108-521: Gjøa [jøː.ɑ] was the first vessel to transit the Northwest Passage . With a crew of six, Roald Amundsen traversed the passage in a three-year journey, finishing in 1906. The 70 by 20 ft (21.3 by 6.1 m) square-sterned sloop of 47 net register tonnage (4,700 cu ft (130 m)) was built by Knut Johannesson Skaale in Rosendal , Norway in 1872, the same year Amundsen
216-533: A Danish naval lieutenant and Gjøa' s first officer; Helmer Hanssen , second officer, an experienced ice pilot who later accompanied Amundsen on subsequent expeditions; Anton Lund, an experienced sealing captain; Peder Ristvedt, chief engineer; Gustav Juel Wiik, second engineer, a gunner in the Royal Norwegian Navy ; and Adolf Henrik Lindstrøm , cook. Gjøa left the Oslofjord on June 16, 1903, and made for
324-708: A holding company that was, until April 1, 2014, jointly owned by the Inuvialuit of the Northwest Territories and the Inuit of Nunavut. In the second half of 2018 travellers visited Nunavut 134,000 times and spent $ 436 million. Two-thirds of those visits were by Nunavummiut (residents of Nunavut) travelling within the territory. The remaining came from outside other provinces or territories in Canada, or from abroad and spent $ 219 million. Travellers from Ontario make up
432-684: A "collection assembles the first animated films to be made by Inuit artists at the NFB. Featured is work by Solomonie Pootoogook, Timmun Alariaq, Mathew Joanasie, and Itee Pootoogook Pilaloosie—all participants in the Kinngait (formerly Cape Dorset) Film Animation Workshop on Baffin Island." In November 2006, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation announced
540-505: A commercial sea route north and west around North America. The Northwest Passage represented a new route to the established trading nations of Asia . England called the hypothetical northern route the "Northwest Passage". The desire to establish such a route motivated much of the European exploration of both coasts of North America, also known as the New World. When it became apparent that there
648-756: A conditional agreement seven months later. The land claims agreement was completed in September 1992 and ratified by nearly 85% of the voters in Nunavut in a referendum . On July 9, 1993, the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act and the Nunavut Act were passed by the Canadian Parliament . The transition to establish Nunavut Territory was completed on April 1, 1999. In 2020, Nunavut imposed strict travel regulations in order to prevent an outbreak of
756-421: A lead-based solder ). Another researcher has suggested botulism caused deaths among crew members. Evidence from 1996, that confirms reports first made by John Rae in 1854 based on Inuit accounts, suggests that the last of the crew may have resorted to cannibalism of deceased members in an effort to survive. Nunavut Nunavut is the largest, easternmost, and northernmost territory of Canada . It
864-634: A map showing a narrow and crooked Strait of Anian separating Asia from the Americas . The strait grew in European imagination as an easy sea lane linking Europe with the residence of Khagan (the Great Khan) in Cathay (northern China ). Cartographers and seamen tried to demonstrate its reality. Sir Francis Drake sought the western entrance in 1579. The Greek pilot Juan de Fuca , sailing from Acapulco (in Mexico) under
972-487: A month fighting his way through Hudson Strait. In September 1619, he found the entrance to Hudson Bay and spent the winter near the mouth of the Churchill River. Cold, famine , and scurvy destroyed so many of his men that only he and two other men survived. With these men, he sailed for home with Lamprey on July 16, 1620, reaching Bergen , Norway, on September 20, 1620. René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle built
1080-615: A northern Atlantic passage to the Spice Islands . An English expedition was launched in 1576 by Martin Frobisher , who took three trips west to what is now the Canadian Arctic in order to find the passage. Frobisher Bay , which he first charted, is named after him. As part of another expedition, in July 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert , who had written a treatise on the discovery of the passage and
1188-499: A population density of 0.022/km (0.056/sq mi). Nunavut is also home to the world's northernmost continuously inhabited place, Alert . Eureka , a weather station on Ellesmere Island, has the lowest average annual temperature of any Canadian weather station. The region which is now mainland Nunavut was first populated approximately 4,500 years ago by the Pre-Dorset , a diverse Paleo-Eskimo culture that migrated eastward from
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#17328480240361296-477: A population of 36,858 from the 2021 Census . In 2021, 30,865 people identified as Inuit (84.3% of the total population), 180 as First Nations (0.5%), 120 as Métis (0.3%), 230 with multiple or other Indigenous responses (0.6%), and 5,210 as non-Indigenous (14.2%). The population growth rate of Nunavut has been well above the Canadian average for several decades, mostly due to birth rates significantly higher than
1404-609: A record which stood for 236 years, before being blocked by ice. On May 9, 1619, under the auspices of King Christian IV of Denmark–Norway , Jens Munk set out with 65 men and the king's two ships, Einhörningen (Unicorn), a small frigate , and Lamprenen (Lamprey), a sloop, which were outfitted under his own supervision. His mission was to discover the Northwest Passage to the Indies and China. Munk penetrated Davis Strait as far north as 69°, found Frobisher Bay, and then spent almost
1512-539: A separate building at Fram Museum. A bauta (memorial pillar or standing stone) now stands near Gjøa' s former home in San Francisco. Gjøa was also featured as a filming location in the 2005 documentary, The Search for the Northwest Passage , in which Kåre Conradi played Amundsen. 59°54′13.44″N 10°41′56.32″E / 59.9037333°N 10.6989778°E / 59.9037333; 10.6989778 Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage ( NWP )
1620-547: A series of Arctic waterways collectively known as the Northwest Passages , Northwestern Passages or the Canadian Internal Waters . For centuries, European explorers, beginning with Christopher Columbus in 1492, sought a navigable passage as a possible trade route to Asia, but were blocked by North, Central, and South America, by ice, or by rough waters (e.g. Tierra del Fuego ). An ice-bound northern route
1728-411: A ship's hull . Cargo routes may thus be slow and uncertain, depending on prevailing conditions and the ability to predict them. Because much containerized traffic operates in a just-in-time mode (which does not tolerate delays well) and because of the relative isolation of the passage (which impedes shipping companies from optimizing their operations by grouping multiple stopovers on the same itinerary),
1836-604: A small ship and hugged the coast. Before the Little Ice Age (late Middle Ages to the 19th century), Norwegian Vikings sailed as far north and west as Ellesmere Island , Skraeling Island and Ruin Island for hunting expeditions and trading with the Inuit and people of the Dorset culture who inhabited the region. Between the end of the 15th century and the 20th century, colonial powers from Europe dispatched explorers to discover
1944-645: A training expedition before braving the Arctic ice. He engaged Hans Christian Johannsen, her previous owner, and a small crew, and sailed from Tromsø in April 1901. The next five months were spent sealing on the pack ice of the Barents Sea . Following their return to Tromsø in September, Amundsen set about remedying the deficiencies in Gjøa that the trip had exposed. He had a little 13- horsepower marine paraffin motor, connected with
2052-551: A way through the continent. Cartier became persuaded that the St. Lawrence was the Passage; when he found the way blocked by rapids at what is now Montreal , he was so certain that these rapids were all that was keeping him from China (in French, la Chine ), that he named the rapids for China. Samuel de Champlain renamed them Sault Saint-Louis in 1611, but the name was changed to Lachine Rapids in
2160-409: A winch, for navigation in light winds and to facilitate handlings. Much of the winter was spent upgrading her ice sheathing, as Amundsen knew she would spend several winters iced-in. In the spring of 1902, her refit complete, Amundsen sailed Gjøa to Christiania (now Oslo), the capital of Norway. At this time Norway was still in a union with Sweden , and Amundsen hoped the nationalistic spirit which
2268-569: Is an open pit gold mine with an estimated mine life 2010–2020 and employs 680 people. The second mine in production is the Mary River Iron Ore mine operated by Baffinland Iron Mines. It is located close to Pond Inlet on North Baffin Island. They produce a high grade direct ship iron ore. The most recent mine to open is Doris North or the Hope Bay Mine operated near Hope Bay Aerodrome by TMAC Resource Ltd. This new high grade gold mine
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#17328480240362376-664: Is based in Nunavut. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) serves Nunavut through a radio and television production centre in Iqaluit, and a bureau in Rankin Inlet. Iqaluit is served by private commercial radio stations CKIQ-FM and CKGC-FM , both owned by Northern Lights Entertainment Inc. (CKIQ-FM had a rebroadcaster in Rankin Inlet that was discontinued in 2009.) Nunavut is served by two regional weekly newspapers, Nunatsiaq News published by Nortext, and Nunavut News/North , published by Northern News Services , who also publish
2484-551: Is not connected to the rest of North America via the Pan-American Highway . Nunavut is the least densely populated major country sub-division in the world (not considering Antarctica), being even less densely populated than Denmark's Greenland . With a population of 36,858 as of the 2021 Canadian census (up from 35,944 in 2016) consisting mostly of Inuit, and a land mass almost as large as Mexico , Nunavut's land area of 1,836,993.78 km (709,267.26 sq mi) has
2592-635: Is the sea lane between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean , along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Arctic Archipelago of Canada. The eastern route along the Arctic coasts of Norway and Siberia is accordingly called the Northeast Passage (NEP). The various islands of the archipelago are separated from one another and from Mainland Canada by
2700-474: Is the first in a series of potential mines in gold occurrences all along the Hope Bay greenstone belt . Nunavut's people rely primarily on diesel fuel to run generators and heat homes, with fossil fuel shipments from southern Canada by plane or boat because there are few to no roads or rail links to the region. There is a government effort to use more renewable energy sources, which is generally supported by
2808-576: Is usually reported that ocean thawing will open up the Northwest Passage (and the Northern Sea Route ) for various kind of ships, making it possible to sail around the Arctic ice cap and possibly cutting thousands of miles off shipping routes. Warning that the NASA satellite images suggested that the Arctic had entered a "death spiral" caused by climate change, Professor Mark Serreze , a sea ice specialist at
2916-648: The Beaufort Sea . By October Gjøa was again iced-in, this time near Herschel Island in the Yukon . Amundsen left his men on board and spent much of the winter skiing 500 miles south to Eagle , Alaska to telegraph news of the expedition's success. He returned in March, but Gjøa remained icebound until July 11. Gjøa reached Nome in Alaska on August 31, 1906. She sailed on to earthquake ravaged San Francisco , California , where
3024-618: The Bering Strait region. The Pre-Dorset culture was succeeded by the Dorset culture about 2,800 years ago. Anthropologists and historians believe that the Dorset culture developed from the Pre-Dorset somehow. Helluland , which Norse explorers described visiting in their Sagas of Icelanders , has been associated with Nunavut's Baffin Island . Claims of contact between the Dorset and Norse are controversial. The Thule people , ancestors of
3132-644: The COVID-19 pandemic. The government barred entry to almost all non-residents. On November 6, 2020, Nunavut confirmed its first case in Sanikiluaq , having previously been the only place in North America to have had no cases of COVID-19. Nunavut covers 1,836,993.78 km (709,267.26 sq mi) of land and 160,930 km (62,137 sq mi) of water in Northern Canada. The territory includes part of
3240-635: The Government of Canada for the relocation of Inuit to the High Arctic . Discussions on dividing the Northwest Territories along ethnic lines began in the 1950s, and legislation to achieve this was introduced in 1963. After its failure, a federal commission recommended against such a measure. During the 1970s, activism increased among the Inuit, First Nations , and Innu peoples for recognition of their forced assimilation . In 1976, as part of
3348-535: The Inuit language ( Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun ), known as Inuktut , English, and French. In his 2000 commissioned report ( Aajiiqatigiingniq Language of Instruction Research Paper ) to the Nunavut Department of Education, Ian Martin of York University said that a "long-term threat to Inuit languages from English is found everywhere, and current school language policies and practices on language are contributing to that threat" if Nunavut schools follow
Gjøa - Misplaced Pages Continue
3456-650: The Labrador Sea west of Greenland . From there she crossed Baffin Bay and navigated the narrow, icy straits of the Arctic Archipelago . By late September Gjøa was west of the Boothia Peninsula and began to encounter worsening weather and sea ice. Amundsen put her into a natural harbour on the south shore of King William Island ; by October 3 she was iced in. There she remained for nearly two years, with her crew undertaking sledge journeys to make measurements to determine
3564-653: The Milne Inlet , on Baffin Island 's north shore, were bound for ports in Asia. Those freighters did not sail west through the remainder of the Northwest Passage; they sailed east, rounded the tip of Greenland, and transited Russia's Northern Sea Route. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Northwestern Passages as follows: On the West. The Eastern limit of Beaufort Sea from Lands End through
3672-724: The Nunavut Arctic College , as well as several Arctic research stations located within the territory. The new Canadian High Arctic Research Station CHARS is planning for Cambridge Bay and high north Alert Bay Station. Iqaluit hosts the annual Nunavut Mining Symposium every April, a tradeshow that showcases the many economic activities ongoing in Nunavut. Baffinland is the territory's largest private sector employer with more than 2,600 workers and accounted for 23 per cent of Nunavut's economic activity in 2019. There are currently three major mines in operation in Nunavut. Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd – Meadowbank Division. Meadowbank Gold Mine
3780-637: The Strait of Georgia . To fully explore this new inland sea, an expedition under Dionisio Alcalá Galiano was sent in 1792. He was explicitly ordered to explore all channels that might turn out to be a Northwest Passage. In 1776, Captain James Cook was dispatched by the Admiralty in Great Britain on an expedition to explore the Passage. A 1745 act, when extended in 1775, promised a £20,000 prize for whoever discovered
3888-487: The University of Alberta , examined remains from sites associated with the expedition. This led to further investigations and the examination of tissue and bone from the frozen bodies of three seamen, John Torrington , William Braine and John Hartnell , exhumed from the permafrost of Beechey Island . Laboratory tests revealed high concentrations of lead in all three (the expedition carried 8,000 tins of food sealed with
3996-579: The Vancouver Expedition (led by George Vancouver who had previously accompanied Cook) surveyed in detail all the passages from the Northwest Coast . He confirmed that there was no such passage south of the Bering Strait. This conclusion was supported by the evidence of Alexander MacKenzie , who explored the Arctic and Pacific Oceans in 1793. In the first half of the 19th century, some parts of
4104-419: The sailing ship , Le Griffon , in his quest to find the Northwest Passage via the upper Great Lakes . He made his way across Lake Erie and Lake Huron , making port on Mackinac Island before landing at Washington Island at the mouth of Green Bay to trade for furs with Pottawatomie Indians. La Salle stayed behind while the ship sailed back to Mackinac with the furs. Le Griffon disappeared in 1679 on
4212-549: The 2011 Census. The percentage of population which is non-religious has grown from 13% in 2011 to 24.9% in 2021 Census. About 1.6% of the population reported another religious affiliation including Aboriginal spirituality, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, and others. The economy of Nunavut is driven by the Inuit and Territorial Government, mining, oil, gas, and mineral exploration, arts, crafts, hunting, fishing, whaling, tourism, transportation, housing development, military, research, and education. Currently, one college operates in Nunavut,
4320-686: The Alaskan region. His ship was wrecked off the Kamchatka Peninsula , as many of his crew were disabled by scurvy. The Spanish made several voyages to the northwest coast of North America during the late 18th century. Determining whether a Northwest Passage existed was one of the motives for their efforts. Among the voyages that involved careful searches for a Passage included the 1775 and 1779 voyages of Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra . The journal of Francisco Antonio Mourelle , who served as Quadra's second in command in 1775, fell into English hands. It
4428-568: The Arctic Ocean, thereby proving that there was no strait connecting Hudson Bay to the Pacific Ocean. Most Northwest Passage expeditions originated in Europe or on the east coast of North America, seeking to traverse the Passage in the westbound direction. Some progress was made in exploring the western reaches of the imagined passage. In 1728 Vitus Bering , a Danish-born Russian navy officer, used
Gjøa - Misplaced Pages Continue
4536-530: The Arctic and Hudson Bay. In 1611, while in James Bay , Hudson's crew mutinied. They set Hudson and his teenage son John, along with seven sick, infirm, or loyal crewmen, adrift in a small open boat. He was never seen again. A mission was sent out in 1612, again in Discovery , commanded by Sir Thomas Button to find Henry Hudson and continue through the Northwest Passage. After failing to find Hudson, and exploring
4644-583: The British East India Company and the Muscovy Company, set out in 1606 to follow up on Weymouth's discoveries and find the Northwest Passage. After his ship ran aground and was nearly crushed by ice, Knight disappeared while searching for a better anchorage. In 1609, Henry Hudson sailed up what is now called the Hudson River in search of the Passage; encouraged by the saltiness of the water in
4752-465: The Canadian Arctic Archipelago, via the McClure Strait , Dease Strait , and the Prince of Wales Strait , but not all of them are suitable for larger ships. From there ships passed through westward through the Beaufort Sea and the Chukchi Sea , and then southwards through the Bering Strait (separating Russia and Alaska), into the Pacific Ocean. In the 21st century, major changes to the ice pack due to climate change have stirred speculation that
4860-415: The Canadian Arctic to chart the last unknown swaths of the Northwest Passage. Confidence was high, as they estimated there was less than 500 km (310 mi) remaining of unexplored Arctic mainland coast. When the ships failed to return, relief expeditions and search parties explored the Canadian Arctic, which resulted in a thorough charting of the region, along with a possible passage. Many artifacts from
4968-401: The Canadian average—a trend that continues. Between 2011 and 2016, Nunavut had the highest population growth rate of any Canadian province or territory, at a rate of 12.7%. The second-highest was Alberta, with a growth rate of 11.6%. Between 2016 and 2021, the population growth increased by 2.5% (the third lowest), a decrease of 10.2 percentiles from the previous census. Official languages are
5076-523: The East Coast to Cape Sherard (Cape Osborn) ( 74°35′N 80°30′W / 74.583°N 80.500°W / 74.583; -80.500 ) and across to Cape Liverpool, Bylot Island ( 73°44′N 77°50′W / 73.733°N 77.833°W / 73.733; -77.833 ); down the East coast of this island to Cape Graham Moore, its southeastern point, and thence across to Cape Macculloch ( 72°29′N 75°08′W / 72.483°N 75.133°W / 72.483; -75.133 ) and down
5184-520: The East coast of Baffin Island to East Bluff, its Southeastern extremity, and thence the Eastern limit of Hudson Strait . On the South. The mainland coast of Hudson Strait; the Northern limits of Hudson Bay ; the mainland coast from Beach Point to Cape Bathurst . As a result of their westward explorations and their settlement of Greenland, the Vikings sailed as far north and west as Ellesmere Island , Skraeling Island for hunting expeditions and trading with Inuit groups. The subsequent arrival of
5292-555: The Government of Nunavut and the NFB jointly announced the launch of a DVD and online collection entitled Unikkausivut (Inuktitut: Sharing Our Stories ), which will make over 100 NFB films by and about Inuit available in Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun and other Inuit languages, as well as English and French. The Government of Nunavut is distributing Unikkausivut to every school in the territory. The music of Nunavut includes Inuit throat singing and drum-led dancing, along with country music , bluegrass , fiddling , square dancing and
5400-401: The Little Ice Age is thought to have been one of the reasons that European seafaring into the Northwest Passage ceased until the late 15th century. In 1539, Hernán Cortés commissioned Francisco de Ulloa to sail along the Baja California Peninsula on the western coast of North America. Ulloa concluded that the Gulf of California was the southernmost section of a strait supposedly linking
5508-557: The Northeast. The Coast of Ellesmere Island between C. Columbia and C. Sheridan the Northern limit of Baffin Bay . On the East. The East Coast of Ellesmere Island between C. Sheridan and Cape Norton Shaw ( 76°29′N 78°30′W / 76.483°N 78.500°W / 76.483; -78.500 ), thence across to Phillips Point ( Coburg Island ) through this Island to Marina Peninsula ( 75°55′N 79°10′W / 75.917°N 79.167°W / 75.917; -79.167 ) and across to Cape Fitz Roy ( Devon Island ) down
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#17328480240365616-443: The Northwest Passage (north of the Bering Strait) were explored separately by many expeditions, including those by John Ross , Elisha Kent Kane , William Edward Parry , and James Clark Ross ; overland expeditions were also led by John Franklin , George Back , Peter Warren Dease , Thomas Simpson , and John Rae . In 1826 Frederick William Beechey explored the north coast of Alaska, discovering Point Barrow. Sir Robert McClure
5724-481: The Northwest Passage and other Arctic routes are not always seen as promising shipping lanes by industry insiders, at least for the time being. The uncertainty related to physical damage to ships is also thought to translate into higher insurance premiums, especially because of the technical challenges posed by Arctic navigation (as of 2014, only 12 percent of Canada's Arctic waters have been charted to modern standards). The Beluga group of Bremen , Germany, sent
5832-494: The Northwest Territories model. He provided a 20-year language plan to create a "fully functional bilingual society, in Inuktitut and English" by 2020. The plan provided different models, including: Of the 34,960 responses to the census question concerning "mother tongue" in the 2016 census, the most commonly reported languages in Nunavut were: At the time of the census, only English and French were counted as official languages. Figures shown are for single-language responses and
5940-404: The Northwest Territories on the mainland and a few Arctic islands, and with Manitoba to the south of the Nunavut mainland; it also meets Saskatchewan to the southwest at a quadripoint , and has a short land border with Newfoundland and Labrador on Killiniq Island . The boundary with the Northwest Territories roughly approximates the tree line in Canada. Nunavut shares maritime borders with
6048-462: The Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen was the first to complete the passage solely by ship, from Greenland to Alaska in the sloop Gjøa . Since that date, several fortified ships have made the journey. From east to west, the direction of most early exploration attempts, expeditions entered the passage from the Atlantic Ocean via the Davis Strait and through Baffin Bay , both of which are in Canada. Five to seven routes have been taken through
6156-422: The Pacific with the Gulf of Saint Lawrence . His voyage perpetuated the notion of the Island of California and saw the beginning of a search for the Strait of Anián. The strait probably took its name from Ania, a Chinese province mentioned in a 1559 edition of Marco Polo 's book; it first appears on a map issued by Italian cartographer Giacomo Gastaldi about 1562. Five years later Bolognino Zaltieri issued
6264-497: The Southwest coast of Prince Patrick Island to Griffiths Point, thence a line to Cape Prince Alfred, the Northwestern extreme of Banks Island , through its West coast to Cape Kellet, the Southwestern point, and thence a line to Cape Bathurst on the mainland ( 70°36′N 127°32′W / 70.600°N 127.533°W / 70.600; -127.533 ). On the Northwest. The Arctic Ocean between Lands End, Prince Patrick Island, and Cape Columbia , Ellesmere Island . On
6372-399: The U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said: "The passages are open. It's a historic event. We are going to see this more and more as the years go by." However, some thick sections of ice will remain hard to melt in the shorter term. Drifting and persistence of large chunks of ice, especially in springtime, can be problematic as they can clog entire straits or severely damage
6480-407: The area is dated to 1576, an account by English explorer Martin Frobisher . While leading an expedition to find the Northwest Passage , Frobisher thought he had discovered gold ore around the body of water now known as Frobisher Bay on the coast of Baffin Island . The ore turned out to be worthless, but Frobisher made the first recorded European contact with the Inuit. Other explorers in search of
6588-512: The community. This support comes from Nunavut feeling the effects of global warming . Former Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak said in 2011, " Climate change is very much upon us. It is affecting our hunters, the animals, the thinning of the ice is a big concern, as well as erosion from permafrost melting." The region is warming about twice as fast as the global average, according to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . Northern Transportation Company Limited , owned by Norterra,
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#17328480240366696-440: The crew may have survived into the early 1850s, no evidence has ever been found of any survivors. In 1853, explorer John Rae was told by local Inuit about the disastrous fate of Franklin's expedition, but his reports were not welcomed in Britain on account of his reports of cannibalism amongst the surviving crews. Starvation , exposure and scurvy all contributed to the men's deaths. In 1981 Owen Beattie , an anthropologist from
6804-405: The difficult extinction of a fire on board the ship, he sailed to Greenland , where he traded goods with the Inuit peoples on July 8, 1746. He crossed to the town of Fort Nelson and spent the summer on the Hayes River . He renewed his efforts in June 1747, without success, before returning to England. In 1772, the English fur trader Samuel Hearne travelled overland northwest from Hudson Bay to
6912-429: The elusive Northwest Passage followed in the 17th century, including Henry Hudson , William Baffin and Robert Bylot . Cornwallis and Ellesmere Islands featured in the history of the Cold War in the 1950s. Concerned about the area's strategic geopolitical position, the federal government, as part of the High Arctic relocation , relocated Inuit from Nunavik (northern Quebec ) to Resolute and Grise Fiord . In
7020-403: The estuary, he reached present-day Albany, New York , before giving up. On September 14, 1609, Hudson entered the Tappan Zee while sailing upstream from New York Harbor . At first, Hudson believed the widening of the river indicated that he had found the Northwest Passage. He proceeded upstream as far as present-day Troy before concluding that no such strait existed there. He later explored
7128-430: The expedition was met with a hero's welcome on October 19. Rather than sail her round Cape Horn and back to Norway, the Norwegian American community in San Francisco prevailed on Amundsen to sell Gjøa to them. The ship was donated to the city of San Francisco, and the ship was dragged up the beach to the northwest corner of Golden Gate Park , surrounded by a low fence and put on display. Amundsen knew that because of
7236-437: The expedition were found over the next century and a half, including notes that the ships were ice-locked in 1846 near King William Island , about halfway through the passage, and unable to break free. Records showed Franklin died in 1847 and Captain Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier took over command. In 1848 the expedition abandoned the two ships and its members tried to escape south across the tundra by sledge . Although some of
7344-513: The expedition, including William Bligh , George Vancouver , and John Gore , thought the existence of a route was 'improbable'. Before reaching 65°N they found the coastline pushing them further south, but Gore convinced Cook to sail on into the Cook Inlet in the hope of finding the route. They continued to the limits of the Alaskan peninsula and the start of the 1,200 mi (1,900 km) chain of Aleutian Islands. Despite reaching 70°N , they encountered nothing but icebergs. From 1792 to 1794,
7452-413: The fame that his exploits aboard Gjøa had earned, he would be able to gain access to Nansen 's ship Fram which had been custom-built for ice work and was owned by the Norwegian state. Therefore, Amundsen left Gjøa in San Francisco. He and his crew traveled back to Norway by commercial ship. Of the original expedition members, only Wiik failed to return to Norway, because he had died of illness during
7560-407: The first Western commercial vessels through the Northern Sea Route (Northeast Passage) in 2009. Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that "ships entering the North-West passage should first report to his government". The first commercial cargo ship to have sailed through the Northwest Passage was SS Manhattan in August 1969. SS Manhattan , of 115,000 deadweight tonnage ,
7668-462: The flag of the Spanish crown, claimed he had sailed the strait from the Pacific to the North Sea and back in 1592. The Spaniard Bartholomew de Fonte claimed to have sailed from Hudson Bay to the Pacific via the strait in 1640. The first recorded attempt to discover the Northwest Passage was the east–west voyage of John Cabot in 1497, sent by Henry VII in search of a direct route to the Orient . In 1524, Charles V sent Estêvão Gomes to find
7776-563: The head of a Canadian mining company claims, parts of the eastern end of the Passage are barely 15 metres (49 ft) deep, the route's viability as a Euro-Asian shipping route is reduced. In 2016, Chinese shipping line COSCO expressed a desire to make regular voyages of cargo ships using the passage to the Eastern United States and Europe, after a successful passage by Nordic Orion of 73,500 tonnes deadweight tonnage in September 2013. Fully laden, Nordic Orion sat too deep in
7884-523: The hypothesis.) Explorers thought that an Open Polar Sea close to the North Pole must exist. The belief that a route lay to the far north persisted for several centuries and led to numerous expeditions into the Arctic. Many ended in disaster, including that by Sir John Franklin in 1845. While searching for him the McClure Arctic Expedition discovered the Northwest Passage in 1850. In 1906,
7992-481: The land claims negotiations between the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (then called the "Inuit Tapirisat of Canada") and the federal government, the parties discussed division of the Northwest Territories to provide a separate territory for the Inuit. On April 14, 1982, a plebiscite on division was held throughout the Northwest Territories. A majority of the residents voted in favour and the federal government gave
8100-408: The largest portion of visitors from outside the territory. The majority of visitors from outside of Nunavut are business travellers; in the second half of 2018 only 14% of visitors were in the territory for leisure. Tourism recreation in Nunavut include activities like dog sledding, snowmobiling, cultural festivals, hiking, arctic wildlife safaris and sea kayaking. The Inuit Broadcasting Corporation
8208-548: The location of the North Magnetic Pole and learning from the local Inuit . The harbour, known as Uqsuqtuuq ("much fat") in Inuktitut , has become the only settlement on the island – Gjoa Haven , Nunavut , which now has a population of over a thousand people (1,349 at the 2021 census ). Gjøa left Gjoa Haven on August 13, 1905, and motored through the treacherous straits south of Victoria Island , and from there west into
8316-596: The mainland, most of the Arctic Archipelago, and all of the islands in Hudson Bay , James Bay , and Ungava Bay , including the Belcher Islands , all of which were part of the Northwest Territories from which Nunavut was separated. This makes it the fifth-largest subnational entity (or administrative division ) in the world. If Nunavut were a country, it would rank 15th in area. Nunavut has long land borders with
8424-623: The mid-19th century. In 1602, George Weymouth became the first European to explore what would later be called Hudson Strait when he sailed Discovery 300 nautical miles (560 km) into the Strait. Weymouth's expedition to find the Northwest Passage was funded jointly by the British East India Company and the Muscovy Company . Discovery was the same ship used by Henry Hudson on his final voyage. John Knight , employed by
8532-459: The modern Inuit , began migrating from Alaska in the 11th century into the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. By 1300, the geographic extent of Thule settlement included most of modern Nunavut. The migration of the Thule people coincides with the decline of the Dorset. Thule people genetically and culturally completely replaced Dorset some time after 1300. The earliest written historical account of
8640-593: The multi-territory regional Kivalliq News . The film production company Isuma is based in Igloolik. Co-founded by Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn in 1990, the company produced the 1999 feature Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner , winner of the Caméra d'Or for Best First Feature Film at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival . It was the first feature film written, directed, and acted entirely in Inuktitut . The National Film Board (NFB) has released Animation from Cape Dorset (1973),
8748-427: The need to sail around ice near Point Barrow . East of Point Barrow the coast is fairly clear in summer. This area was mapped in pieces from overland in 1821–1839. This leaves the large rectangle north of the coast, south of Parry Channel and west of Baffin Island. This area was mostly mapped in 1848–1854 by ships looking for Franklin's lost expedition. The first crossing was made by Roald Amundsen in 1903–1906. He used
8856-488: The passage may become clear enough of ice to permit safe commercial shipping for at least part of the year. On August 21, 2007, the Northwest Passage became open to ships without the need of an icebreaker . According to Nalan Koc of the Norwegian Polar Institute , this was the first time the Passage has been clear since they began keeping records in 1972. The Northwest Passage opened again on August 25, 2008. It
8964-554: The passage. Initially the Admiralty had wanted Charles Clerke to lead the expedition, with Cook (in retirement following his exploits in the Pacific) acting as a consultant. However, Cook had researched Bering's expeditions, and the Admiralty ultimately placed their faith in the veteran explorer to lead, with Clerke accompanying him. After journeying through the Pacific, to make an attempt from
9072-422: The percentage of total single-language responses. In the 2016 census it was reported that 2,045 people (5.8%) living in Nunavut had no knowledge of either official language of Canada (English or French). The 2016 census also reported that of the 30,135 Inuit in Nunavut, 90.7% could speak either Inuktitut or Inuinnaqtun. In the 2021 census, Christianity constituted 73.5% of Nunavut's population, down from 86% in
9180-494: The provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba. With Greenland, a constituent country of the Danish Realm , it shares a primarily maritime international border that includes a short land border on Hans Island . Nunavut's highest point is Barbeau Peak (2,616 m (8,583 ft)) on Ellesmere Island. The population density is 0.022/km (0.056/sq mi), one of the lowest in the world. By comparison, Greenland has approximately
9288-512: The regional centres of Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay . Nunavut includes Ellesmere Island in the far north, the eastern and southern portions of Victoria Island in the west, and all islands in Hudson, James and Ungava bays, including the western portion of Killiniq Island in the southeast and Akimiski Island far to the south of the rest of the territory. It is Canada's only geopolitical region that
9396-655: The return trip of her maiden voyage. In the spring of 1682, La Salle made his famous voyage down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico . La Salle led an expedition from France in 1684 to establish a French colony on the Gulf of Mexico. He was murdered by his followers in 1687. Henry Ellis , born in Ireland, was part of a company aiming to discover the Northwest Passage in May 1746. After
9504-429: The same area and nearly twice the population. Nunavut experiences a polar climate in most regions, owing to its high latitude and lower continental summertime influence than areas to the west. In more southerly continental areas, very cold subarctic climates can be found, due to July being slightly milder than the required 10 °C (50 °F). Visible minority and indigenous identity (2016): Nunavut has
9612-616: The start of the Nunavut Animation Lab, offering animation training to Nunavut artists at workshops in Iqaluit, Cape Dorset and Pangnirtung. Films from the Nunavut Animation Lab include Alethea Arnaquq-Baril 's 2010 digital animation short Lumaajuuq , winner of the Best Aboriginal Award at the Golden Sheaf Awards and named Best Canadian Short Drama at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival . In November 2011,
9720-476: The strait first discovered by Semyon Dezhnyov in 1648 but later accredited to and named after Bering (the Bering Strait ). He concluded that North America and Russia were separate land masses by sailing between them. In 1741 with Lieutenant Aleksei Chirikov , he explored seeking further lands beyond Siberia . While they were separated, Chirikov discovered several of the Aleutian Islands while Bering charted
9828-447: The third Arctic winter. Over the following decades Gjøa slowly deteriorated, and by 1939 she was in poor condition. Refurbishment was delayed by World War II , and repairs were not completed until 1949. Being displayed outdoors and having faced 66 years of high winds, ocean salt and sand, the boat once again suffered deterioration, until in 1972, with the help of Erik Krag, a Danish American shipping company owner of San Francisco, Gjøa
9936-722: The unfamiliar and hostile conditions, they faced starvation but were forced to stay. Forty years later, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples issued a report titled The High Arctic Relocation: A Report on the 1953–55 Relocation . The government paid compensation to those affected and their descendants. On August 18, 2010, in Inukjuak, the Honourable John Duncan , PC, MP , previous Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians formally apologized on behalf of
10044-560: The water to sail through the Panama Canal . The Northwest Passage has three sections: Many attempts were made to find a salt water exit west from Hudson Bay, but the Fury and Hecla Strait in the far north is blocked by ice. The eastern entrance and main axis of the northwest passage, the Parry Channel, was found in 1819. The approach from the west through Bering Strait is impractical because of
10152-511: The waterways more navigable for ice navigation . The contested sovereignty claims over the waters may complicate future shipping through the region: the Canadian government maintains that the Northwestern Passages are part of Canadian Internal Waters , but the United States claims that they are an international strait and transit passage, allowing free and unencumbered passage. If, as
10260-423: The west coast of Hudson Bay, Button returned home due to illness in the crew. In 1614, William Gibbons attempted to find the Passage, but was turned back by ice. The next year, 1615, Robert Bylot , a survivor of Hudson's crew, returned to Hudson Strait in Discovery , but was turned back by ice. Bylot tried again in 1616 with William Baffin . They sailed as far as Lancaster Sound and reached 77°45′ North latitude,
10368-462: The west, Cook began at Nootka Sound in April 1778. He headed north along the coastline, charting the lands and searching for the regions sailed by the Russians 40 years previously. The Admiralty's orders had commanded the expedition to ignore all inlets and rivers until they reached a latitude of 65°N . Cook, however, failed to make any progress in sighting a Northwestern Passage. Various officers on
10476-565: Was a backer of Frobisher, claimed the territory of Newfoundland for the English crown. On August 8, 1585, the English explorer John Davis entered Cumberland Sound , Baffin Island. The major rivers on the east coast were also explored in case they could lead to a transcontinental passage. Jacques Cartier 's explorations of the Saint Lawrence River in 1535 were initiated in hope of finding
10584-419: Was admitted in 1949. Nunavut comprises a major portion of Northern Canada and most of the Arctic Archipelago . Its vast territory makes it the fifth-largest country subdivision in the world , as well as North America's second-largest (after Greenland ). The capital Iqaluit (formerly Frobisher Bay), on Baffin Island in the east, was chosen by a capital plebiscite in 1995 . Other major communities include
10692-432: Was born. She was named Gjøa after her then owner's wife. For the next 28 years the vessel served as a herring fishing boat. On March 28, 1901, Amundsen bought her from Asbjørn Sexe of Ullensvang , Norway, for his forthcoming expedition to the Arctic Ocean . Gjøa was much smaller than vessels used by other Arctic expeditions , but Amundsen intended to live off the limited resources of the land and sea through which he
10800-435: Was credited with the discovery of the Northwest Passage in 1851 when he looked across McClure Strait from Banks Island and viewed Melville Island . However, this strait was not navigable to ships at that time. The only usable route linking the entrances of Lancaster Sound and Dolphin and Union Strait was discovered by John Rae in 1854. In 1845, a lavishly equipped two-ship expedition led by Sir John Franklin sailed to
10908-507: Was discovered in 1850 by the Irish explorer Robert McClure whose expedition completed the passage by hauling sledges. Scotsman John Rae explored a more southerly area in 1854 through which Norwegian Roald Amundsen made the first complete passage entirely by ship in 1903–1906. Until 2009, the Arctic pack ice prevented regular marine shipping throughout most of the year. Arctic sea ice decline , linked primarily to climate change , has rendered
11016-453: Was no route through the heart of the continent, attention turned to the possibility of a passage through northern waters. There was a lack of scientific knowledge about conditions; for instance, some people believed that seawater was incapable of freezing. (As late as the mid-18th century, Captain James Cook had reported that Antarctic icebergs had yielded fresh water, seemingly confirming
11124-713: Was returned to Norway. Krag was knighted by the king of Norway for his efforts in shipping home Gjøa . Gjøa was displayed in the Norwegian Maritime Museum (Norwegian: Norsk Maritimt Museum ) in Bygdøy , Oslo. In May 2009 the Norwegian Maritime Museum and the Fram Museum (Norwegian: Frammuseet ) signed an agreement for the Fram Museum of Bygdøy to take over the exhibition of Gjøa . It has been displayed in
11232-479: Was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act , which provided this territory to the Inuit for self-government. The boundaries had been drawn in 1993. The creation of Nunavut resulted in the first major change to Canada's political map in half a century since the province of Newfoundland (now Newfoundland and Labrador)
11340-404: Was sweeping the country would attract sponsors willing to underwrite the expedition's growing costs. After much wrangling, and a donation from King Oscar , he succeeded. By the time Amundsen returned, Norway had gained its independence, and he and his crew were among the new country's first national heroes. Amundsen served as the expedition leader and Gjøa's master. His crew were Godfred Hansen,
11448-401: Was the largest commercial vessel ever to navigate the Northwest Passage. The largest passenger ship to navigate the Northwest Passage was the cruise liner Crystal Serenity of gross tonnage 69,000. Starting on August 10, 2016, the ship sailed from Vancouver to New York City with 1,500 passengers and crew, taking 28 days. In 2018, two of the freighters leaving Baffinland 's port in
11556-491: Was to travel, and reasoned that the land could sustain only a tiny crew (this had been a cause of the catastrophic failure of John Franklin 's expedition fifty years previously). Her shallow draught would help her traverse the shoals of the Arctic straits. Perhaps most importantly, the ageing ship was all that Amundsen (who was financing his expedition largely by spending his inheritance) could afford. Amundsen had little experience of Arctic sailing, and so decided to undertake
11664-458: Was translated and published in London , stimulating exploration. Captain James Cook made use of the journal during his explorations of the region. In 1791 Alessandro Malaspina sailed to Yakutat Bay , Alaska, which was rumoured to be a Passage. In 1790 and 1791 Francisco de Eliza led several exploring voyages into the Strait of Juan de Fuca , searching for a possible Northwest Passage and finding
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