Hudson Bay, Canada.

Hudson Bay (French: baie d'Hudson) is a large (1. 23 million km²), relatively shallow body of water in northeastern Canada. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page It drains a very large area that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, parts of North Dakota and Minnesota, and the southeastern area of Nunavut. Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec Quebec (kwɨˈbɛk Saskatchewan (səˈskætʃəwən) is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of 588276 Alberta (ælˈbɝtə is one of Canada's prairie provinces. It became a province on September 1 1905 Manitoba (English ˌmænɨˈtoʊbə French /manitoba/ is a province of Canada, spanning 647797 square kilometres (250116  sq mi of North America North Dakota ( is a state located in the Midwestern and Western regions of the United States of America. Minnesota ( Native Americans demonstrated the name to early settlers Nunavut (ˈnuːnəvʊt ( Inuktitut syllabics: ᓄᓇᕗᑦ is the largest and newest territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the A smaller offshoot of the bay, James Bay, lies to the south. James Bay (Baie James is a large body of water on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. The IHO, in its Special Publication 23, Limits of Oceans and Seas, fourth edition, lists Hudson Bay as part of the Arctic Ocean. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO was originally established in 1921 as the International Hydrographic Bureau (IHB The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major On the east it is connected with the Atlantic Ocean by Hudson Strait, and on the north with the rest of the Arctic Ocean by Foxe Basin (which is not considered part of the bay) and Fury and Hecla Strait. Hudson Strait links the Atlantic Ocean to Hudson Bay in Canada. Not to be confused with Fox Bay, Falkland Islands Foxe Basin ( is a shallow basin north of Hudson Bay, in Nunavut, Canada, located Fury and Hecla Strait is a narrow channel of water located in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. Geographic coordinates: 78° to 95° W, 51° to 70° N. A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system.

The Eastern Cree name for Hudson and James Bay is Wînipekw (Southern dialect) or Wînipâkw (Northern dialect), meaning muddy or brackish water. Cree (also known as Cree-Montagnais Cree-Montagnais-Naskapi is the name for a group of closely-related Algonquian languages spoken by approximately 117000 people across James Bay (Baie James is a large body of water on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Lake Winnipeg is similarly named by the local Cree, as is the location for the City of Winnipeg. Lake Winnipeg is a very large ( Lake in central North America, in the province of Manitoba, Canada, about north of the city Winnipeg (ˈwɪnɨpɛg is the capital and largest city in the Canadian province of Manitoba, and 7th largest municipality in Canada with a population

History

Canada, Routes of Explorers, 1497 to 1905

Hudson Bay was named after Henry Hudson, who explored the bay in 1610 on his ship the Discovery. Henry Hudson' (1570 &ndash 1611 was an English Sea explorer and Navigator in the early 17th century See also Ship replica (including a list of ship replicas The ship carried 17 male passagers On this fourth voyage he worked his way around the west coast of Greenland and into the bay, mapping much of its eastern coast. Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat meaning "Land of the Greenlanders" Grønland is a self-governing Danish Province located between the The Discovery became trapped in the ice over the winter, and the crew survived onshore at the southern tip of James Bay. When the ice cleared in the spring Hudson wanted to explore the rest of the area, but the crew mutinied on June 22, 1611, and left Hudson and others adrift in a small boat. Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly-situated individuals (typically members of the Military; or the Crew of any ship even Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. No one to this day knows the fate of Hudson and his loyal crew.

Sixty years later the Nonsuch reached the bay and successfully traded for beaver pelts with the Cree. The Nonsuch was the Ketch that sailed into Hudson Bay in 1668 - 1669, in the first trading voyage for what was to become the Hudson's The American Beaver ( Castor canadensis) is a large semi-aquatic Rodent native to Canada, much of the United States, and parts of northern Not to be confused with the Creek. Cree is an Exonym applied to various people indigenous to North America namely the Nehiyaw Nehithaw Nehilaw This led to the creation of the Hudson's Bay Company, which bears its name to this day. The British crown awarded a trading monopoly on the Hudson Bay watershed, called Rupert's Land, to the Hudson's Bay Company. A drainage basin is an extent of Land where Water from Rain or Snow melt drains downhill into a body of water such as a River, Rupert's Land, also sometimes called "Prince Rupert's Land" was a territory in British North America, consisting of the Hudson Bay drainage basin, that France contested this grant by sending several military expeditions to the region, but abandoned its claim in the Treaty of Utrecht (April, 1713). The Treaty of Utrecht that established the Peace of Utrecht, rather than a single document comprised a series of individual peace treaties signed in the Dutch Year 1713 ( MDCCXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a

During this period, the Hudson's Bay Company built several forts and trading posts along the coast at the mouth of the major rivers (such as Fort Severn, Ontario, York Factory, Manitoba, and Churchill, Manitoba). Fortifications are Military Constructions and Buildings designed for defense in Warfare Humans have constructed defensive works for A trading post is a place where the trading of goods takes place For other uses of the names "Severn" and "Fort Severn" see Severn (disambiguation. York Factory was a settlement located on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay in northeastern Manitoba, Canada at the mouth of the Hayes Churchill ( 2006 Population 923 is a town on the shore of Hudson Bay in Manitoba, Canada, situated at the Estuary of the Churchill The strategic locations allowed inland exploration and more importantly, facilitated trade with the indigenous people, who would bring fur to the posts from where the HBC would transport it directly to Europe (which incidentally is a shorter distance than from Montreal). Montreal, or Montréal in French ( pronounced in French, in English) is the largest city in the Canadian province of Quebec The HBC continued to use these posts until the beginning of the 20th century. The port of Churchill is still today an important shipping link for trade with Europe and Russia.

This land, an area of approximately 3. 9 million km², was ceded in 1870 to Canada as part of the Northwest Territories when the trade monopoly was abolished. Year 1870 ( MDCCCLXX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The Northwest Territories (ˌnɔrθˌwɛstˈtɛrɨtɔriz ( NWT or NT; French, les Territoires du Nord-Ouest) is a territory Starting in 1913, the Bay was extensively charted by the Canadian Government's CSS Acadia to develop the bay for navigation. History Acadia was designed in Canada for the Hydrographic Survey of Canada and built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Newcastle-on-Tyne This resulted in the establishment of Churchill, Manitoba, as a deep-sea port for wheat exports in 1929 after unsuccessful attempts at Port Nelson. Churchill ( 2006 Population 923 is a town on the shore of Hudson Bay in Manitoba, Canada, situated at the Estuary of the Churchill Year 1929 ( MCMXXIX) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Port Nelson was a short-lived community on the north shore at the mouth of the Nelson River on Hudson Bay, Manitoba Canada

Due to a change in naming conventions, Hudson's Bay is now correctly called Hudson Bay. As a result, both the body of water and the company are often misnamed.

Geography

Climate

In early November ice at Hudson Bay starts to form

Hudson Bay was the growth centre for the main ice sheet that covered northern North America during the last Ice Age. The whole region has very low year round average temperatures. (The average annual temperature for Churchill at 59°N is -5°C; by comparison Arkhangelsk at 64°N in a similar cold continental position in northern Russia has an average of 2°C. Arkhangelsk (Арха́нгельск formerly called Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast ^[1]) Water temperature peaks at 8°-9°C on the western side of the bay in late summer. It is largely frozen over from mid-December to mid-June when it usually clears from its eastern end westwards and southwards. A steady increase in regional temperatures over the last 100 years has been reflected in a lengthening of the ice-free period which was as short as four months in the late 17th century. ^[2]

Waters

In late spring (May), large chunks of ice float near the eastern shore of the bay, while to the west, the center of the bay remains frozen. Between 1971 and 2007, the length of the ice-free season in the southwestern part of the Hudson Bay — historically the last area to thaw — had increased by about 7 days.

Hudson Bay has a salinity that is lower than the world ocean on average. Salinity is the Saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of Water. This is caused mainly by the low rate of evaporation (the bay is ice-covered for much of the year), the large volume of terrestrial runoff entering the bay (about 700 km³ annually; the Hudson Bay watershed covers much of Canada, with many rivers and streams discharging into the bay), and the limited connection with the larger Atlantic Ocean (and its higher salinity). Hudson Bay watershed (including the James and Ungava bays This Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Salinity is the Saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of Water. The annual freeze-up and thaw of sea ice significantly alters the salinity of the surface layer, representing roughly three years' worth of river inflow. Sea ice is formed from Ocean water that freezes Because the Oceans consist of Saltwater, this occurs at about -1

Shores

The western shores of the bay are a lowland known as the "Hudson Bay Lowlands" which covers 324,000 km². To help compare Orders of magnitude of different geographical regions we list here Surface areas between 100000 km² and 1000000 km² The area is drained by a large number of rivers and has formed a characteristic vegetation known as muskeg. Muskeg is an acidic soil type common in Arctic and Boreal areas although it is found in other northern climates as well Much of the landform has been shaped by the actions of glaciers and the shrinkage of the bay over long periods of time. "Glacial" and "Glaciation" redirect here For the geological periods see Glacial period. Signs of numerous former beachfronts can be seen far inland from the current shore. A large portion of the lowlands in the province of Ontario is part of the Polar Bear Provincial Park, and a similar portion of the lowlands in Manitoba is contained in Wapusk National Park. Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec Polar Bear Provincial Park is an isolated wilderness park in the far north of Ontario, Canada. Manitoba (English ˌmænɨˈtoʊbə French /manitoba/ is a province of Canada, spanning 647797 square kilometres (250116  sq mi of North America Wapusk National Park is Canada 's 37th national park, established in 1996

In contrast, most of the eastern shores (the Quebec portion) form the western edge of the Canadian Shield in Quebec. The Canadian Shield &mdash also called the Laurentian Plateau, or Bouclier Canadien (French &mdash is a large geological shield covered by The area is rocky and hilly. Its vegetation is typically boreal forest, and to the north, tundra. Taiga (ˈtaɪgə from Turkic or Mongolian) is a Biome characterized by Coniferous forests In physical Geography, tundra is an area where the Tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons

Islands

There are many islands in Hudson Bay, mostly near the eastern coast. All are part of the territory Nunavut. Nunavut (ˈnuːnəvʊt ( Inuktitut syllabics: ᓄᓇᕗᑦ is the largest and newest territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the The main group of islands is known as the Belcher Islands. The Belcher Islands are an Archipelago in Hudson Bay in Canada, belonging to the territory of Nunavut formerly part of the Northwest Territories

Geology

When Earth's gravitational field was mapped starting in the 1960s a large region of below-average gravity was detected in the Hudson Bay region. This was initially thought to be a result of the crust still being depressed from the weight of the Laurentide ice sheet during the most recent Ice Age, but more detailed observations taken by the GRACE satellite suggest that this effect cannot account for the entirety of the gravitational anomaly. The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered hundreds of thousands of square miles including most of Canada and a large portion of the northern An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the Temperature of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere resulting in an expansion of continental Ice sheets It is thought that convection in the underlying mantle may be contributing. The mantle is a part of an Astronomical object. The interior of the Earth, similar to the other Terrestrial planets, is Chemically divided ^[3]

Supposedly there are large deposits of iron ore under the bay which affect magnetic fields and compasses.

Coastal communities

The coast of Hudson Bay is extremely sparsely populated; there are only about a dozen villages. Some of these were founded in the 17th and 18th centuries by the Hudson's Bay Company as trading posts, making them part of the oldest settlements in Canada. With the closure of the HBC posts and stores in the second half of the 20th century, many coastal villages are now almost exclusively populated by Cree and Inuit people. Not to be confused with the Creek. Cree is an Exonym applied to various people indigenous to North America namely the Nehiyaw Nehithaw Nehilaw Inuit (plural the singular Inuk, means "man" or "person" is a general term for a group of culturally similar Indigenous peoples inhabiting

Some of the more prominent communities along the Hudson Bay coast are:

• Puvirnituq, Quebec
• Arviat, Nunavut
• Churchill, Manitoba
• Rankin Inlet, Nunavut

Military development

Not until the Cold War was there any military significance attributed to the region. Puvirnituq is an Inuit settlement on the Povungnituk River near its mouth on the Hudson Bay in northern Quebec, Canada Arviat ( 2006 population 2060 UA Population 1785) ( Inuktitut syllabics: ᐊᕐᕕᐊᑦ formerly called Eskimo Point until 1 June Churchill ( 2006 Population 923 is a town on the shore of Hudson Bay in Manitoba, Canada, situated at the Estuary of the Churchill Rankin Inlet ( Inuktitut: Kangiqiniq; Inuktitut syllabics: ᑲᖏᕿᓂᖅ or Kangirliniq ᑲᖏᖅᖠᓂᖅ Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the In the 1950s, a few sites along the coast became part of the Mid-Canada Line, watching for a potential Soviet bomber attack over the North Pole. The Mid-Canada Line, also known as the McGill Fence, was a line of Radar stations across the "middle" of Canada to provide early warning The only arctic, deep water port in Canada is located at Churchill, Manitoba.

Economy

Arctic Bridge

The Arctic Bridge shipping route is hoped to link North America to markets in Europe and Asia using ice-free routes across the Arctic Ocean

The longer periods of ice-free navigation and the reduction of Arctic Ocean ice coverage have led to interest in Russia and Canada in the potential for commercial trade routes across the Arctic and into Hudson Bay. A shipping route is a Trade route used by Merchant ships Early routes usually were Coastal in nature as navigators had to rely on the coastal landmarks Sao Paulo Stock Exchangejpg|thumb| Virtual market arena where buyer and seller are not present and trade via intemediates and electronical information The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending The so-called "Arctic Bridge" would link Churchill, Manitoba and the Russian port of Murmansk. The Arctic Bridge or Arctic Sea Bridge is a potential sea route linking Russia to Canada, specifically the Russian port of Murmansk to the Murmansk (Му́рманск Murmanska Muurman is a city and Seaport in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, 12 km ^[4]

See also

• Canada Hudson Bay drainage
• Great Recycling and Northern Development Canal
• Hudson's Bay Company Archives
• Tyrrell Sea

References

• Atlas of Canada, online version.