Arctic Archipelago

The Arctic Archipelago is a massive group of islands in the far north. It sits at the northern extremity of North America. This collection of land is also known as the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It covers much of Northern Canada, specifically the territories of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. After Greenland, it is the largest high-Arctic land area in the world.

The archipelago consists of 36,563 individual islands. Most of these are very small. Only 94 islands are classified as major islands. These major islands are each larger than 2,000 square kilometers. Baffin Island is the largest of all these islands. The group is surrounded by the Arctic Ocean. To the west lies the Beaufort Sea. To the east are Greenland, Baffin Bay, and the Davis Strait. To the south, the islands meet the Canadian mainland and Hudson Bay.

Waterways separate the islands from each other and the mainland. These paths are collectively known as the Northwest Passage. There is a long-standing disagreement regarding these waters. Canada claims the Northwest Passage as Canadian Internal Waters. However, most other maritime countries view them as international waters. This dispute affects Canadian concerns about national security and environmental enforcement.

The climate across the archipelago is Arctic. Most of the terrain is tundra. Tundra is a type of landscape that is mostly treeless. Some parts of the islands contain mountainous regions. Today, the region is showing effects of climate change. The Arctic sea ice cover is thinning. Some computer estimates suggest this melting will contribute to rising sea levels by the year 2100.

Human history in the archipelago began around 2500 BCE. The first humans were the Paleo-Eskimos. They arrived from the Canadian mainland. Between 1000 and 1500 CE, they were replaced by the Thule people. The Thule are the ancestors of the Inuit people living there today. In the 1570s, Martin Frobisher explored the area. British claims were based on his explorations. Britain later transferred the islands to Canada in 1880.

Human settlement in the archipelago is extremely thin and scattered. Most islands have no permanent residents. Only 11 of the 36,563 islands are populated. These settlements are mainly coastal Inuit communities on the southern islands. Baffin Island has the largest population at 13,039 people. This population makes up 56.51 percent of the total people in the archipelago. One example of a populated area is the community of Iqaluit.

Geography within the archipelago varies by location. The islands extend to Cape Columbia on Ellesmere Island. This is the northernmost point of the group. The northernmost cluster of islands is called the Queen Elizabeth Islands. These were formerly known as the Parry Islands. Two large peninsulas, Boothia and Melville, extend north from the mainland. Even small pieces of land have unique histories. For example, Hans Island is now shared by Canada and Denmark. This follows a decades-long dispute between the two nations.