CANADIAN ARCTIC ISLANDS comprise the archipel ago which lies north of Canada with Davis strait, Baffin bay, Smith sound and its northward continuation on the east and the Beaufort sea on the west. As far as is known the most northern land, Cape Columbia 83° 7' N., is about half a degree south of the northern cape of Greenland. The largest islands are Baffin, Ellesmere and Victoria, which are about 211,000, 76,60o, and 74,000sq.m. respec tively. The total land area of the archipelago is about 55o,000 square miles. Baffin island contains several large, little known lakes. The loftiest land is in the east where Baffin and Ellesmere islands rise to 5-6,000f t. In the middle the islands are low but in the west of the archipelago there are elevations of 3,000f t. The islands are built mainly of Palaeozoic strata laid down on the submerged border of the Archaean shield of Canada. In cen tral Victoria island, Melville and Boothia peninsulas, parts of Baf fin, Devon and Ellesmere islands, there are large areas of Archaean rock. To the north of this old shield heavy folding occurs in the Palaeozoic rocks of Ellesmere island and has been traced eastward into Northern Greenland. In parts there are gently folded Triassic and Tertiary beds overlying the Palaeozoic strata. Permanent ice occurs only in parts of Baffin, Devon, Ellesmere and Heiberg islands and nowhere does it mask completely the underlying relief. Islands further west are too low and have too little precipitation for glaciers to form. The channels between the islands due to erosion and faulting in the depressed plateau, are mostly shallow and, being landlocked, are liable to be blocked with pack ice. It was this ice which made the chief difficulties in the long search for a north-west passage and makes that passage useless for commerce. Winter snowfall being slight, there are two to three months in summer during which the low ground is free from snow. This allows mean temperatures to rise to over 40° and absolute maxima to reach 6o° or more at that season. Vegetation is a form of open tundra which is luxuriant and bright in summer. Animals include the caribou, musk-ox, polar bear, wolf, fox, hare, lemming, ermine and glutton as well as seals, walrus and narwhal. Eskimo inhabit the southern and eastern islands and apparently had once a wider range towards the north-west. As far as is known the only min erals of economic value are native copper in Victoria and Prince of Wales islands and a few scattered deposits of coal and lignite. The islands were explored in the course of the search for a north-west passage and especially during the Franklin search expeditions (see ARCTIC REGIONS) . Later work has been done in the north by A. W. Greely, R. E. Peary, D. B. Macmillan and others; in the south by R. Amundsen; in the west and north-west by 0. Sver drup and V. Stefansson, and in the east and south by the patrols of the Royal Canadian mounted police who have posts at Pangnir tung fjords, Ponds inlet and Lake Harbour on Baffin island, Dundas Harbour on Devon island and at Craig Harbour and on Bache Peninsula in Ellesmere island. Some of the coast lines are still imperfectly charted and the interiors of many of the islands are unknown. The cession of territorial rights in 1869 by the Hud son's Bay Company brought its territories, including many of the islands, under the new Dominion of Canada, and in 1880 the Imperial Government granted to Canada all British territory in the northern waters of America between 6o° and 141° W. The islands now form the greater part of the Franklin district of the North West territories. The whole of the area except the eastern part of Baffin island is now administered as a preserve for the Eskimo. Ottawa is the centre of administration. The construction of a wheat port at Nelson in Hudson bay will bring a certain amount of summer traffic to Hudson strait. The Canadian Government sends a vessel annually to visit the police posts.
addition to books on Arctic Regions (q.v.) especially those in the Franklin search expeditions, see 0. Sverdrup, New Land (1904) ; J. E. Berniev, The Cruise of the Arctic (Ottawa, 1909) ; V. Stefansson, My Life with the Eskimo (1913), The Friendly Arctic (1921), The Northward Course of Empire (1922) ; K. Rasmussen, Across Arctic America (1927) ; Report of the Canadian Arctic Expedition 1913-18 (Ottawa, 1919-25) ; and Canada's Arctic Islands (Ottawa, 1927) ; The Arctic Pilot III. (1915) gives full details of the topography.