Victoria Island

This article is about the island in the Canadian Arctic. For other islands, see Victoria Island. For the city on Vancouver Island, see Victoria, British Columbia.

Victoria Island
Native name:
Kitlineq
Geography
LocationNorthern Canada
Coordinates70°25′N 107°45′W / 70.417°N 107.750°W / 70.417; -107.750 (Victoria Island)[1]
ArchipelagoArctic Archipelago
Area217,291 km2 (83,897 sq mi)[2]
Area rank8th
Length700 km (430 mi)
Width564–623 km (350–387 mi)
Highest elevation655 m (2149 ft)
Highest pointUnnamed
Administration
Canada
TerritoriesNorthwest Territories
Nunavut
Largest settlementCambridge Bay, Nunavut (pop. 1,760[3])
Demographics
Population2,168[3][4] (2021)
Ethnic groupsInuit

Victoria Island (Inuinnaqtun: Kitlineq)[5][6] is a large island in the Arctic Archipelago that straddles the boundary between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the eighth-largest island in the world, and at 217,291 km2 (83,897 sq mi)1 in area, it is Canada's second-largest island. It is nearly double the size of Newfoundland (111,390 km2 [43,010 sq mi]), and is slightly larger than the island of Great Britain (209,331 km2 [80,823 sq mi]) but smaller than Honshu (225,800 km2 [87,200 sq mi]). The western third of the island lies in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories; the remainder is part of Nunavut's Kitikmeot Region. The population of 2,168 is divided between two settlements, the larger of which is Cambridge Bay (Nunavut) and the other Ulukhaktok (Northwest Territories).

The island is named after Queen Victoria, the Canadian sovereign from 1867 to 1901 (though she first became Queen in 1837). The features bearing the name "Prince Albert" are named after her consort, Albert.

  1. ^ "Victoria Island (Canada)". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference AOC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference YCB2021census was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference YHI2021census was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Society-COPPER-ESKIMO". ukc.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2008-05-14. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  6. ^ Swann, Brian (2005). Wearing the Morning Star: Native American Song-Poems. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. p. 133. ISBN 0-8032-9340-2.