View source for King William Island

{{short description|Island in Nunavut, Canada}}
{{Infobox islands
| name = King William Island
| image_size = 250px
| map_image = King William Island.svg
| map_caption = 
| native_name  = {{lang|iu-Latn|Qikiqtaq}}
| native_name_link = Inuktitut
| nickname =
| location = [[Northern Canada]]
| pushpin_map             = Canada Nunavut#Canada
| pushpin_label           = 
| pushpin_label_position  = 
| pushpin_map_alt         = 
| pushpin_relief          = 1
| pushpin_map_caption     = 
| coordinates  = {{coord|69|10|N|97|25|W|region:CA-NU_type:isle_scale:5000000|notes=<ref>{{Cite cgndb|OAJBV|King William Island}}</ref>|display=inline,title|name=King William Island}}
| archipelago  = [[Arctic Archipelago]]
| total_islands =
| major_islands =
| area_km2 = 13174
| area_footnotes = &nbsp;-{{convert|13111|km2|abbr=on}}
| rank  = 61st
| coastline_km  = 1466
| highest_mount = Mount Matheson
| elevation_m = 141
| country = Canada
| country_admin_divisions_title  = [[Provinces and territories of Canada|Territory]]
| country_admin_divisions = [[Nunavut]]
| country_largest_city = [[Gjoa Haven]]
| country_largest_city_population = 1,349
| population = 1,349<ref name=2021census/>
| population_as_of = 2021
| density_km2 = 0.1
| ethnic_groups = [[Inuit]]
| additional_info =
}}

'''King William Island''' ({{langx|iu-Latn|'''Qikiqtaq'''}}, {{langx|fr|Île du Roi-Guillaume}}; previously: '''King William Land''')<ref>{{cite web |url=http://assets.panda.org/downloads/final_1_report_envirochange_polar_bears_and_adaptation.pdf |title=Environmental Change, Polar Bears and Adaptation in the East Kitikmeot: An Initial Assessment Final Report |author=Darren Keith, Jerry Arqviq |date=November 23, 2006 |publisher=Kitikmeot Heritage Society |access-date=January 1, 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326020606/http://assets.panda.org/downloads/final_1_report_envirochange_polar_bears_and_adaptation.pdf |archive-date=March 26, 2009}}</ref> is an island in the [[Kitikmeot Region]] of [[Nunavut]], which is part of the [[Arctic Archipelago]]. In area it is between {{convert|12516|km2|abbr=on}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/topo/map?mapsize=428%20380&lat=69.1666999998&long=-97.4166999976&mapxy=-91559.336724+2200001.06889&scale=5000000&feature_na=King+William+Island&location1=62&unique_key=0cb11139849c20c341b8599662151469&searchstring=King%20William%20Island&entity=ISL&layers=fapfeature+fapfeature%20north_arrow%20other_features%20million_grid%20t50k_grid%20grid_50k_3%20roads%20hydrography%20boundary%20builtup%20vegetation%20populated_places%20railway%20power_network%20manmade_features%20designated_areas%20water_features%20water_saturated_soils%20relief%20contours%20toponymy%20contour%20nodata_ntdb_50k&urlappend=%26unique_key%3D0cb11139849c20c341b8599662151469%26map.layer%5Btextzoom03%5D%3DFEATURE+POINTS+-93371.1537808+2197883.42683+END+TEXT+%22King%2BWilliam%2BIsland%22+END%26map.layer%5Btextzoom46%5D%3DFEATURE+POINTS+-93371.1537808+2197883.42683+END+TEXT+%22King%2BWilliam%2BIsland%22+END%26map.layer%5Bpolygonresultzoom0%5D%3DDATA+fap_islands%26map.layer%5Bpolygonresultzoom1%5D%3DDATA+fap_islands%26map.layer%5Bpolygonresultzoom2%5D%3DDATA+fap_islands%26map.layer%5Bpolygonresultzoom0outline%5D%3DDATA+fap_islands%26map.layer%5Bpolygonresultzoom1outline%5D%3DDATA+fap_islands%26map.layer%5Bpolygonresultzoom2outline%5D%3DDATA+fap_islands|title=King William Island|date=29 December 2014 |publisher=[[Atlas of Canada]]|access-date=September 2, 2020}}</ref> and {{convert|13111|km2|abbr=on}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/learningresources/facts/islands.html#artic|title=Other Arctic Islands|publisher=[[Atlas of Canada]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122002132/http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/learningresources/facts/islands.html|archive-date=January 22, 2013|access-date=September 2, 2020}}</ref> making it the [[list of islands by area|61st-largest island in the world]] and [[List of Canadian islands by area|Canada's 15th-largest island]]. Its population, as of the [[Canada 2021 Census|2021 census]], was 1,349,<ref name=2021census>{{cite web | url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&SearchText=Gjoa%20HAven&DGUIDlist=2021A00056208081&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1&HEADERlist=0 | title=Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population Profile table Gjoa Haven, Hamlet (HAM) Nunavut [Census subdivision] | publisher=[[Statistics Canada]] | date=26 April 2022 | accessdate=10 June 2022}}</ref> all of whom live in the island's only community, [[Gjoa Haven]].{{efn|The surrounding Census Subdivision,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CSD&Code1=6208098&Geo2=CD&Code2=6208&Data=Count&SearchText=Kitikmeot,%20Unorganized&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&Custom=|title=Kitikmeot, Unorganized|date=8 February 2012 |access-date=September 2, 2020}}</ref> which includes the rest of King William Island, has a population of 0.}}

While searching for the [[Northwest Passage]], a number of [[Arctic exploration|polar explorers]] visited, or spent their winters on, King William Island.

==Geography==
[[File:Operational Navigation Chart C-11, 2nd edition.jpg|thumb|left|Map including King William Island]]
The island is separated from the [[Boothia Peninsula]] by the [[James Ross Strait]] to the northeast, and the [[Rae Strait]] to the east. To the west is the [[Victoria Strait]] and beyond it [[Victoria Island]]. Within the [[Simpson Strait]], to the south of the island, is Todd Island, and beyond it, further to the south, is the [[Adelaide Peninsula]]. [[Queen Maud Gulf]] lies to the southwest.

Some places on the coast are: (counter clockwise from the northern tip) Cape Felix, Victory Point and Gore Point at the mouth of Collinson Inlet, Point Le Vesconte, Erebus Bay, Cape Crozier, (south side) Terror Bay, Irving Islands, Washington Bay, Cape Herschel, Gladman Point, entrance to [[Simpson Strait]], Todd Islets, (east side) [[Gjoa Haven]], Matheson Peninsula, Latrobe Bay, Cape Norton at mouth of Peel Inlet, [[Matty Island]], [[Tennent Islands]], [[Clarence Islands]], Cape Felix.<ref>Page 2 fig. 1 in Keenleyside, A., M. Bertulli, and H. C. Fricke. 1997. "[http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic50-1-36.pdf The Final Days of the Franklin Expedition: New Skeletal Evidence] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216122748/http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic50-1-36.pdf |date=2008-02-16 }}". ''Arctic''. 50, no. 1: 36.</ref>

==Wildlife==
The island is known for its large populations of [[barren-ground caribou]], which summer there before migrating in the autumn by walking south over the [[sea ice]].

==Role in Arctic exploration==

===Sir James Clark Ross===
The island was long occupied by [[Inuit]], who had a culture adapted to the extreme environment. In 1830, the British explorer [[James Clark Ross]] named it "King William Land" for [[William IV|King William IV]] the reigning monarch of the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]]; Ross thought at the time that it was a [[peninsula]].<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/place/King-William-Island King William Island] at [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]</ref><ref>[http://brixton24.biographi.ca/en/bio/ross_james_clark_9E.html Ross, Sir James Clark] at the [[Dictionary of Canadian Biography]]</ref> Some sources credit his uncle, [[John Ross (Royal Navy officer)|John Ross]] with naming the land.<ref>[https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/king-william-island King William Island] at [[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]</ref> In 1834, [[George Back]], another Arctic explorer, viewed its south shore from [[Chantrey Inlet]] and eventually recognised it as an island.

===Sir John Franklin===
[[File:Franklin Summer camp.jpg|thumb|left|Summer camp of [[Sir John Franklin]] {{convert|3.3|mi|abbr=on|order=flip}} south of Cape Felix]]
Sir [[John Franklin]], another British explorer, made an Arctic expedition looking for the Northwest Passage about a decade after Ross; his two ships became stranded in 1846 when frozen in the sea ice northwest of the island. After abandoning the two ships, most of the crew died from exposure and starvation as they attempted to walk south near the western coastline. Two of Franklin's men were buried at Hall Point on the island's south coast. The ships were [[Franklin's lost expedition|believed lost forever]], as many subsequent expeditions were unable to find them. As early as 1854, expeditions sent out to research the fate of Franklin's expedition discovered remains but were unable to find the two ships.

On September 9, 2014, Canada's [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] [[Stephen Harper]] announced that the [[Victoria Strait]] Expedition had located one of Franklin's two ships beneath shallow waters south of King William Island. It is preserved in very good condition; the [[side-scan sonar]] could detect the deck planking.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/09/09/ship_from_lost_franklin_expedition_found.html |title=Toronto Star: Ship from lost Franklin expedition found |work=thestar.com |date=2014-09-09 |access-date=2014-09-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/lost-franklin-expedition-ship-found-in-the-arctic-1.2760311|title=Lost Franklin expedition ship found in the Arctic|publisher=CBC|date=2014-09-09|access-date=2014-09-09}}</ref> By the beginning of October, the wreck had been identified as [[HMS Erebus (1826)|HMS ''Erebus'']].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/canada/11134828/Canada-identifies-long-lost-British-explorer-ship.html|title=Canada identifies long lost British explorer ship|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=2014-10-01|access-date=2014-10-02}}</ref> The other expedition vessel, [[HMS Terror (1813)|HMS ''Terror'']], was found in 2016 in [[Terror Bay]], off the south-west coast of King William Island.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/12/hms-terror-wreck-found-arctic-nearly-170-years-northwest-passage-attempt |title=The Guardian:Ship found in Arctic 168 years after doomed Northwest Passage attempt |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=2016-09-12 |access-date=2016-09-12}}</ref>

===Roald Amundsen===
[[File:Wfm king william island.png|thumb|left|[[NASA]] [[Landsat]] satellite image of King William Island. North is to the upper left]]
In 1903, Norwegian explorer [[Roald Amundsen]], looking for the [[Northwest Passage]], sailed through the James Ross Strait and stopped at a natural harbour on the island's south coast. Unable to proceed due to [[sea ice]], he spent the winters of 1903–1904 and 1904–1905 there. During his stays, he learned [[Arctic]] living skills from the local [[Netsilik]]. He used his ship ''[[Gjøa]]'' as a base for explorations in the summer of 1904, during which he travelled by dogsled on the Boothia Peninsula and to the [[North Magnetic Pole]]. After 22 months on the island, Amundsen left in August 1905. The harbour where he lived has the island's only settlement, [[Gjoa Haven]]. Amundsen used skills learned from the Inuit when he made his later expedition to the [[South Pole]].{{citation needed|date = September 2016}}

===George Porter===
George Porter was born on a whaling ship near [[Herschel Island]] in 1895 to Mary Kappak and W.P.S. Porter. George was schooled in Alaska. In 1913 he was a sailor on the ''Elvira'' and travelled with the explorer [[Vilhjalmur Stefansson]]. After briefly working as a reindeer herder in Siberia, he enlisted with the US military near the end of the First World War. In 1919, George was discharged from the Army in Iowa. In 1921 George sailed to Australia. Later George guided [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] (RCMP) commander [[Henry Larsen (explorer)|Henry Larsen]] on many trips. George Porter eventually made Gjoa Haven on King William Island his home, where he worked as the manager of the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] trading post for a career of 25 years.<ref>{{cite web |title=Inuktitut |date=March 1983 |access-date=2020-05-19 |url=https://www.itk.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/1983-0052-InuktitutMagazine-IU-CANS-IULATN-EN.pdf}}</ref>

== Climate ==
Like many places in the high Arctic the island has a [[Tundra#Climatic classification|tundra climate]] ([[Köppen climate classification|Köppen]]: ''ET''), its winter is long and cold and the summers are cool, melting part of the ice; with low precipitation, it is a "cold desert".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RblZlCLwi6sC&q=King+William+Island+koppen&pg=PA4|title=Reconnaissance Geology of Portions of Victoria Island and Adjacent Regions Arctic Canada|date=1947|publisher=Geological Society of America|isbn=9780813710228|language=en}}</ref>
{{Gjoa Haven weatherbox}}
{{Weather box    
| metric first = y
| single line  = y
| width=100%
| location     = Gladman Point Airport (abandoned [[Distant Early Warning Line|DEW Line]] site, [[North Warning System#Gladman Point|CAM-2]])<br> {{coord|68|40|N|97|48|W|type:landmark_region:CA-NU|name=Gladman Point A}} elevation: {{cvt|25|m}}, 1961-1990 normals 
| Jan mean C  =-34.2
| Feb mean C  =-34.9
| Mar mean C  =-31.4
| Apr mean C  =-22.0
| May mean C  =-9.8
| Jun mean C  =1.0
| Jul mean C  =7.2
| Aug mean C  =5.2
| Sep mean C  =-0.9
| Oct mean C  =-11.2
| Nov mean C  =-23.6
| Dec mean C  =-29.8
| Jan high C  =-30.8
| Feb high C  =-31.5
| Mar high C  =-27.3
| Apr high C  =-17.2
| May high C  =-5.9
| Jun high C  =3.8
| Jul high C  =11.3
| Aug high C  =8.5
| Sep high C  =1.3
| Oct high C  =-7.8 
| Nov high C  =-19.7
| Dec high C  =-26.3
| Jan record high C =-5.0
| Feb record high C =-4.4
| Mar record high C =-1.7
| Apr record high C =2.2
| May record high C =3.9
| Jun record high C =21.1
| Jul record high C =24.4
| Aug record high C =23.9
| Sep record high C =13.9
| Oct record high C =6.7
| Nov record high C =-0.6
| Dec record high C =-4.0
| Jan low C  =-38.3 
| Feb low C  =-38.7
| Mar low C  =-35.7
| Apr low C  =-27.1
| May low C  =-13.8
| Jun low C  =-2.0
| Jul low C  =3.1
| Aug low C  =1.9
| Sep low C  =-3.2
| Oct low C  =-14.6
| Nov low C  =-27.5 
| Dec low C  =-34.0 
| Jan record low C  =-50.0
| Feb record low C  =-53.0
| Mar record low C  =-48.3 
| Apr record low C  =-43.3
| May record low C  =-31.1
| Jun record low C  =-18.9
| Jul record low C  =-1.7
| Aug record low C  =-6.1
| Sep record low C  =-17.5
| Oct record low C  =-33.4
| Nov record low C  =-46.7
| Dec record low C  =-47.2
| precipitation colour  = green
| Jan precipitation mm  =1.7
| Feb precipitation mm  =2.3
| Mar precipitation mm  =2.5
| Apr precipitation mm  =5.5
| May precipitation mm  =9.4
| Jun precipitation mm  =10.0
| Jul precipitation mm  =23.5
| Aug precipitation mm  =25.9
| Sep precipitation mm  =18.9
| Oct precipitation mm  =13.2
| Nov precipitation mm  =5.0
| Dec precipitation mm  =2.3
| year precipitation mm = 120.4
|snow colour = green
| Jan snow cm  =1.7
| Feb snow cm  =2.3 
| Mar snow cm  =2.5 
| Apr snow cm  =5.5 
| May snow cm  =8.4 
| Jun snow cm  =3.0 
| Jul snow cm  =0.2 
| Aug snow cm  =1.3 
| Sep snow cm  =6.5 
| Oct snow cm  =12.4 
| Nov snow cm  =5.0
| Dec snow cm  =2.3
| year snow cm = 51.2
|rain colour = green
| Jan rain mm  =0.0
| Feb rain mm  =0.0
| Mar rain mm  =0.0
| Apr rain mm  =0.0
| May rain mm  =1.0
| Jun rain mm  =7.1
| Jul rain mm  =23.4
| Aug rain mm  =24.6
| Sep rain mm  =12.4
| Oct rain mm  =0.8
| Nov rain mm  =0.0
| Dec rain mm  =0.0
| year rain mm = 69.2
| unit rain days = 0.2 mm
| Jan rain days  =0
| Feb rain days  =0
| Mar rain days  =0
| Apr rain days  =trace
| May rain days  =trace
| Jun rain days  =3
| Jul rain days  =8
| Aug rain days  =9
| Sep rain days  =5
| Oct rain days  =trace
| Nov rain days  =0
| Dec rain days  =0
| year rain days = 26
| unit snow days = 0.2 cm
| Jan snow days  =2
| Feb snow days  =2
| Mar snow days  =2
| Apr snow days  =3
| May snow days  =5
| Jun snow days  =2
| Jul snow days  =trace
| Aug snow days  =1
| Sep snow days  =5
| Oct snow days  =8
| Nov snow days  =4
| Dec snow days  =2
| year snow days = 38
| unit precipitation days = 0.2 mm
| Jan precipitation days  =2
| Feb precipitation days  =2
| Mar precipitation days  =2
| Apr precipitation days  =3
| May precipitation days  =6
| Jun precipitation days  =5
| Jul precipitation days  =8
| Aug precipitation days  =10
| Sep precipitation days  =10
| Oct precipitation days  =8
| Nov precipitation days  =4
| Dec precipitation days  =2
| year precipitation days = 63
| source = [[Environment and Climate Change Canada]] Canadian Climate Normals 1961-1990<ref name="ccn2">{{cite web | publisher = [[Environment and Climate Change Canada]] | url = http://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_normals/results_1961_1990_e.html?searchType=stnProv&lstProvince=NT&txtCentralLatMin=0&txtCentralLatSec=0&txtCentralLongMin=0&txtCentralLongSec=0&stnID=767&dispBack=0 | id = Climate ID: 2302335 |title = Gladman Point A | work = 1961-1990 Canadian Climate Normals | date=9 February 2011 | access-date = 2019-07-15}}</ref>
}}

==See also==
* [[Royal eponyms in Canada]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}
* ''The Last Place on Earth'', [[Roland Huntford]], {{ISBN|0-349-11395-5}}.

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* Fraser, J. Keith. ''Notes on the Glaciation of King William Island and Adelaide Peninsula, N.W.T.'' Ottawa: Geographical Branch, Dept. of Mines and Technical Surveys, 1959.
* Taylor, J. Garth. ''Netsilik Eskimo Material Culture. The Roald Amundsen Collection from King William Island''. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1974. {{ISBN|82-00-08945-2}}
* Woodworth-Lynas, C. M. T. ''Surveying and Trenching an Iceberg Scour, King William Island, Arctic Canada''. St. John's: Memorial University of Newfoundland, Centre for Cold Ocean Resources Engineering, 1985.
{{refend}}

{{Islands of the Kitikmeot Region}}
{{Subdivisions of Nunavut}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Inhabited islands of Kitikmeot Region]]
[[Category:Hudson's Bay Company trading posts in Nunavut]]
[[Category:Franklin's lost expedition]]