# Arctic Archipelago

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, by itself, much larger than the combined area of the archipelago) and Iceland (an independent country)
Situated in the northern extremity of North America and covering about 1,424,500 km$^2$ (550,000 sq mi), this group of 36,563 islands, surrounded by 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.

## History

Around 2500 BCE, the first humans, the Paleo-Eskimos, arrived in the archipelago from 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 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.

## 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 km$^2$ (50 sq mi), and cover a total area of 1,400,000 km$^2$ (540,000 sq mi). The islands of the archipelago over 10,000 km$^2$ (3,900 sq mi), in order of descending area, are:
| Name | Location$^*$ | Area | Area rank | Area rank | Population (2021) |
| Name | Location$^*$ | Area | World | Canada | Population (2021) |
| Baffin Island | NU | 507,451 km$^2$ (195,928 sq mi) | 5 | 1 | 13,039 |
| Victoria Island | NT, NU | 217,291 km$^2$ (83,897 sq mi) | 8 | 2 | 2,168 |
| Ellesmere Island | NU | 196,236 km$^2$ (75,767 sq mi) | 10 | 3 | 144 |
| Banks Island | NT | 70,028 km$^2$ (27,038 sq mi) | 24 | 5 | 104 |
| Devon Island | NU | 55,247 km$^2$ (21,331 sq mi) | 27 | 6 | 0 |
| Axel Heiberg Island | NU | 43,178 km$^2$ (16,671 sq mi) | 32 | 7 | 0 |
| Melville Island | NT, NU | 42,149 km$^2$ (16,274 sq mi) | 33 | 8 | 0 |
| Southampton Island | NU | 41,214 km$^2$ (15,913 sq mi) | 34 | 9 | 1,038 |
| Prince of Wales Island | NU | 33,339 km$^2$ (12,872 sq mi) | 40 | 10 | 0 |
| Somerset Island | NU | 24,786 km$^2$ (9,570 sq mi) | 46 | 12 | 0 |
| Bathurst Island | NU | 16,042 km$^2$ (6,194 sq mi) | 54 | 13 | 0 |
| Prince Patrick Island | NT | 15,848 km$^2$ (6,119 sq mi) | 55 | 14 | 0 |
| King William Island | NU | 13,111 km$^2$ (5,062 sq mi) | 61 | 15 | 1,349 |
| Ellef Ringnes Island | NU | 11,295 km$^2$ (4,361 sq mi) | 69 | 16 | 0 |
| Bylot Island | NU | 11,067 km$^2$ (4,273 sq mi) | 72 | 17 | 0 |
$^*$ 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 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

* King Christian
* Borden
* Lougheed
* Brock
* Mackenzie King
* Helena
* Cameron
* Emerald
* Prince Patrick
* Île Vanier
* Eglinton
* Alexander
* Bathurst
* Melville
* Byam Martin
* Banks
* Stefansson
* Russell
* Prince of Wales
* Prescott
* Somerset
* Victoria
* King William
* Matty
* Wales
* Belcher
* Long
* Akimiski
* Charlton
* Ellesmere
* Meighen
* Axel Heiberg
* Ellef Ringnes
* Amund Ringnes
* Cornwall
* Graham
* North Kent
* Baillie-Hamilton
* Little Cornwallis
* Cornwallis
* Devon
* Bylot
* Baffin
* Kapuiviit
* Koch
* Bray
* Rowley
* Foley
* Air Force
* Prince Charles
* Nagjuttuuq
* Qikiqtaaluk (Foxe Basin)
* Southampton
* Resolution
* Loks
* Akpatok
* Qikiqtarjuaq (Hudson Strait)
* Salisbury
* Nottingham
* Mansel
* Coats

### Islands not on map

* Beechey
* Broughton
* Cape Chidley
* Dorset
* Duke of York
* East Pen
* Flaherty
* Haig-Thomas
* Hans
* Herschel
* Igloolik
* Killiniq
* Ottawa
* Prince Leopold
* Qikiqtaryuaq
* Skraeling
* Trodely
* Umingmalik
* Weston