Southampton Island

Infobox Islands
name = Southampton


image caption = Southampton Island within Nunavut
image size =
locator

map_custom =
native name =
native name link = Inuktikut
nickname =
location = Hudson Bay
coordinates = coord|64|30|N|84|30|W|display=inline,title
archipelago = Canadian Arctic Archipelago
total islands =
major islands =
area = 41,214 km²
rank = 34th
highest mount =
elevation =
country = Canada
country admin divisions title = Territory
country admin divisions = flag|Nunavut
country largest city = Iqaluit
country largest city population = 6,184
country leader title =
country leader name =
population = 712
population as of = Canada 2001 Census
density =
ethnic groups = Inuit
additional info =

One of the larger members of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Southampton Island is a large island at the entrance to Hudson Bay, Canada. It is part of the Kivalliq Region of the Nunavut Territory. The area of the island is stated as 41,214 km² by Statistics Canada [http://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/phys07.htm] . It is the 34th largest island in the world and Canada's 9th largest island. The only settlement on Southampton Island is Coral Harbour (pop. 712, Canada 2001 Census), called in Inuit "Salliq".

It's separated from the Melville Peninsula by Frozen Strait. [cite web |url=http://www.bartleby.com/69/68/F03568.html |title=Frozen Strait |year=2000 |publisher= The Columbia Gazetteer of North America |accessdate=2008-04-07]

East Bay Bird Sanctuary and Harry Gibbons Bird Sanctuary are located on the island and are important breeding sites for the Lesser Snow Goose ("Anser caerulescens caerulescens").

Southampton Island is one of the few Canadian areas, and the only area in Nunavut, that does not use daylight saving time.

History

Historically speaking, Southampton Island is famous for its now-extinct inhabitants, the "Sadlermiut" (modern Inuktitut "Sallirmiut" "Inhabitants of "Salliq"), who were the last vestige of the Tuniit. The "Tuniit", a pre-Inuit culture, officially went ethnically and culturally extinct in 1902-03cite web | first=Jean L. | last=Briggs | coauthors=J. Garth Taylor | publisher=Historica Foundation of Canada | title=The Canadian Encyclopedia: Sadlermiut Inuit| url =http://www.encyclopediecanadienne.ca/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0007041| accessdate=2008-03-21] when a Western illness killed all of the "Sallirmiut" in a matter of weeks.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the island was repopulated by Aivilingmiut from Repulse Bay and Chesterfield Inlet, influenced to do so by whaler Capt. George Comer and others. Baffin Islanders arrived 25 years later. John Ell, who as a young child travelled with his mother Shoofly on Comer's schooners, eventually became the most famous of Southampton Island's re-settled population. [cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=2k_ZPx76uPQC&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&dq=%22duke+of+york+bay%22+inuit&source=web&ots=fCfD3iRa_D&sig=5ZCzRLLwsr6sAwDQEPd51_oEfbo&hl=en#PPA38,M1 |title=Cold comfort : my love affair with the Arctic |first=Graham |last=Rowley |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |year= |location=Montreal |pages=38 |isbn=0773513930 |accessdate=2008-04-04]

Gallery

Capt. George Comer's 1913 map of Southampton.

References

Further reading

* Bird, J. Brian. "Southampton Island". Ottawa: E. Cloutier, 1953.
* Brack, D. M. "Southampton Island Area Economic Survey With Notes on Repulse Bay and Wager Bay". Ottawa: Area & Community Planning Section, Industrial Division, Dept. of Northern Affairs and National Resources, 1962.
* Mathiassen, Therkel. "Contributions to the Physiography of Southampton Island". Copenhagen: Gyldendalske Boghandel, 1931.
* Parker, G. R. "An Investigation of Caribou Range on Southampton Island, Northwest Territories". Ottawa: Information Canada, 1975.
* Pickavance, J. R. 2006. "The Spiders of East Bay, Southampton Island, Nunavut, Canada". "Arctic". 59, no. 3: 276-282.
* Popham RE. 1953. "A Comparative Analysis of the Digital Patterns of Eskimo from Southampton Island". "American Journal of Physical Anthropology". 11, no. 2: 203-13.
* Popham RE, and WD Bell. 1951. "Eskimo crania from Southampton Island". "Revue Canadienne De Biologie" / ̐ưedit̐ưee Par L'Universit̐ưe De Montr̐ưeal. 10, no. 5: 435-42.
* Sutton, George Miksch, and John Bonner Semple. "The Exploration of Southampton Island". Pittsburgh: Carnegie Institute, 1932.
* Sutton, George Miksch. "The Birds of Southampton Island". Pittsburgh: Carnegie Institute, 1932.
* VanStone, James W. "The Economy and Population Shifts of the Eskimos of Southampton Island". Ottawa: Northern Co-ordination and Research Centre, Dept. of Northern Affairs and National Resources, 1959.