Canadian Arctic Archipelago

The Canadian Arctic Archipelago, sometimes simply called the Arctic Archipelago, is an archipelago of Canada located at the northern tip of the American continent. With an area of about 1,424,500 km², it comprises a large part of northern Canada, which is administratively part of Nunavut and part of the Northwest Territories. It comprises 36,563 islands, and three of its islands—Ellesmere Island, Victoria Island, and Baffin Island—are among the ten largest in the world.

Geography

The archipelago stretches nearly 2,400 km east-west and 1,900 km south-north, from the North American mainland to Cape Columbia, the northernmost point of Ellesmere Island. It is bounded on the west by the Beaufort Sea; to the north, by the Arctic Ocean; to the east, by Greenland, Baffin Bay and Davis Strait; and, to the south, by Hudson Bay and the Canadian mainland coast. The various islands are separated from each other and from the mainland by a series of passages, straits, or sea inlets, collectively known as the Northwest Passage. Two large continental peninsulas, the Boothia Peninsula and the Melville Peninsula, which run quite far between the islands are often considered geographically part of the archipelago.

After Greenland, the archipelago is the largest area of landmass in the Arctic. Its climate is arctic polar, and its vegetation consists of tundra, except in the mountainous areas. Most of the islands are uninhabited and on the inhabited, the settlements are very small and scattered, corresponding mostly to Inuit coastal towns located on the southern islands of the archipelago.

The archipelago is divided between the autonomous territory of Nunavut and the The archipelago stretches nearly 2,400 km in an east-west direction and 1,900 km in a south-north direction, from the North American continental coast to Cape Columbia, the furthest point north of Ellesmere Island. It is bounded on the west by the Beaufort Sea; to the north, by the Arctic Ocean; to the east, by Greenland, Baffin Bay and Davis Strait; and, to the south, by Hudson Bay and the Canadian mainland coast. The various islands are separated from each other and from the mainland by a series of passages, straits, or sea inlets, collectively known as the Northwest Passage. Two large continental peninsulas, the Boothia Peninsula and the Melville Peninsula, which run quite far between the islands are often considered geographically part of the archipelago.

After Greenland, the archipelago is the largest area of landmass in the Arctic. Its climate is arctic polar, and its vegetation consists of tundra, except in the mountainous areas. Most of the islands are uninhabited and on the inhabited, the settlements are very small and scattered, corresponding mostly to Inuit coastal towns located on the southern islands of the archipelago.

The archipelago is divided between the autonomous territory of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories; most of the islands belong to Nunavut, but the parts of the archipelago located north of the 70º N parallel and west of the 110º W meridian belong to the Northwest Territories. Some islands are divided between both territories (such as Victoria Island, Melville Island, Mackenzie King Island and Borden Island) of the islands belong to Nunavut, but the parts of the archipelago located north of the 70º N parallel and west of the 110º W meridian belong to the Northwest Territories.asdfghjkloiuytre Some islands are divided between the two territories (such as Victoria Island, Melville Island, Mackenzie King Island, and Borden Island). real info The archipelago extends nearly 2,400 km in an east-west direction and 1,900 km in a south-north direction, from the North American mainland coast to Cape Columbia, the northernmost point of Ellesmere Island. It is bounded on the west by the Beaufort Sea; to the north, by the Arctic Ocean; to the east, by Greenland, Baffin Bay and Davis Strait; and, to the south, by Hudson Bay and the Canadian mainland coast. The various islands are separated from each other and from the mainland by a series of passages, straits, or sea inlets, collectively known as the Northwest Passage. Two large continental peninsulas, the Boothia Peninsula and the Melville Peninsula, which run quite far between the islands are often considered geographically part of the archipelago.

After Greenland, the archipelago is the largest area of landmass in the Arctic. Its climate is arctic polar, and its vegetation consists of tundra, except in the mountainous areas. Most of the islands are uninhabited and on the inhabited, the settlements are very small and scattered, corresponding mostly to Inuit coastal towns located on the southern islands of the archipelago.

The archipelago is divided between the autonomous territory of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories; most of the islands belong to Nunavut, but the parts of the archipelago located north of the 70º N parallel and west of the 110º W meridian belong to the Northwest Territories. Some islands are divided between both territories (such as Victoria Island, Melville Island, Mackenzie King Island and Borden Island)

History

British territorial claims to the islands were based on explorations in the 1570s by Martin Frobisher. Canadian sovereignty, initially (1870-80) only over parts of the Foxe Basin, Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait islands, was not established over all of them until 1880, with the transfer from Great Britain to Canada of the remaining islands. islands. The Franklin district was established in 1895, including almost all the islands of the archipelago. The district was dissolved with the creation of the territory of Nunavut in 1999.

Sovereignty

Canada claims sovereignty over a sector that extends to the North Pole, a sovereignty not universally recognized. In addition, Canada claims that all sea passages between the islands of the archipelago are its internal waters, while the US and other countries maintain that they are international waters. These disagreements over the Northwest Passage have raised issues over environmental enforcement, national security, and sovereignty in general.

Hans Island, in the Nares Strait between Ellesmere Island to the east and Greenland to the west, has been in dispute between Canada and Denmark. This dispute was settled in 2022, dividing the island between the two states.

Islands

The archipelago comprises 94 main islands (with an area greater than 130 km²)—including three among the ten largest islands in the world and six among the thirty largest—and 36,469 smaller islands.

Islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (over 1 000 km2)

Ranking						Area	Population
World	Canada	Group	Name of the island	Group	Province (or territory)	km2	(2001)
005	CAN-01	01	Island of Baffin	-	Nunavut	507 451	9563
009	CAN-02	02	Victoria	-	Northwest Territories Nunavut	217 291	1707
010	CAN-03	03	Ellesmere Island	Islands of Queen Elizabeth	Nunavut	196 236	168
024	CAN-05	04	Banks Island	-	Northwest Territories	70 028	114
027	CAN-06	05	Devon Island	Islands of Queen Elizabeth	Nunavut	55 247	0
032	CAN-07	06	Axel Heiberg Island	Sverdrup Islands	Nunavut	43 178	SPECIAL 0
033	CAN-08	07	Melville Island	Islands of Queen Elizabeth	Northwest Territories Nunavut	42 149	0
034	CAN-09	08	Southampton Island	-	Nunavut	41 214	721
040	CAN-10	09	Prince of Wales Island	-	Nunavut	33 339	0
046	CAN-12	10	Somerset Island	-	Nunavut	24 786	0
054	CAN-13	11	Bathurst Island	Islands of Queen Elizabeth	Nunavut	16 042	0
055	CAN-14	12	Prince Patrick Island	Islands of Queen Elizabeth	Northwest Territories	15 848	0
061	CAN-15	13	Island of King William	-	Nunavut	13 111	960
069	CAN-16	14	Ellef Island Ringnes	Sverdrup Islands	Nunavut	11 295	0
072	CAN-17	15	Bylot Island	-	Nunavut	11 067	0
078	CAN-19	16	Prince Charles Island	-	Nunavut	9521	0
096	CAN-21	17	Cornwallis Island	Islands of Queen Elizabeth	Nunavut	6995	215
107	CAN-24	18	Coats Island	-	Nunavut	5498	0
111	CAN-25	19	Island Amund Ringnes	Sverdrup Islands	Nunavut	5255	0
115	CAN-26	20	Mackenzie King Island	Islands of Queen Elizabeth	Nunavut Northwest Territories	5048	0
128	CAN-27	21	Stefansson Island	-	Nunavut	4463	0
159	CAN-28	22	Mansel Island	-	Nunavut	3180	0
164	CAN-29	23	Akimiski Island	-	Nunavut	3001	0
171	CAN-30	24	Borden Island	Islands of Queen Elizabeth	Nunavut Northwest Territories	2794	0
185.	CAN-33	25	Cornwall Island	Islands of Queen Elizabeth	Nunavut	2258	0
196	CAN-35	26	Richard Island	-	Northwest Territories	2165	0
226	CAN-37	27	Island Air Force	-	Nunavut	1 720	0
245	CAN-38	28	Flaherty Island	Belcher Islands	Nunavut	1585	744
249	CAN-39	29	Eglinton Island	Islands of Queen Elizabeth	Northwest Territories	1541	0
265	CAN-40	30	Graham Island (Nunavut)	Islands of Queen Elizabeth	Nunavut	1378	0
267	CAN-42	31	Nottingham Island	-	Nunavut	1372	0
273	CAN-43	32	Lougheed Island	Islands of Queen Elizabeth	Nunavut	1308	0
294	CAN-44	33	Byam Martin Island	Islands of Queen Elizabeth	Nunavut	1150	0
297	CAN-45	34	Wales Island	-	Nunavut	1137	0
298	CAN-46	35	Vanier Island	Islands of Queen Elizabeth	Nunavut	1126	0
306	CAN-47	36	Rowley Island	Islands of Queen Elizabeth	Nunavut	1090	0
311	CAN-48	37	Cameron Island	Islands of Queen Elizabeth	Nunavut	1059	0
319	CAN-49	38	Resolution	-	Nunavut	1015	0
320	CAN-50	39	Vansittart Island	-	Nunavut	Dorotheergasse	0