Northern Canada is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. This is about the direction for other uses see North (disambiguation. The article is about the geographic sense of the term For other uses including Regions and Regional, see Region (disambiguation. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Geography (from Greek γεωγραφία - geografia) is the study of the Earth and its lands features inhabitants and phenomena Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions
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Definitions and usage
Similarly, the Far North (when contrasted to "the North") may refer to the Canadian Arctic: the portion of Canada north of the Arctic Circle. The Arctic is the Region around the Earth 's North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around the South Pole. The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth.
All of these somewhat depend on the concept of nordicity, a measure of northernness that other Arctic territories share. Nordicity is the degree of Northernness The concept was developed by Canadian Geographer Louis-Edmond Hamelin in the 1960s based on previous Canada, a country in northern North America whose population is concentrated along its frontier with the contiguous United States, is frequently reckoned to not have a 'south'. The Canada – United States border is the international Border between Canada and the United States. South is one of Cardinal directions and is opposite to the North. As such, "the South" is only perceived as a region when it is contrasted to or viewed from those in "the North".
Territoriality
Since 1925, Canada has claimed the portion of the Arctic between 60°W and 141°W[1] longitude, extending all the way north to the North Pole: all islands in this region are Canadian territory and the territorial waters claimed by Canada surround these islands. Longitude (ˈlɒndʒɪˌtjuːd or ˈlɒŋgɪˌtjuːd symbolized by the Greek character Lambda (λ is the east-west Geographic coordinate measurement The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is subject to the caveats explained below defined as the point in the northern The Canadian Arctic Archipelago, also known as just the Arctic Archipelago, is an Archipelago north of the Canadian mainland in the Arctic Territorial waters, or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most Views of territorial claims in this region are complicated by disagreements on legal principles. Canada and the USSR/Russia have long claimed that their territory extends according to the sector principle to the North Pole. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending The United States does not accept the sector principle and does not make a sector claim based on its Alaskan Arctic coast. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Alaska ( Аляска Alyaska) is a state in the United States of America, in the northwest of the North American continent Claims that undersea geographic features are extensions of a country's continental shelf are also used to support claims; for example the Denmark/Greenland claim on territory to the North Pole, some of which is disputed by Canada. The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each Continent and associated Coastal plain, which is covered during interglacial periods such The Kingdom of Denmark ( ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊ (archaic ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊ commonly known as Denmark, is a country in the Scandinavian region of northern Europe Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat meaning "Land of the Greenlanders" Grønland is a self-governing Danish Province located between the Foreign ships, both civilian and military are allowed the right of innocent passage through the territorial waters of a littoral state subject to conditions in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea[2]. Innocent passage is a concept in Admiralty law which allows for a vessel to pass through the Territorial waters of another state subject to certain restrictions Littoral refers to the coast of an ocean or sea or to the banks of a river lake or estuary The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ( UNCLOS) also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea treaty is the international agreement that resulted The right of innocent passage is not allowed however, in internal waters, which are enclosed bodies of water or waters landward of a chain of islands. Disagreements about the sector principle or extension of territory to the North Pole and to the definition of internal waters in the Arctic lie behind differences on territorial claims in the Arctic. This claim is recognized by most countries with some exceptions, including the United States; Denmark, Russia, and Norway have made claims similar to those of Canada in the Arctic and are opposed by the European Union and the US. Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in
This is especially important with the Northwest Passage. The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago Canada asserts control of this passage as part of the Canadian Internal Waters because it is within 20 km of Canadian islands; the US claims that it is in international waters. Canadian Internal Waters is a Canadian legal term of art that refers to " International waterways Several international treaties have established freedom of navigation on semi-enclosed seas Today ice and freezing temperatures makes this a minor issue, but global warming may make the passage more accessible to shipping, something that concerns the Canadian government and inhabitants of the environmentally sensitive region. Global warming is the increase in the average measured temperature of the
Similarly, the disputed Hans Island (with Denmark), in the Nares Strait which is west of Greenland, may be a flashpoint for challenges to overall Canadian sovereignty in The North. Hans Island ( Greenlandic / Inuktitut: Tartupaluk; Danish: Hans Ø; French: Île Hans) is a small uninhabited Nares Strait ( Danish: Nares Strædet;) is a Waterway lying between Ellesmere Island (the most northerly part of Nunavut, Canada
Topography
While the largest part of the Arctic is composed of seemingly non-stop permanent ice and tundra north of the tree line, it encompasses geological regions of varying types: the Innuitian Mountains, associated with the Arctic Cordillera mountain system, is geologically distinct from the Arctic Region (which consists largely of lowlands). Sea ice is formed from Ocean water that freezes Because the Oceans consist of Saltwater, this occurs at about -1 In physical Geography, tundra is an area where the Tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons The Innuitian Mountains are a Mountain range in Canada 's Arctic territories of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. The Arctic Cordillera, sometimes called the Arctic Rockies, are a vast deeply dissected mountain system running along the northeastern shore of North America In physical Geography, a lowland is any broad expanse of land with a general low level The Arctic and Hudson Bay lowlands comprise a substantial part of the geographic region often considered part of the Canadian Shield (in contrast to the sole geological area). The Canadian Shield &mdash also called the Laurentian Plateau, or Bouclier Canadien (French &mdash is a large geological shield covered by The ground in the Arctic is mostly composed of permafrost, making construction difficult and often hazardous, and agriculture virtually impossible. This article is about frozen ground For other meanings see Permafrost (disambiguation.
The Arctic watershed (or drainage basin) drains northern parts of Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia, most of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut as well as parts of Yukon into the Arctic Ocean, including the Beaufort Sea and Baffin Bay. 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, Alberta (ælˈbɝtə is one of Canada's prairie provinces. It became a province on September 1 1905 British Columbia (ˌbrɪtɨʃ kəˈlʌmbiə ( BC) ( (la Colombie-Britannique C 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 Baffin Bay (French Baie de Baffin) is a Sea between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans With the exception of the Mackenzie River, Canada's longest river, this watershed has been little used for hydroelectricity. The Mackenzie River (Fleuve Mackenzie originates in Great Slave Lake, in the Northwest Territories, and flows north into the Arctic Ocean. Hydroelectricity is electricity generated by Hydropower, ie the production of power through use of the gravitational force of falling water The Peace and Athabasca Rivers along with Great Bear and Great Slave Lake (respectively the largest and second largest lakes wholly enclosed within Canada), are significant elements of the Arctic watershed. This article is about the river For the town in Alberta see Peace River Alberta. The Athabasca River (French rivière Athabasca) originates from the Columbia Glacier of the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park in Alberta Great Bear Lake ( Slavey: Sahtú, French: Grand lac de l'Ours) is the largest Lake entirely within Canada ( Great Slave Lake (French Grand lac des Esclaves) is the second-largest Lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada (behind Great Bear Lakes with a surface area of more than 4000 km² listed by area Each of these elements eventually merges with the Mackenzie so that it thereby drains the vast majority of the Arctic watershed.
Human geography
The entire region is very sparsely populated with only about 101,310 (as of 2006) people[3] living in a vast area larger than the size of Western Europe. Western Europe at its most general meaning means 'all the countries in the West of Europe ' It is heavily endowed with natural resources, but in most cases they are too expensive to extract, and situated in an environmental context too unspoiled, to be worthwhile. Though GDP per person is higher than elsewhere in Canada, the region remains relatively poor, due largely to the extremely high cost of most consumer goods, and is heavily subsidised by the Canadian government. About 51% of the population of the three territories is Aboriginal, either Inuit, First Nations or Métis. Aboriginal people in Canada, also known as Canadian aboriginal citizens, are people who belong to recognized indigenous groups in the Canadian Constitution Act Inuit (plural the singular Inuk, means "man" or "person" is a general term for a group of culturally similar Indigenous peoples inhabiting First Nations is a term of Ethnicity that refers to the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis people The Métis are descendants of marriages of Cree, Ojibway Algonquin, Saulteaux, and Menominee aboriginals to Europeans, [4] The Inuit are the largest group of Aboriginal peoples in Northern Canada and 59% of all Canada's Inuit live in Northern Canada, with Nunavut accounting for 50%. The Aboriginal peoples in Northern Canada consist of the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit located in Canada 's three territories [4] The region also contains several groups of First Nations, who are mainly Chipewyan peoples. First Nations is a term of Ethnicity that refers to the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis people The Chipewyan ( Denésoliné or Dënesųłiné) are a Dene Aboriginal people in Canada, whose ancestors were the Taltheilei The three territories each have a greater proportion of Aboriginal inhabitants than any of Canada's provinces. There are also many more recent immigrants from around the world; of the territories, Yukon has the largest percentage of non-Aboriginal inhabitants. [5]
Recent
For hundreds of years, this area had been considered the largest 'uncivilized' area in the world. However, within the last 20 years, specifically in the last 5 years, this area has started to boom with the rest of Canada. Although it has not been on the same scale, some towns and cities have seen population increases, not seen for several decades. Yellowknife has become the centre of diamond production for all of Canada (which has become one of the top 3 countries for diamonds). Yellowknife (ˈjɛloʊnaɪf ( 2006 population 18700) is the capital of Canada 's Northwest Territories (NWT In Mineralogy, diamond is the allotrope of carbon where the carbon atoms are arranged in That city has also seen a new change for the north: a developing skyline.
Also resulting from a diamond boom, the per capita income of the NWT is at almost $95,000 (see list), beating out the #1 income by country (Luxembourg's $80,000, see main article). This article lists Canadian provinces and territories by gross domestic product. The economy of Luxembourg is largely dependent on the Banking, Steel, and industrial sectors
In the Canada 2006 Census, the three territories posted a combined population of over 100,000 people for the first time in Canadian history. The Canada 2006 Census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population [3]
See also
- Arctic Circle
- Tree line
- Geography of Canada
- List of regions of Canada
- Provinces and territories of Canada
- Canadian Arctic Archipelago
- British Arctic Territories
References
- ^ The Atlas of Canada - Territorial Evolution, 1927
- ^ United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
- ^ a b Population and dwelling counts, for Canada provinces and territories, 2006 and 2001 censuses - 100% data
- ^ a b 2001 Census Aboriginal Population Profiles
- ^ Aboriginal Identity Population, Percentage Distribution, for Canada, Provinces and Territories - 20% Sample Data from the 2001 Census
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