Victoria Island
[[Image:Map indicating Victoria Island, northern Canada.png|right|thumb|250px|Victoria Island, northern Canada.
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Closeup map of Victoria Island |
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Satellite photograph montage of Victoria Island |
Victoria Island (approx. ) is a
Canadian Arctic island straddling the boundary between
Nunavut and the
Northwest Territories of
Canada. It is the
9th largest island of the world, and at 217 291 km² is
Canada's second largest island and nearly double the size of
Newfoundland. The western third of the island belongs to the
Northwest Territories Inuvik Region and the remainder is part of
Nunavut's
Kitikmeot Region.
Viscount Melville Sound lies to the north, and the
M'Clintock Channel and
Victoria Strait lie eastward. The Northwest Territories continue on the mainland to the South across
Pease Strait. On the West are
Amundsen Gulf and
Banks Island, which is separated from Victoria by a long sound called the
Prince of Wales Strait.
Victoria Island is an island of peninsulae, 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 in the Shaler Mountains in the north-central region.
The population of the island is 1,707; 1,309 in the Nunavut part and 398 in the Northwest Territories portion (
2001). The largest settlement on the island is,
Cambridge Bay, which lies on the southeast coast and is in Nunavut.
Ulukhaktok is on the west coast and is in the Northwest Territories. There was once a trading post called Fort Collinson farther north along the west coast, but it was abandoned long ago.
The island is named for
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 nowhere near the city of
Victoria, British Columbia.
