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 , this group of 36,563 islands, surrounded by the Arctic Ocean, comprises much of Northern Canada, predominantly Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.Marsh, James H., ed. 1988. "Arctic Archipelago" The Canadian Encyclopedia. Toronto: Hurtig Publishers. The archipelago is showing some effects of climate change,Thinning of the Arctic Sea-Ice CoverArctic sea ice decline: Faster than forecast with some computer estimates determining that melting there will contribute to the rise in sea levels by 2100.
History Around 2500 BCE, the Paleo-Eskimos arrived to the archipelago from the Canadian mainland, the first humans to do so. 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. 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. 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.
Geography
The archipelago extends some longitudinally and 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 , and cover a total area of .
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
King Christian Borden Lougheed Brock Mackenzie King Helena Cameron Emerald Prince Patrick Île Vanier Eglinton Alexander Bathurst Melville Byam Martin Banks Stefansson Russell Prince of Wales Prescott Somerset Victoria King William Matty Wales Belcher Long Akimiski Charlton Ellesmere Meighen Axel Heiberg Ellef Ringnes Amund Ringnes Cornwall Graham North Kent Baillie-Hamilton Little Cornwallis Cornwallis Devon Bylot Baffin Kapuiviit Koch Bray Rowley Foley Air Force Prince Charles Nagjuttuuq Qikiqtaaluk (Foxe Basin) Southampton Resolution Loks Akpatok Qikiqtarjuaq (Hudson Strait) Salisbury Nottingham Mansel Coats
Islands not on map
Beechey Broughton Cape Chidley Dorset Duke of York East Pen Flaherty Haig-Thomas Hans Herschel Igloolik Killiniq Ottawa Prince Leopold Qikiqtaryuaq Skraeling Trodely Umingmalik Weston
Communities
Community Island Region, territory PopulationArctic BayBaffin IslandQikiqtaaluk, NU944Clyde RiverBaffin IslandQikiqtaaluk, NU1,181IqaluitBaffin IslandQikiqtaaluk, NU7,429KimmirutBaffin IslandQikiqtaaluk, NU426PangnirtungBaffin IslandQikiqtaaluk, NU1,504Pond InletBaffin IslandQikiqtaaluk, NU1,555Sachs HarbourBanks IslandInuvik, NT104QikiqtarjuaqBroughton IslandQikiqtaaluk, NU593ResoluteCornwallis IslandQikiqtaaluk, NU183KinngaitDorset IslandQikiqtaaluk, NU1,396Grise FiordEllesmere IslandQikiqtaaluk, NU144SanikiluaqFlaherty IslandQikiqtaaluk, NU1,010IgloolikIgloolik IslandQikiqtaaluk, NU2,049Gjoa HavenKing William IslandKitikmeot, NU1,349Coral HarbourSouthampton IslandKivalliq, NU1,038Cambridge BayVictoria IslandKitikmeot, NU1,760UlukhaktokVictoria IslandInuvik, NT408 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. 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.
Island Population Area(km2) Area(sq mi) Density(km2) Density(sq mi)Baffin Island 13,039 507,451 Banks Island 104 70,028 Broughton Island 593 127.6 Cornwallis Island 183 6,995 Dorset Island 1,396 8 Ellesmere Island 144 196,236 Flaherty Island 1,010 1,585 Igloolik Island 2,049 114.5 King William Island 1,349 13,111 Southampton Island 1,038 41,214 Victoria Island 2,168 217,291
Mapping
King Christian, Borden, Lougheed, Brock, Mackenzie King Helena, Cameron, Emerald Isle, Prince Patrick, Île Vanier, Eglinton, Alexander, Bathurst, Melville, Byam Martin, Banks, Stefansson, Russell, Prince of Wales, Prescott, Somerset, Victoria, King William, Matty, Wales, Belcher, Long, Akimiski, Charlton, Ellesmere, Meighen, Axel Heiberg, Ellef Ringnes, Amund Ringnes, Cornwall, Graham, North Kent, Baillie-Hamilton, Little Cornwallis, Cornwallis, Devon, Bylot, Baffin, Jens Munk, Koch, Bray, Rowley, Foley, Air Force, Prince Charles, Vansittart, White, Southampton, Resolution, Loks Land, Akpatok, Big, Salisbury, Nottingham, Mansel, Coats, Beechey, Broughton, Cape Chidley, Dorset, Duke of York, East Pen, Flaherty, Haig-Thomas, Hans, Herschel, Igloolik, Killiniq, Ottawa, Prince Leopold, Jenny Lind, Skraeling, Trodely, Gateshead, Weston,
See also
Last Ice Area List of islands of Canada Geography of Canada
Notes
References
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. . 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, 2005. 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. 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. 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.