Iqaluit [Population: 7,740 (2016)] - Capital city of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, located on vast Baffin Island in Frobisher Bay.

‘Iqaluit’ means ‘place of many fish’ in Inuktitut.

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As the territorial capital of Nunavut, Iqaluit is the largest and fastest-growing community in the territory.

Iqaluit is located on Baffin Island at the northern end of Frobisher Bay near the mouth of the Sylvia Grinnell River and near beautiful parklands, that feature a range of landscapes, mountains, rivers, waterfalls and ancient Thule sites to visit.

Topography
Iqaluit is situated on gently rolling hills, with rocky outcrops and lush tundra valleys. The tides of Frobisher Bay at Iqaluit rise and fall eight to twelve metres (26-39 feet) twice a day — the second highest tides in Canada after the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia.

This exciting, dynamic city is the political, business, journalism and transportation hub of Nunavut, with an excellent airport. The landing strip is long enough to land the space shuttle, so it is often used for cold weather testing of the world’s largest new aircraft.

Formerly known as Frobisher Bay, the modern city of Iqaluit is rich with traditional Inuit culture. It is the home of many Inuit artists, filmmakers and musicians, plus there are arts and culture festivals staged in the spring and summer that bring artists here from across the territory.

The friendly people of Iqaluit — the ‘Iqalumiut’ — love to go out on the land, sea and ice at all times of the year to enjoy a variety of outdoor activities.

HISTORY
‘Iqaluit’ means ‘place of many fish’ in Inuktitut. The ancient Thule people knew it well. At nearby Qaummaarviit Island there are several archaeological sites containing thousand-year-old artifacts of these great Inuit ancestors.

The first European to make a big fuss about this place was the British explorer Sir Martin Frobisher in 1576.
He sailed into the bay and believed he had found a direct route to China, so he named it ‘Frobisher’s Straites’ after himself. He thought he discovered gold here too, shipping a large amount of it to England where it was recognized as pyrite — fool’s gold. In 1861, the American explorer Charles Francis Hall arrived in search of the lost Franklin Expedition. He learned from a local hunter named Koojesse that ‘Frobisher’s Straites’ was really just a big long bay and not the fabled Northwest Passage, so he hired Koojesse as his guide and geographer, naming an inlet after him.

By 1870, Frobisher ‘Bay’ was frequently visited by whaling vessels and fur trading began. Whaling died out in the early 1900s, but the fur trade expanded. Anglican and Catholic missions arrived. In 1914, the Hudson Bay Company (HBC) opened a trading post at Ward Inlet, about 64 kilometres (40 miles) south of here. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrived in the 1920s.

Americans chose the location of Koojesse Inlet for a United States Air Force (USAF) base during WWII. The airstrip was operational by 1943. The HBC trading post relocated itself nearby and many Inuit families made permanent homes here. The settlement of Frobisher Bay was born.

During the Cold War 1950s it became part of the NORAD DEW line with a population of 1,200 people (40% Inuit) in 1957. The federal government of Canada brought in doctors, teachers, administrators, clerks and support staff. Large numbers of Inuit people continued to settle here. The USAF pulled out in 1963. In 1987 the community changed its name back to Iqaluit, reverting to the original Inuktitut name. The Nunavut Land Claims Agreement was signed here in 1993. By plebiscite in 1995 Iqaluit was chosen to be the capital of the new territory of Nunavut — which officially came into being on April 1, 1999.

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Pond Inlet, Nunavut, Canada

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Pond Inlet, Nunavut, Canada

pondinlet.ca/history

In the first decade of the 20th century, the bowhead whale had almost disappeared from Arctic waters and the whaling fleet, which had numbered up to 70 ships during the best years, had been reduced to a few units. Some Scottish ship owners, realizing that whaling alone could never again be profitable, decided that trading for skins and ivory offered better prospects and they established a few trading stations on the coast of Baffin Island.

In 1903, Captain James S. Mutch arrived in the region on the sloop Albert. After spending the first winter at Erik Harbour, Mutch took his ship to what was later called Albert Harbour, and built a trading post at Igarjua. During the following years, the station was manned in turn by Mutch himself and then by Cameron. The Inuit they employed took a few bowhead whales, but it was mostly sealskins, narwhal and walrus tusks, as well as fox and bear skins that were traded.

In 1906-07, Captain Joseph Bernier, leader of the Canadian Government expedition sent to establish sovereignty over the Arctic islands, wintered at Albert Harbour on the Arctic. He was in constant contact with the Inuit of Igarjua. In 1908, returning from Winter Harbour on Melville Island, he visited the site again on his way home. In April 1910, Bernier bought from Robert Kinnes, a ship owner from Dundee, “the house and the other erections at Ponds Bay fishing [whaling] stations.” A month later, he received a tract of land of 960 acres in the same location by letters patent from King George V for the sum of one dollar. Its previous owner had apparently called the Igarjua establishment “Scotia.” Bernier renamed it “ Berniera”. Bernier visited his newly acquired post in August 1910, when he returned north with the Arctic on another government expedition. This time he spent the winter in Arctic Bay, but in December he sent his second officer, Robert Janes, to Igarjua. Janes remained there until the following summer.

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Nunavut, Canada

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Pond Inlet, Nunavut, Canada

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