Murchison Promontory (), a cape (promontory) in the northern Canadian Arctic, is the northernmost mainland point of the Americas and of Canada.Querying Geographical Names of Canada at Natural Resources CanadaMurchison Promontory at the Atlas of Canada Located from the North Pole, it is farther north than Point Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost point of all U.S. territory.

Geography

Murchison Promontory extends along the northern edge of the Boothia Peninsula, at right angles to the Bellot Strait, which separates it from Somerset Island. Situated in the Kitikmeot Region (Inuktitut: Qitirmiut) of Nunavut, its northernmost point, Zenith Point, is located at . at Oceandots The nearest community is Taloyoak, approximately to the south.

History The area was first explored in April 1852 by the Canadian Captain William Kennedy and the French explorer Joseph René Bellot while searching for traces of John Franklin's lost Arctic expedition.Francis Leopold McClintock at the Dictionary of Canadian BiographyThe Columbia Gazetteer of North America 2000 The strait was then named after Bellot, who drowned the following year when he fell through the ice in the Wellington Channel.

Irish-born Francis Leopold McClintock also wintered in the area with his ship Fox in the winter of 1858–1859 in his search for the Franklin expedition.Bellot Strait at The Canadian Encyclopedia In July 1859, McClintock named the promontory, which his expedition determined to be the northernmost point of the mainland, after Royal Geographical Society president Roderick Murchison. Murchison was a prominent supporter of Jane Franklin in her efforts towards a continued search for her husband, which included the sponsorship of McClintock's expedition.

In 1937, Scot E. J. "Scotty" Gall passed the promontory on his ship Aklavik on the first crossing of the Bellot Strait,University of Calgary, Scotty Gall travelling from the western shore to the eastern for the Hudson's Bay Company.

References

External links About Murchison Promontory Map of Murchison Promontory Image of Murchison Promontory