Arctic Archipelago

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, predominantly 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.

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.

5 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

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).

As of 2026, there are 20 islands in the Canadian Arctic over 5,000 km² (1,900 sq mi). They are listed in order of descending area below. There are a further 19 islands greater than 1,000 km (620 mi) but under 5,000 km² (1,900 sq mi) in Arctic Canada. As of 2021 the total population of all islands in the Arctic was 23,073.

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.

Islands not on map

Beechey^{map 62}
Broughton^{map 63}
Cape Chidley^{map 64}
Dorset^{map 65}
Duke of York^{map 66}
East Pen^{map 67}
Flaherty^{map 68}
Haig-Thomas^{map 69}
Hans^{map 70}
Herschel^{map 71}
Igloolik^{map 72}
Killiniq^{map 73}
Ottawa^{map 74}
Prince Leopold^{map 75}
Qikiqtaryuaq^{map 76}
Skraeling^{map 77}
Trodely^{map 78}
Umingmalik^{map 79}
Weston^{map 80}

Communities

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.

Mapping

^map 1King Christian, 77°45′N 102°00′W / 77.750°N 102.000°W
^map 2Borden, 78°33′N 111°10′W / 78.550°N 111.167°W
^map 3Lougheed, 77°24′N 105°15′W / 77.400°N 105.250°W
^map 4Brock, 77°51′N 114°27′W / 77.850°N 114.450°W
^map 5Mackenzie King 77°43′N 111°57′W / 77.717°N 111.950°W
^map 6Helena, 76°40′N 101°00′W / 76.667°N 101.000°W
^map 7Cameron, 77°48′N 101°51′W / 77.800°N 101.850°W
^map 8Emerald Isle, 76°48′N 114°07′W / 76.800°N 114.117°W
^map 9Prince Patrick, 76°45′N 119°30′W / 76.750°N 119.500°W
^map 10Île Vanier, 76°10′N 103°15′W / 76.167°N 103.250°W
^map 11Eglinton, 75°46′N 118°27′W / 75.767°N 118.450°W
^map 12Alexander, 75°52′N 102°37′W / 75.867°N 102.617°W
^map 13Bathurst, 75°46′N 099°47′W / 75.767°N 99.783°W
^map 14Melville, 75°30′N 111°30′W / 75.500°N 111.500°W
^map 15Byam Martin, 75°12′N 104°17′W / 75.200°N 104.283°W
^map 16Banks, 73°00′N 121°30′W / 73.000°N 121.500°W
^map 17Stefansson, 73°30′N 105°30′W / 73.500°N 105.500°W
^map 18Russell, 74°00′N 098°25′W / 74.000°N 98.417°W
^map 19Prince of Wales, 72°36′N 098°32′W / 72.600°N 98.533°W
^map 20Prescott, 73°03′N 096°49′W / 73.050°N 96.817°W
^map 21Somerset, 73°15′N 093°30′W / 73.250°N 93.500°W
^map 22Victoria, 71°00′N 110°00′W / 71.000°N 110.000°W
^map 23King William, 68°58′N 097°14′W / 68.967°N 97.233°W
^map 24Matty, 69°28′N 095°40′W / 69.467°N 95.667°W
^map 25Wales, 68°01′N 086°40′W / 68.017°N 86.667°W
^map 26Belcher, 56°20′N 079°30′W / 56.333°N 79.500°W
^map 27Long, 54°52′N 079°25′W / 54.867°N 79.417°W
^map 28Akimiski, 53°00′N 081°20′W / 53.000°N 81.333°W
^map 29Charlton, 52°00′N 079°26′W / 52.000°N 79.433°W
^map 30Ellesmere, 79°49′N 078°00′W / 79.817°N 78.000°W
^map 31Meighen, 79°59′N 099°30′W / 79.983°N 99.500°W
^map 32Axel Heiberg, 79°26′N 090°46′W / 79.433°N 90.767°W
^map 33Ellef Ringnes, 78°37′N 101°56′W / 78.617°N 101.933°W
^map 34Amund Ringnes, 78°19′N 096°25′W / 78.317°N 96.417°W
^map 35Cornwall, 77°37′N 094°52′W / 77.617°N 94.867°W
^map 36Graham, 77°26′N 090°30′W / 77.433°N 90.500°W
^map 37North Kent, 76°40′N 090°15′W / 76.667°N 90.250°W
^map 38Baillie-Hamilton, 75°53′N 094°35′W / 75.883°N 94.583°W
^map 39Little Cornwallis, 75°30′N 096°30′W / 75.500°N 96.500°W
^map 40Cornwallis, 75°05′N 095°00′W / 75.083°N 95.000°W
^map 41Devon, 75°15′N 088°00′W / 75.250°N 88.000°W
^map 42Bylot, 73°13′N 078°34′W / 73.217°N 78.567°W
^map 43Baffin, 69°00′N 072°00′W / 69.000°N 72.000°W
^map 44Jens Munk, 69°40′N 079°40′W / 69.667°N 79.667°W
^map 45Koch, 69°35′N 078°20′W / 69.583°N 78.333°W
^map 46Bray, 69°20′N 077°00′W / 69.333°N 77.000°W
^map 47Rowley, 69°05′N 078°52′W / 69.083°N 78.867°W
^map 48Foley, 68°30′N 075°00′W / 68.500°N 75.000°W
^map 49Air Force, 67°58′N 074°05′W / 67.967°N 74.083°W
^map 50Prince Charles, 67°45′N 076°00′W / 67.750°N 76.000°W
^map 51Vansittart, 65°50′N 084°00′W / 65.833°N 84.000°W
^map 52White, 65°46′N 084°53′W / 65.767°N 84.883°W
^map 53Southampton, 64°30′N 084°30′W / 64.500°N 84.500°W
^map 54Resolution, 61°35′N 065°00′W / 61.583°N 65.000°W
^map 55Loks Land, 62°26′N 064°38′W / 62.433°N 64.633°W
^map 56Akpatok, 60°25′N 068°08′W / 60.417°N 68.133°W
^map 57Big, 62°43′N 070°43′W / 62.717°N 70.717°W
^map 58Salisbury, 63°35′N 077°00′W / 63.583°N 77.000°W
^map 59Nottingham, 63°17′N 077°55′W / 63.283°N 77.917°W
^map 60Mansel, 62°00′N 079°50′W / 62.000°N 79.833°W
^map 61Coats, 62°35′N 082°45′W / 62.583°N 82.750°W
^map 62Beechey, 74°43′N 091°51′W / 74.717°N 91.850°W
^map 63Broughton, 67°34′N 063°54′W / 67.567°N 63.900°W
^map 64Cape Chidley, 60°25′45″N 64°27′50″W / 60.42917°N 64.46389°W
^map 65Dorset, 64°12′N 76°32′W / 64.200°N 76.533°W
^map 66Duke of York, 68°15′N 112°30′W / 68.250°N 112.500°W
^map 67East Pen, 56°45′N 088°40′W / 56.750°N 88.667°W
^map 68Flaherty, 56°14′N 079°17′W / 56.233°N 79.283°W
^map 69Haig-Thomas, 78°15′N 094°30′W / 78.250°N 94.500°W
^map 70Hans, 80°49′N 066°27′W / 80.817°N 66.450°W
^map 71Herschel, 69°35′N 139°04′W / 69.583°N 139.067°W
^map 72Igloolik, 69°23′N 081°40′W / 69.383°N 81.667°W
^map 73Killiniq, 60°22′N 064°37′W / 60.367°N 64.617°W
^map 74Ottawa, 59°34′N 080°16′W / 59.567°N 80.267°W
^map 75Prince Leopold, 74°01′N 090°04′W / 74.017°N 90.067°W
^map 76Jenny Lind, 68°43′N 101°58′W / 68.717°N 101.967°W
^map 77Skraeling, 78°55′N 075°40′W / 78.917°N 75.667°W
^map 78Trodely, 52°14′N 079°26′W / 52.233°N 79.433°W
^map 79Gateshead, 70°35′N 100°25′W / 70.583°N 100.417°W
^map 80Weston, 52°32′N 079°35′W / 52.533°N 79.583°W