Boothia Peninsula

Boothia Peninsula (formerly Boothia Felix) is a large peninsula in Nunavut's northern Canadian Arctic, south of Somerset Island. The northern part, Murchison Promontory, is the northernmost point of mainland Canada, and thus North America.

Bellot Strait (Ikirahaq) passes through on the north. Babbage Bay is on the east coast, as is Abernethy Bay, just to the south. Taloyoak is in the far south. Paisley Bay is on the west coast, as is Wrottesley Inlet (between Paisley Bay and Bellot Strait). [cite web |url=http://assets.panda.org/downloads/final_1_report_envirochange_polar_bears_and_adaptation.pdf |title=Environmental Change, Polar Bears and Adaptation in the East Kitikmeot: An Initial Assessment Final Report |author=Darren Keith, Jerry Arqviq |date=2006-11-23 |publisher=Kitikmeot Heritage Society |work=Figure 8 (Map), Page 35 |accessdate=2008-01-23]

The peninsula was named by the Scottish explorer John Ross in 1829 after Felix Booth, the patron of Ross's second expedition. Ross encountered a large Inuit community whom he described as living in "snow cottages" (i.e. igloos) and immortalized in Ross's painting "North Hendon" [http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/northwpass/captions3.html] .

The north magnetic pole was at one point located here by Ross.

References

*MW 1935|date=August 2008

Further reading

* Christie, Robert Loring. "Three New Lower Paleozoic Formations of the Boothia Peninsula Region, Canadian Arctic Archipelago". [Ottawa] : Dept. of Energy, Mines and Resources, 1973.
* Dease, Peter Warren, and William Barr. From Barrow to Boothia The Arctic Journal of Chief Factor Peter Warren Dease, 1836-1839. [Rupert's Land Record Society series, 7] . Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2002. ISBN 0773522530
* Dyke, Arthur S. "Quaternary Geology of Boothia Peninsula and Northern District of Keewatin, Central Canadian Arctic". Ottawa, Ont., Canada: Geological Survey of Canada, 1984. ISBN 0660114089
* Gunn, A., B. Fournier, and R. Morrison. "Seasonal Movements and Distribution of Satellite-Collared Caribou Cows on the Boothia and Simpson Peninsula Areas, Northwest Territories, 1991-93". Yellowknife, NWT: Dept. of Resources, Wildlife, and Economic Development, Govt. of the Northwest Territories, 2000.
* Lawrence, M. J. "A Survey of Aquatic Resources of the District of Keewatin and Boothia Peninsula". Ottawa: Environmental-Social Program, Northern Pipelines, 1978.
* Markham, Albert Hastings, and Sherard Osborn. "A Whaling Cruise to Baffin's Bay and the Gulf of Boothia". And an Account of the Rescue of the Crew of the "Polaris.". London: S. Low, Marston, Low, and Searle, 1875.
* VanStone, James W., James E. Anderson, and C. F. Merbs. "An Archaeological Collection from Somerset Island and Boothia Peninsula, N.W.T". Toronto, 1962.
* Zabenskie, Susan, and Konrad Gajewski. 2007. "Post-Glacial Climatic Change on Boothia Peninsula, Nunavut, Canada". "Quaternary Research". 68, no. 2: 261.