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Arctic Archipelago
Archipel Arctique Canadien (Fr)

Polar projection map of the Arctic Archipelago
Geography
Location	Northern Canada
Coordinates	75°N 90°W / 75°N 90°W / 75; -90 (Canadian Arctic Archipelago)Coordinates: 75°N 90°W / 75°N 90°W / 75; -90 (Canadian Arctic Archipelago)
Total islands	36,563
Major islands	Baffin Island, Victoria Island, Ellesmere Island
Area	1,424,500 km2 (550,000 sq mi)
Administration
Canada
Territories	Nunavut Northwest Territories
Largest settlement	Iqaluit, Nunavut (pop. 6,184)
Demographics
Population	14,000
Pop. density	0.0098 /km2 (0.0254 /sq mi)

The Arctic Archipelago, also known as the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, is a group of islands north of the Canadian mainland.

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 in the Arctic Sea comprises much of the territory of Northern Canada – most of Nunavut and part of the Northwest Territories.^[1] The Canadian Arctic Archipelago is showing some effects of global warming,^[2][3] with some computer estimates determining that melting there will contribute 3.5 cm (1.4 in) to the rise in sea levels by 2100.^[4]

History

British claims on the islands 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 all of the islands was not established until the 1880 transfer by Britain to Canada of the remaining islands.^[5] 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 Northwestern Passages as Canadian Internal Waters; however, the United States and most other maritime countries view these as international waters.^[6] Disagreement over the passages' status has raised Canadian concerns about environmental enforcement, national security, and general sovereignty. Hans Island, in the Nares Strait east of Ellesmere Island, is a territory currently contested between Canada and Denmark.

Geography

Satellite image of Baffin Island, the largest island by total area of the Arctic Archipelago

Satellite image montage showing Ellesmere Island and its neighbours, including Axel Heiberg Island (left of Ellesmere). Greenland is to the right in this photo.

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 Northwestern Passages. Two large peninsulas, Boothia and Melville, extend northward from the mainland.

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).^[7] The islands of the archipelago over 10,000 km² (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 areas. 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

Islands not on map

Mapping

See also

• British Arctic Territories


• List of Canadian islands by area


• List of islands of Canada

References

Further reading