Banks Island

Banks Island is one of the larger members of the Arctic Archipelago. Situated in the Inuvik Region, and part of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is separated from Victoria Island to the east by the Prince of Wales Strait and from the mainland by Amundsen Gulf to its south. The Beaufort Sea lies to its west, and to its northeast M'Clure Strait separates the island from Prince Patrick Island and Melville Island.

It is home to at least fourteen mammal species including the Peary caribou, barren-ground caribou, and polar bears. At one time over 68,000 muskoxen lived on the island, the majority of the world's population. However, the bacterium Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae has led to a sharp decline in their numbers. The island is the summer home to hundreds of thousands of migratory birds who nest at Banks Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary No. 1 and Banks Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary No. 2.

As of the 2021 census it had a population of 104, all living in Sachs Harbour.

Human settlements and discoveries

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Closer look at Banks Island

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Topography of Banks Island

Pre-Dorset cultural sites have been found that date from approximately 1500 BCE but European contact came much later. In 1820 it was seen from Melville Island by Sir William Edward Parry and named "Banks Land" in honour of Sir Joseph Banks. However, during the later exploration of the area by the McClure Arctic expedition the island was marked on their maps as "Baring Island". McClure's ship, , was frozen in Prince of Wales Strait. That spring he sent out sledging parties and determined that Banks Island was an island. In the following year he almost circumnavigated the island but was again frozen in at Mercy Bay where he and his crew spent the next three months before making their escape across the ice.

The only permanent settlement on the island is the Inuvialuit hamlet of Sachs Harbour (Ikahuak), on the southwest coast.

Description

Banks Island covers an area Template:Cvt and it is the world's 24th largest island and Canada's fifth largest island. It is about Template:Cvt long, and at its widest point at the northern end, Template:Cvt across. The highest point of the island is in the south, Durham Heights and rises to about Template:Cvt.

Ecology

The island is treeless, with the tallest plant, the Arctic willow, growing occasionally to about the height of a person's knee but usually standing no taller than Template:Cvt.

Banks Island is home to a large colony of lesser snow geese, which make their way across the Amundsen Gulf from the mainland. There is an annual goose hunt in the spring out of Sachs Harbour. The island is part of the tundra world biome, which has extremely cold winters. The island is home to barren-ground caribou, polar bears, muskoxen, and birds, including year round residents the common raven and ptarmigan.

Two federal migratory bird sanctuaries were founded on the island in 1961.

Aulavik National Park of Canada, a fly-in park, protects about Template:Cvt of Arctic lowlands at the northern end of the island. The park has the highest concentration of muskoxen on earth, and is home to the endangered Peary caribou. The Thomsen River runs through the park, and is one of the northernmost navigable rivers (by canoe) in North America. Ptarmigan and ravens are considered the only year-round birds in the park, although 43 species make seasonal use of the area. In Inuvialuktun, Aulavik means "place where people travel" and the "wildlife and land have supported aboriginal peoples for more than 3,400 years, from Pre-Dorset cultures to contemporary Inuvialuit."

The first confirmed grizzly–polar bear hybrid found in the wild was shot on Banks Island in April 2006, near Sachs Harbour.

Climate

Banks Island has a tundra climate (Köppen ET) typical of the Canadian Arctic with long, cold winters and short, cool summers. Since the activities of many residents of the community revolve around fishing, hunting, and travel, they have considerable knowledge of weather conditions, permafrost, and even erosion patterns.

HMS Investigator

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HMS Investigator, Baring Island, August 1851

In July 2010, archaeologists with Parks Canada looking for found it 15 minutes after they started a sonar scan of Banks Island's Mercy Bay. While the archaeology team had no plans to raise the ship, they planned to conduct a thorough sonar scan of the area, then send a remotely operated underwater vehicle.

Further reading

• Canada. Banks Island, a Natural Area of Canadian Significance. Natural area of Canadian significance. Ottawa: Parks Canada, 1978.
• Stephens, L. E., L. W. Sobczak, and E. S. Wainwright. Gravity Measurements on Banks Island, N.W.T. Gravity map series, no. 150. Ottawa: Dept. of Energy, Mines and Resources, Earth Physics Branch, 1972.
• Will, Richard T. Utilization of Banks Island Muskoxen by Nineteenth Century Copper Inuit. [S.l.]: Boreal Institute for Northern Studies, 1983.

External links

• Historical sites of the Northwest Passage
• Chart of the Northwest Passage
• Banks Island at civilization.ca
• Banks Island Archaeological Site Early Dorset artifacts collected by the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Northwest Territories, Canada.