|language=en-US|access-date=2017-12-03}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://jmortonmusings.blogspot.com/2014/03/when-god-and-satan-battled-in-barren.html|title=Morton's Musings: When 'God' and 'Satan' battled in a barren land; the Belcher Islands Murders|last=Morton|first=James C.|date=2014-03-30|website=Morton's Musings|access-date=2017-12-03}}</ref> In 1948, the HBC closed its Belcher Islands post.<ref name=HBC/>

In 1963, the HBC opened a Northern Store on the Belcher Islands, which was named Sanikiluaq from 1978 on. HBC divested the Northern Stores department in 1987 to [[The North West Company]], which still operates a Northern Store at Sanikiluaq.<ref name=HBC/><ref>{{cite web |title=Northern/NorthMart Locator |url=https://www.northmart.ca/our-stores/locator |website=www.northmart.ca |publisher=North West Company |access-date=2025-04-25}}</ref>

In 1999, when Nunavut was separated from Northwest Territories, the Belcher Islands were included within Nunavut, along with most islands in Hudson Bay.