Victoria Island (Canada)

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This article is about the island in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. For other uses, see Victoria Island.
Victoria Island
Geography
Location Northern Canada
Coordinates 71°0′N 110°0′W / 71, -110Coordinates: 71°0′N 110°0′W / 71, -110
Archipelago Canadian Arctic Archipelago
Area 217,291 km² (83,897 sq mi)[1]
Rank 9th


Administration
Flag of Canada Canada
Territories Flag of Northwest Territories Northwest Territories
Flag of Nunavut Nunavut
Largest city Cambridge Bay (1,477)
Demographics
Population 1,875 (as of 2006)

Victoria Island is an island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and straddles the boundary between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the 9th largest island of the world, and at 217,291 square kilometres (83,897 sq mi)1 is Canada's second largest island and nearly double the size of Newfoundland (or only slightly larger than the size of the island of Great Britain). The western third of the island belongs to the Inuvik Region in the Northwest Territories and the remainder is part of Nunavut's Kitikmeot Region.

Contents

[edit] 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 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.

Victoria Island reaches an elevation of 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.[2]

As of the Canada 2006 Census the population of the island is 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.

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

Although Victoria Island is located in Canada, it is more than 2,000 km from the city of Victoria, British Columbia, which is on Vancouver Island in the Pacific Ocean. The island should not be confused with the smaller Victoria Island, also in Nunavut, located in Amadjuak Lake on Baffin Island.[3]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Victoria Island at the Atlas of Canada
  2. ^ Ferguson Lake at the Atlas of Canada
  3. ^ Victoria Island, Amadjuak Lake at the Atlas of Canada
  4. ^ Victoria Island at the UNEP

[edit] Further reading

Closeup map of Victoria Island
Closeup map of Victoria Island
  • 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 0315663014
  • Washburn, A. L. Reconnaissance Geology of Portions of Victoria Island and Adjacent Regions, Arctic Canada. [New York]: Geological Society of America, 1947.

[edit] External links