Victoria Island (Canada)

This article is about the island in the Canadian Arctic. For the island in the Ottawa River, see Chaudière Falls. For the city on Vancouver Island, see Victoria, British Columbia.

Victoria Island
Kitlineq

File:Victoria Island, Canada.svg
Geography
Location	Northern Canada
Coordinates
Archipelago	Canadian Arctic Archipelago
Area
Area rank	8th
Length	700 km (430 mi)
Width	564–623 km (350–387 mi)
Highest elevation	655 m (2,149 ft)
Highest point	Unnamed
Country
Canada
Territories	Northwest Territories Nunavut
Largest settlement	Cambridge Bay, Nunavut (pop. 1,477)
Demographics
Population	1,875 (as of 2006)
Ethnic groups	Inuit

Victoria Island (or Kitlineq) is an island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and straddles the boundary between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the eighth largest island in the world, and at 217,291 km² (83,897 sq mi) is Canada's second largest island. It is nearly double the size of Newfoundland (111,390 km² (43,008 sq mi)), and is slightly larger than the island of Great Britain (209,331 km² (80,823 sq mi)). It contains the world's largest island within an island within an island. The western third of the island belongs to the Inuvik Region in the Northwest Territories; the remainder is part of Nunavut's Kitikmeot Region.

History

In 1826 John Richardson saw the southwest coast and called it "Wollaston Land". In 1839 Peter Warren Dease and Thomas Simpson followed its southeast coast and called it "Victoria Land". A map published by John Barrow in 1846 shows a complete blank from these two lands north to "Banks Land" which is the north coast of Banks Island. In 1851 John Rae charted its entire south coast and connected the two "lands". In 1850 and 1851 Robert McClure circumnavigated most of Banks Island, thereby separating it from the rest of Victoria Land. His men also charted the northwest and west coasts of Victoria Island. One of Roald Amundsen's men, Godfred Hansen, charted its east coast as far as Cape Nansen in 1905, and in 1916 and 1917 Storker T. Storkerson, of Vilhjalmur Stefansson's Canadian Arctic Expedition, charted its northeast coast, discovering the Storkerson Peninsula.

Location and description

Viscount Melville Sound lies to the north, and the M'Clintock Channel and Victoria Strait lie eastward. On the west are Amundsen Gulf and Banks Island, which is separated from Victoria by a long sound called the Prince of Wales Strait. To the south (from west to east) lies the Dolphin and Union Strait, Austin Bay, Coronation Gulf and the Dease Strait.

The southern waterways, and sometimes the Prince of Wales Strait, form part of the disputed Northwest Passage which the Government of Canada claims are Canadian Internal Waters, while other nations state they are either territorial waters or international waters.

Victoria Island is an island of peninsulas, having a heavily indented coastline with many inlets. In the east, pointing northwards, is the Storkerson Peninsula, which ends with the Goldsmith Channel, the body of water separating Victoria from Stefansson Island. The Storkerson Peninsula is separated from the island's north-central areas by Hadley Bay, a major inlet. Another, broad peninsula is found in the north, Prince Albert Peninsula. This ends at the Prince of Wales Strait. In the south, and pointing westwards, is the Wollaston Peninsula, separated from the island's central areas by Prince Albert Sound. The island as a whole coincidentally resembles a stylized maple leaf, the main Canadian symbol.

The highest point of Victoria Island is 655 m (2,149 ft) in the Shaler Mountains in the north-central region. Located in the southeast, just north of Cambridge Bay is Ferguson Lake with an area of 562 km² (217 sq mi) is the largest lake on the island.

The island is named after Queen Victoria, the Canadian sovereign from 1867 to 1901. The features bearing the name "Prince Albert" are named after her consort.

There is also a smaller Victoria Island in Nunavut, located in Amadjuak Lake on Baffin Island.

The Dolphin-Union Caribou herd locally known as Island Caribou, are a migratory population of barren-ground caribou, Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus, that occupy Victoria Island in Canada's High Arctic and the nearby mainland. They are endemic to Canada. They migrate across the Dolphin and Union Strait from their summer grazing on Victoria Island to their winter grazing area on the Nunavut-NWT mainland in Canada. It is unusual for North American caribou to seasonally cross sea ice and the only other caribou to do so are the Peary caribou who are smaller in size and population.

Demographics

In the Canada 2006 Census the population of the island was 1,875; 1,477 in Nunavut and 398 in the Northwest Territories. Of the two settlements on the island the largest is Cambridge Bay, which lies on the south-east coast and is in Nunavut. Ulukhaktok is on the west coast and is in the Northwest Territories. Trading posts, such as Fort Collinson on the northwest coast, have long since been abandoned.

Notes

• ^1 The United Nations Environment Programme says that Victoria Island has an area of 220,548 km² (85,154 sq mi). However, the Atlas of Canada indicates the island is 217,291 km² (83,897 sq mi).

Maps

Closeup map of Victoria Island

File:Arctic CopperNunavut.jpg

Large native copper specimen from the Saneraum Hills, Victoria Island

• ^map1 Viscount Melville Sound -
• ^map2 M'Clintock Channel -
• ^map3 Victoria Strait -
• ^map4 Amundsen Gulf -
• ^map5 Banks Island -
• ^map6 Prince of Wales Strait -
• ^map7 Dolphin and Union Strait -
• ^map8 Austin Bay -
• ^map9 Coronation Gulf -
• ^map10 Dease Strait -
• ^map11 Storkerson Peninsula -
• ^map12 Goldsmith Channel -
• ^map13 Stefansson Island -
• ^map14 Hadley Bay -
• ^map15 Prince Albert Peninsula -
• ^map16 Wollaston Peninsula -
• ^map17 Shaler Mountains -
• ^map18 Ferguson Lake -
• ^map19 Cambridge Bay -
• ^map20 Ulukhaktok -
• ^map21 Fort Collinson -

See also

• Parker's Notch
• Prince Albert Impact Crater (72°28′N 113°56′W)

Further reading

• Geological Survey of Canada, J. G. Fyles, D. A. Hodgson, and J. Bednarski. Quaternary Geology of Wynniatt Bay, Victoria Island, Northwest Territories. Open file (Geological Survey of Canada), 2718. 1988.
• Geological Survey of Canada, R. H. Rainbird, A. N. LeCheminant, and I. Lawyer. Geology, Duke of York Inlier, Victoria Island, Northwest Territories. Open file (Geological Survey of Canada), 3304. 1997.
• Geological Survey of Canada, D. A. Hodgson, and J. Bednarski. Preliminary Suficial Materials of Kagloryuak River (77F) and Burns Lake (77G), Victoria Island, Northwest Territories. Open file (Geological Survey of Canada), 2883. 1994.
• Gyselman, E. C., and L. K. Gould. Data on Amphidromous and Freshwater Fish from Central Victoria Island and Freshwater Systems Draining into Melville Sound and Elu Inlet, N.W.T., Canada. Winnipeg: Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans, 1992.
• Jakimchuk, R. D., and D. R. Carruthers. Caribou and Muskoxen on Victoria Island, N.W.T. Sidney, B.C.: R.D. Jakimchuk Management Associates Ltd, 1980.
• McGhee, Robert. An Archaeological Survey of Western Victoria Island, N.W.T., Canada. Ottawa, Ont: National Museums of Canada, 1971.
• Parmelee, David Freeland, H. A. Stephens, and Richard H. Schmidt. The Birds of Southeastern Victoria Island and Adjacent Small Islands. Ottawa: [Queen's Printer], 1967.
• Peterson, E. B., R. D. Kabzems, and V. M. Levson. Terrain and Vegetation Along the Victoria Island Portion of a Polar Gas Combined Pipeline System. Sidney, B.C.: Western Ecological Services, 1981.
• Rainbird, Robert H. Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Tectonic Setting of the Upper Shaler Group, Victoria Island, Northwest Territories. Ottawa: National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1991. ISBN 0-315-66301-4
• Washburn, A. L. Reconnaissance Geology of Portions of Victoria Island and Adjacent Regions, Arctic Canada. [New York]: Geological Society of America, 1947.

External links

• Map of Victoria Island at the Atlas of Canada
• Victoria Island Expedition