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
Denmark) and
Iceland (an independent country).
Situated in the northern extremity of North America and covering about 1,424,500 km2 (550,000 sq mi), this group of 36,563 islands, surrounded by the
Arctic Ocean, comprises much of
Northern Canada, predominately
Nunavut and the
Northwest Territories.[5] The archipelago is showing some
effects of climate change,[6][7] with some computer estimates determining that melting there will contribute 3.5 cm (1.4 in) to the
rise in sea levels by 2100.[8]
History
Around 2500 BCE, the first humans, the
Paleo-Eskimos, arrived in the archipelago from the Canadian mainland. Between 1000–1500 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.[9] 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.[10][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.[11][12][13]
Geography
The archipelago extends some 2,400 km (1,500 mi) longitudinally and 1,900 km (1,200 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 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 130 km2 (50 sq mi), and cover a total area of 1,400,000 km2 (540,000 sq mi).[14] The islands of the archipelago over 10,000 km2 (3,900 sq mi), in order of descending area, are:
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.
Of the more than 36,000 islands, only 11 are populated. Baffin Island, the largest, also has the largest population of 13,309.[2][3] 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.[2][3][4]
^"Sector13.Hudson Strait"(PDF). National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. pollux.nss.nima.mil. pp. 14–15. Archived from
the original(PDF) on 24 October 2004. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
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.
ISBN978-0-660-19727-2.
Aiken, S. G., Laurie Lynn Consaul, and M. J. Dallwitz. Grasses of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Ottawa: Research Division, Canadian Museum of Nature, 1995.
Balkwill, H.R.; Embry, Ashton F. (1982). Arctic Geology and Geophysics: Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Arctic Geology (Hardcover). Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists.
ISBN0-920230-19-9.
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.
Glass, Donald J.;
Embry, Ashton F.; McMillan, N. J. (26 February 1988). Devonian of the World: Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on the Devonian System (Hardcover). Calgary, Canada: Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists.
ISBN0-920230-47-4.
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.
ISBN0-901702-99-4
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.
ISBN0-660-12319-3
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.