Arctic Canada

Arctic Canada

The Canadian Territory of Nunavut was designated in 1999, comprising of a vast proportion of northern Canada and coast lands including the Arctic archipelago, Baffin, Ellesmere, Devon and Victoria Islands. It is the world's fifth largest country subdivision combining land and ocean, and mostly above 60 degrees north of the Arctic Circle. 

As one of the most remote, sparsely settled regions in the world, Nunavut has a population of only 32,000, of mostly Inuit First Nations, spread over a land area of 1,750,000 km2 (about the size of Western Europe). Nunavut is also home to the northernmost permanently inhabited place in the world.

The Lancaster Sound that links the eastern Davis Strait with the Bering Sea and western sea routes to Asia, is known as the North West Passage. This annually frozen sea passage was long considered the key navigation for trading routes to be established between Europe and the Far East in the 19th century. Many sea faring expeditions foundered in the rush to discover an intricate navigable route between the complexity of Arctic islands. Success was first achieved by the Swedish explorer Roald Amundsen in his boat Gjoa in 1906.

The harsh low lying tundra landscapes of Nunavut support a vast summer influx of bird, land and sea mammal migrations including many species of geese, ducks and wading birds that fly north from the Americas. Caribou herds migrate across huge tracts of tundra to annual breeding grounds while beluga and bowhead whales and narwhal enter the summer pack ice melt throughout the Arctic archipelago.

Today, Nunavut has a vibrant emerging economy of mineral wealth, and adventure and wildlife tourism.

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New book: KINDER SCOUT – The People's Mountain

Words by Ed Douglas | Photography by John Beatty Read More →

Fungi Hunting in Winter Woods

Woodlands in Britain are quiet in winter. In the Peak District where I live we are surrounded by mixed woods. Sycamore, beech, larch and birch flank many of our valley sides. After prolonged rain when the dank trees are dripping on to soggy leaf mould it is a great time to go hunting for a few common fungi species.  Read More →

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