Bathurst Island is one of the

Queen Elizabeth Islands The Queen Elizabeth Islands () are the northernmost cluster of islands in Canada's Arctic Archipelago, split between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories in Northern Canada. The Queen Elizabeth Islands contain approximately 14% of the global gl ...

Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...

, Canada. It is a member of the

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 the Danish Realm, which is, by itself, much larger ...

. An

uninhabited island An uninhabited island, desert island, or deserted island, is an island, islet or atoll which lacks permanent human population. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereotypes ...

, the area is estimated at , long and from to to wide, making it Canada's 13th largest island. It is located between

Devon Island Devon Island (, ) is an island in Canada and the largest desert island, uninhabited island (no permanent residents) in the world. It is located in Baffin Bay, Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is one of the largest members of the Arctic Ar ...

and Cornwallis Island in the east, and Melville Island in the west. Four small islands of

Cameron Cameron may refer to: People * Clan Cameron, a Scottish clan * Cameron (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Cameron (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) ;Mononym * Cam'ron (born 19 ...

, Vanier, Massey and

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

lie in its northwest. The island is low-lying with few parts higher than in elevation. The highest point is at

Stokes Mountain Stokes Mountain is the highest mountain of the Stokes Range and of Bathurst Island, Nunavut, Canada. It also has a topographic prominence In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop ...

in the

Stokes Range The Stokes Range is a mountain range on Bathurst Island, Nunavut, Canada. The range is one of the northernmost ranges in the world and of the Arctic Cordillera. Its highest point is at Stokes Mountain.Arctic Cordillera The Arctic Cordillera is a terrestrial ecozone in northern Canada characterized by a vast, deeply dissected chain of mountain ranges extending along the northeastern flank of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago from Ellesmere Island to the northe ...

mountain system. Good soil conditions produce abundant vegetation and support a more prolific wildlife population than other Arctic islands. The island contains both the

International Biological Program The International Biological Program (IBP) was an effort between 1964 and 1974 to coordinate large-scale ecological and environmental studies. Organized in the wake of the successful International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957–1958, the Interna ...

site Polar Bear Pass and Qausuittuq National Park.

History

The island was first inhabited by

Independence I culture Independence I was a culture of Paleo-Eskimos who lived in northern Greenland and the Canadian Arctic between 2400 and 1900 BC. There has been much debate among scholars on when Independence I culture disappeared, and, therefore, there is a marg ...

peoples around 2000 BC. They were followed by Independence II,

Pre-Dorset The Pre-Dorset is a loosely defined term for a Paleo-Eskimo culture or group of cultures that existed in the Eastern Canadian Arctic from c. 3200 to 850 cal BC, and preceded the Dorset culture. Due to its vast geographical expanse and to histor ...

, and

Dorset culture The Dorset was a Paleo-Eskimo culture, lasting from to between and , that followed the Pre-Dorset and preceded the Thule people (proto-Inuit) in the North American Arctic. The culture and people are named after Cape Dorset (now Kinngait) in ...

s. On the eastern coast lies Brooman Point Village. The site has been occupied by the Dorset,

Paleo-Eskimo The Paleo-Eskimo meaning ''"old Eskimos"'', also known as, pre-Thule people, Thule or pre-Inuit, were the peoples who inhabited the Arctic region from Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Chukotka (e.g., Chertov Ovrag) in present-day Russia across North Am ...

and the

Thule people The Thule ( , ) or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by 1000 AD and expanded eastward across northern Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people of the ...

around AD 1000, conceivably during a warmer

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

episode. At the time of European arrival in the 1800s, nobody was living there, but

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

in the region likely knew of its abundant wildlife, and possibly travelled there on hunting trips.

William Edward Parry Sir William Edward Parry (19 December 1790 – 8 July 1855) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for his 1819–1820 expedition through the Parry Channel, probably the most successful in the long quest for the Northwest Passa ...

was the first

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

to discover the island in 1819, charting its southern coast. It was named for

Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst (22 May 1762 – 27 July 1834), was a High Tory, High church, High Church Tories (British political party), Pittite. He was an MP for thirty years before ennoblement. A personal friend of William Pitt the Young ...

, British

Secretary of State for War and the Colonies The Secretary of State for War and the Colonies was a British cabinet-level position responsible for the army and the British colonies (other than India). The Secretary was supported by an Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. Hist ...

1812–1827.

Robert Dawes Aldrich Admiral Robert Dawes Aldrich, born 19 October 1808, joined the Royal Navy in 1824 (22 January), age 15, was promoted to mate in 1830 and lieutenant in 1842 (7 March). He served as lieutenant in HMS ''Resolute'' under the command of Horatio Thomas ...

charted much of its west coast in 1851, while

George Henry Richards Sir George Henry Richards (13 January 182014 November 1896) was Hydrographer of the Royal Navy from 1863 to 1874. Biography Richards was born in Antony, Cornwall, the son of Captain G. S. Richards, and joined the Royal Navy in 1832. His eld ...

and

Sherard Osborn Sherard Osborn (25 April 1822 – 6 May 1875) was a Royal Navy admiral and Arctic explorer. Biography Born in Madras, he was the son of an Indian army officer. Osborn entered the navy as a first-class volunteer in 1837, serving until 1 ...

charted its north coast in 1853. The Earth's

North magnetic pole The north magnetic pole, also known as the magnetic north pole, is a point on the surface of Earth's Northern Hemisphere at which the Earth's magnetic field, planet's magnetic field points vertically downward (in other words, if a magnetic comp ...

tracked northwards across Bathurst and Seymour Islands during the 1960s and 1970s. The Canadian National Museum of Natural Sciences, led by renowned

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

biologist Stewart D. Macdonald, curator of Vertebrate Ethology, established a permanent High Arctic Research Station there in 1973. Located on the Goodsir River in Polar Bear Pass, the station was staffed seasonally until the 1980s.

References

External links

Bathurst Island in the Atlas of Canada - Toporama; Natural Resources Canada
{{Authority control Islands of the Queen Elizabeth Islands Uninhabited islands of Qikiqtaaluk Region

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links