Arctic Archipelago: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 09:11, 14 May 2025

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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 the Danish Realm, which is, by itself, much larger than the combined area of the archipelago) and Iceland (an independent country).

Situated in the northern extremity of North America and covering about Template:Cvt, this group of 36,563 islands, surrounded by the Arctic Ocean, comprises much of Northern Canada, predominately Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.<ref>Marsh, James H., ed. 1988. "Arctic Archipelago" The Canadian Encyclopedia. Toronto: Hurtig Publishers.</ref> The archipelago is showing some effects of climate change,<ref>Thinning of the Arctic Sea-Ice Cover</ref><ref>Arctic sea ice decline: Faster than forecast</ref> with some computer estimates determining that melting there will contribute Template:Cvt to the rise in sea levels by 2100.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="dispute">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Failed verification 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Geography

File:Wfm baffin island.jpg

Satellite image of Baffin Island, the largest island by total area of the Arctic Archipelago

The archipelago extends some Template:Cvt longitudinally and Template:Cvt 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 Template:Cvt, and cover a total area of Template:Cvt.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The islands of the archipelago over Template:Cvt, in order of descending area, are:

Name	Location^*	Area	Area rank		Population (2021)
Name	Location^*	Area	World	Canada	Population (2021)
Baffin Island	NU	Template:Cvt	5	1	13,039<ref name=2021censusNU/>
Victoria Island	NT, NU	Template:Cvt	8	2	2,168<ref name=2021censusNU>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=2021censusNWT>Template:Cite web</ref>
Ellesmere Island	NU	Template:Cvt	10	3	144<ref name=2021censusNU/>
Banks Island	NT	Template:Cvt	24	5	104<ref name=2021censusNWT/>
Devon Island	NU	Template:Cvt	27	6	0
Axel Heiberg Island	NU	Template:Cvt	32	7	0
Melville Island	NT, NU	Template:Cvt	33	8	0
Southampton Island	NU	Template:Cvt	34	9	1,038<ref name=2021censusNU/>
Prince of Wales Island	NU	Template:Cvt	40	10	0
Somerset Island	NU	Template:Cvt	46	12	0
Bathurst Island	NU	Template:Cvt	54	13	0
Prince Patrick Island	NT	Template:Cvt	55	14	0
King William Island	NU	Template:Cvt	61	15	1,349<ref name=2021censusNU/>
Ellef Ringnes Island	NU	Template:Cvt	69	16	0
Bylot Island	NU	Template:Cvt	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

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Islands not on map

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Notes

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Template:NotePopulation: 183<ref name=2021censusNU/>
Template:NoteFormerly Jens Munk Island
Template:NoteFormerly Vansittart Island
Template:NoteFormerly White Island
Template:NoteFormerly Big Island
Template:NotePopulation: 593<ref name=2021censusNU/>
Template:NotePopulation: 1,396<ref name=2021censusNU/>
Template:NotePopulation: 1,010<ref name=2021censusNU/>
Template:NotePopulation: 2,049<ref name=2021censusNU/>
Template:NoteFormerly Jenny Lind Island
Template:NoteFormerly Gateshead Island

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Communities

File:Bayview Iqaluit.JPG

Iqaluit

Community	Island	Region, territory	Population<ref name=2021censusNU/><ref name=2021censusNWT/>
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.<ref name=2021censusNU/> 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.<ref name=2021censusNU/><ref name=2021censusNWT/>

Island	Population<ref name=2021censusNU/><ref name=2021censusNWT/>	Area<ref name="Canada"/><ref name="size">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="mil">Template:Cite web</ref> (km2)	Area (sq mi)	Density (km2)	Density (sq mi)
Baffin Island	13,039	507,451	Template:Cvt	Template:Pop density	Template:Pop density
Banks Island	104	70,028	Template:Cvt	Template:Pop density	Template:Pop density
Broughton Island	593	127.6	Template:Cvt	Template:Pop density	Template:Pop density
Cornwallis Island	183	6,995	Template:Cvt	Template:Pop density	Template:Pop density
Dorset Island	1,396	Template:Cvt	8	Template:Pop density	Template:Pop density
Ellesmere Island	144	196,236	Template:Cvt	Template:Pop density	Template:Pop density
Flaherty Island	1,010	1,585	Template:Cvt	Template:Pop density	Template:Pop density
Igloolik Island	2,049	114.5	Template:Cvt	Template:Pop density	Template:Pop density
King William Island	1,349	13,111	Template:Cvt	Template:Pop density	Template:Pop density
Southampton Island	1,038	41,214	Template:Cvt	Template:Pop density	Template:Pop density
Victoria Island	2,168	217,291	Template:Cvt	Template:Pop density	Template:Pop density