25-551: 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 km (550,000 sq mi), this group of 36,563 islands, surrounded by
50-424: A total area of 1,400,000 km (540,000 sq mi). The islands of the archipelago over 10,000 km (3,900 sq mi), in order of descending area, are: 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
75-663: Is the easternmost, northernmost, and southernmost administrative region of Nunavut , Canada. Qikiqtaaluk is the traditional Inuktitut name for Baffin Island . Although the Qikiqtaaluk Region is the most commonly used name in official contexts, several notable public organizations, including Statistics Canada prior to the 2021 Canadian census , use the older term Baffin Region. With a population of 18,988 and an area of 989,879.35 km (382,194.55 sq mi), it
100-508: Is the largest and most populated of the three regions. It is also the largest second-level administrative division in the world. The region consists of Baffin Island, the Belcher Islands , Akimiski Island , Mansel Island , Prince Charles Island , Bylot Island , Devon Island , Baillie-Hamilton Island , Cornwallis Island , Bathurst Island , Amund Ringnes Island , Ellef Ringnes Island , Axel Heiberg Island , Ellesmere Island ,
125-462: The Aegean Islands (since the sea has a large number of islands). Archipelagos may be found isolated in large amounts of water or neighbouring a large land mass. For example, Scotland has more than 700 islands surrounding its mainland, which form an archipelago. Archipelagos are often volcanic, forming along island arcs generated by subduction zones or hotspots , but may also be
150-597: The Arctic Ocean , comprises much of Northern Canada , predominately Nunavut and the Northwest Territories . The archipelago is showing some effects of climate change , with some computer estimates determining that melting there will contribute 3.5 cm (1.4 in) to the rise in sea levels by 2100. Around 2500 BCE, the first humans, the Paleo-Eskimos , arrived in the archipelago from
175-1141: The Astro Hill Complex , the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum and the Legislative Building of Nunavut and the Unikkaarvik Visitors Centre. According to anthropologists and historians, the Inuit are the descendants of the Thule people who displaced the Dorset culture (in Inuktitut , the Tuniit). By 1300 the Inuit had trade routes with more southern cultures. About 1910, Europeans markets increased their interest in white fox pelts. The distribution and mobility of Inuit changed as they expanded their traditional hunting and fishing routes to participate in
200-506: The Melville Peninsula , the eastern part of Melville Island , and the northern parts of both Prince of Wales Island and Somerset Island , plus smaller islands in between. The regional centre, and territorial capital, is Iqaluit (population 7,740). The Qikiqtaaluk Region spans the northernmost, easternmost, and southernmost areas of Nunavut . Before 1999, the Qikiqtaaluk Region existed under slightly different boundaries in
225-611: 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 km (50 sq mi), and cover
250-687: The Northwest Territories as the Baffin Region , in the northern part of the District of Keewatin . The western half of the nearby Hans Island is part of the Qikiqtaaluk, while the eastern half is part of Greenland and is in the municipality of Avannaata . All of Qikiqtaaluk's thirteen communities are located on tidal water and just under half of its residents live in Nunavut's capital and only city, Iqaluit (7,740. ). The majority of
275-661: The San Juan Islands and Gulf Islands geologically form part of a larger Gulf Archipelago. The word archipelago is derived from the Ancient Greek ἄρχι-( arkhi- , "chief") and πέλαγος ( pélagos , "sea") through the Italian arcipelago . In antiquity , "Archipelago" (from Medieval Greek * ἀρχιπέλαγος and Latin archipelagus ) was the proper name for the Aegean Sea . Later, usage shifted to refer to
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#1732757381668300-580: The Arctic Archipelago, and 35.38 per cent of the population of Nunavut. Download coordinates as: Archipelago An archipelago ( / ˌ ɑːr k ə ˈ p ɛ l ə ɡ oʊ / AR -kə- PEL -ə-goh ), sometimes called an island group or island chain , is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands , or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Archipelagos are sometimes defined by political boundaries. For example, while they are geopolitically divided,
325-525: The Canadian government, and some Anglican and Catholic missionaries who lived near remote northern hamlets. By 1922, most of imported goods acquired by Inuit were from the HBC. In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada , the Qikiqtaaluk Region had a population of 19,355 living in 5,530 of its 6,573 total private dwellings, a change of 1.9% from its 2016 population of 18,988 . With
350-566: 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
375-522: The Qikiqtaaluk. Formerly, there was a mining town at Nanisivik . However, it and the Nanisivik Mine closed in 2002, with Nanisivik Airport closing in 2010 and all flights transferred to Arctic Bay Airport . Like the majority of Canada's Inuit communities, the region's traditional foods include seal , Arctic char , walrus , polar bear , and caribou . Inhabitants of the Qikiqtaaluk Region are called Qikiqtaalungmiut . Iqaluit has
400-470: 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. 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
425-412: 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
450-519: 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
475-463: 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. The archipelago extends some 2,400 km (1,500 mi) longitudinally and 1,900 km (1,200 mi) from
500-401: The rest live in twelve hamlets— Arctic Bay (868 ), Kinngait (1,441 ), Clyde River (1,053 ), Grise Fiord (129 ), Sanirajak (848 ), Igloolik (1,682 ), Kimmirut (389 ), Pangnirtung (1,481 ), Pond Inlet (1,617 ), Qikiqtarjuaq (598 ), Resolute (198 ) and Sanikiluaq (882 ). Alert ( CFS Alert ) and Eureka are part of Qikiqtaaluk, Unorganized (permanent population 0 ) areas in
525-465: The result of erosion , deposition , and land elevation . Depending on their geological origin, islands forming archipelagos can be referred to as oceanic islands , continental fragments , or continental islands . Oceanic islands are mainly of volcanic origin, and widely separated from any adjacent continent. The Hawaiian Islands and Galapagos Islands in the Pacific , and Mascarene Islands in
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#1732757381668550-590: The shelf. The islands of the Inside Passage off the coast of British Columbia and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago are examples. Artificial archipelagos have been created in various countries for different purposes. Palm Islands and The World Islands off Dubai were or are being created for leisure and tourism purposes. Marker Wadden in the Netherlands is being built as a conservation area for birds and other wildlife. The largest archipelago in
575-432: The south Indian Ocean are examples. Continental fragments correspond to land masses that have separated from a continental mass due to tectonic displacement. The Farallon Islands off the coast of California are an example. Sets of islands formed close to the coast of a continent are considered continental archipelagos when they form part of the same continental shelf, when those islands are above-water extensions of
600-419: The white fox fur trade. Traditional food staples—such as seal and caribou—were not always found in the same regions as white fox. The Hudson's Bay Company —which was chartered in 1670—had been opening fur trading posts throughout Inuit and First Nations territory. By 1910, the HBC was restructured into a lands sales department, retail and fur trade. The HBC dominated the fur trade under minimal supervision from
625-471: The world by number of islands is the Archipelago Sea , which is part of Finland . There are approximately 40,000 islands, mostly uninhabited. The largest archipelagic state in the world by area, and by population, is Indonesia . Qikiqtaaluk Region The Qikiqtaaluk Region , Qikiqtani Region ( Inuktitut syllabics : ᕿᑭᖅᑖᓗᒃ pronounced [qikiqtaːˈluk] ) or the Baffin Region
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