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Victoria Island

Victoria Island (Inuinnaqtun: Kitlineq) is a large island in the Arctic Archipelago that 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)¹ in area, it is Canada's second-largest island. It is nearly double the size of Newfoundland (111,390 km² [43,010 sq mi]), and is slightly larger than the island of Great Britain (209,331 km² [80,823 sq mi]) but smaller than Honshu (225,800 km² [87,200 sq mi]). The western third of the island lies in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories; the remainder is part of Nunavut's Kitikmeot Region. The population of 2,168 is divided between two settlements, the larger of which is Cambridge Bay (Nunavut) and the other Ulukhaktok (Northwest Territories).

The island is named after Queen Victoria, the Canadian sovereign from 1867 to 1901 (though she first became Queen in 1837). The features bearing the name "Prince Albert" are named after her consort, Albert.

History

Victoria Island was inhabited by the Thule culture, with five prehistoric qamutiik (sleds) belonging to the Neoeskimo culture being found on the Wollaston Peninsula, dating to 1250–1573 AD. The Inuinnaqtun name for the island is Kitlineq, with the local Inuit people called Kitlinermiut (Copper Inuit).

In 1826 John Richardson was the first European to see 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, sighting the Storkerson Peninsula.

In 2008 Clark Carter and Chris Bray became the first recorded people to walk across Victoria Island. Their first attempt at the 1,000 km (620 mi) trek in 2005 failed, so they returned and completed the remaining 660 km (410 mi) in 2008.

Geography

Viscount Melville Sound^map1 lies to the north, and the M'Clintock Channel^map2 and Victoria Strait^map3 lie eastward. On the west are Amundsen Gulf^map4 and Banks Island,^map5 which is separated from Victoria by a long sound called the Prince of Wales Strait.^map6 To the south (from west to east) lie the Dolphin and Union Strait,^map7 Austin Bay,^map8 Coronation Gulf^map9 and the Dease Strait.^map10

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,^map11 which ends with the Goldsmith Channel,^map12 the body of water separating Victoria from Stefansson Island.^map13 The Storkerson Peninsula is separated from the island's north-central areas by Hadley Bay,^map14 a major inlet. Another, broad peninsula is found in the north, Prince Albert Peninsula.^map15 This ends at the Prince of Wales Strait. In the south, and pointing westwards, is the Wollaston Peninsula,^map16 separated from the island's central areas by Prince Albert Sound.

The highest point of Victoria Island is 655 m (2,149 ft) in the Shaler Mountains^map17 in the north-central region. Located in the southeast, just north of Cambridge Bay, is Tahiryuaq (formerly Ferguson Lake)^map18. With an area of 562 km² (217 sq mi), it is the largest lake on the island.

It was said by Andrew Hund in his book, Antarctica and the Arctic Circle: A Geographic Encyclopedia of the Earth's Polar Regions, that the island resembles a stylized maple leaf, the predominant symbol of Canada.

Climate

Victoria Island has a polar climate, with no month having an average temperature of 10 °C (50 °F) or higher, and is listed as ET on the Köppen climate classification. Summers are typically cool and rainy, with pleasant days and chilly nights. Winters are cold, dark, and long, with October being the snowiest month. Snowfall and frosts are possible all year round. Rainfall is usually limited to the summer months, when the temperature shortly rises above freezing for a few months before dipping back down for another 9 months of winter. Springs are typically sunny but still very chilly. Autumns are short and crisp, with more frequent cloud cover starting to appear during August and with September being almost constantly cloudy.

At Cambridge Bay, the sun is continuously below the horizon, polar night, from approximately 30 November to 11 January and above the horizon, midnight sun, 19 May to 22 July.

Biology

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. It is unusual for North American caribou to seasonally cross sea ice and the only other caribou to do so are the Peary caribou, which are smaller in size and population, and also occur on Victoria Island.

Victoria Island contains the world's largest island within an island within an island.

Demographics

In the 2021 Canadian census the population of the island was 2,168; 1,760 in Nunavut and 408 in the Northwest Territories. Of the two settlements on the island the larger is Cambridge Bay,^map19 which lies on the south-east coast and is in Nunavut. Ulukhaktok^map20 is on the west coast and is in the Northwest Territories. Trading posts, such as Fort Collinson^map21 on the northwest coast, have long been abandoned.

List of places by population

Maps

Explanatory 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).