Boothia Peninsula (Canada): photo, location, description

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:48

Cape Murchison, located on this peninsula, is the northernmost point of the Canadian mainland and, accordingly, North America. This is one of the extreme northern points of the earth. The distance from this place to the North Pole is 64 kilometers.

In the article you can briefly get acquainted with this peculiar harsh terrain and learn about where the Butia Peninsula is located and what it is.

Canadian Arctic Archipelago

The largest islands that make up this archipelago:

• Baffin Island with an area of 476 thousand square meters. kilometers,
• Ellesmere Island (area 203 thousand sq. km),
• Victoria Island (more than 213 thousand sq. km).

The region includes two more small peninsulas protruding far to the north - Boothia and Melville. In the central part of the Arctic archipelago, on the island of Bathurst, one of the two main terrestrial magnetic poles is located.

A bit of history

This area was discovered by the famous navigator, polar British explorer John Ross duringpassage of an important expedition of 1829-1833. The name was given in honor of Felix Bout (brewer), who became the sponsor of this long journey.

On the western part of the Boothia peninsula, the nephew of James Ross discovered the North Magnetic Pole. Roald Amundsen (a famous explorer from Norway) in 1909 made a trip along the western coast of Butia on a sledge. Another traveler, Canadian Henry Larsen (Arctic explorer), explored the entire territory of the peninsula in 1940 during a scientific trip through the Northwest Passage from 1940 to 1942.

Location

The Boothia Peninsula is located in North America. It was originally named Butia Felix.

This location is the Canadian Arctic south of Somerset Island. The peninsula is famous for Cape Murchison. The island is separated from the mainland of Canada by a chain of large lakes, and from Somerset by the Bello Strait, the length of which is about two kilometers. On its territory is the small village of Talloyoak, famous for being the only settlement in these vast northern latitudes.

Description of the peninsula and surroundings

The relief of the Boothia Peninsula (Canada) is a mountain plateau, the height of which reaches more than 500 meters, and is surrounded by spacious coastal plains. The area of the island is 32,300 sq. kilometers.

The peninsula is attached to the mainland by an isthmus,practically torn apart by deep large lakes and two large bays. The peninsula is washed by the waters of Boothia Bay and the Franklin Strait. The second separates the peninsula from the southeast coast of Prince of Wales Island, also part of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. To the east, across the Bay of Butia, is the largest island in the archipelago, Baffin Island.

It should be noted that the water temperature of the Arctic Ocean on the surface of Butia Bay (length 518 kilometers, width 220 kilometers) in the month of August is up to 1 ° Celsius. The whole year it is covered with ice, rarefied only in the last summer month. The vegetation on the peninsula is tundra.

A little about extreme points

Canada occupies almost half the area of mainland North America. The most extreme points of the territory of this state and the mainland coincide both in the east and in the north. The eastern edge is Cape St. Charles (52 degrees 24 minutes north latitude, 55 degrees 40 minutes west longitude). It is located near the city of Toronto and is a ledge of the Labrador Peninsula.

Do not confuse the extreme points of Canada and, accordingly, North America with similar points in the United States. The northern extreme point of the mainland is Cape Murchison, located in the Arctic. It belongs to the territory of Canada and is one of the extreme points of the planet Earth, not counting Greenland.

Cape Murchison

The cape belongs to the Canadian region of Kitikmeot. It is the south coast of Belleau, located between Somerset Island andpeninsula of Butia. The strait is named after Joseph Rene Murchison, who first thoroughly explored this peninsula. The search for traces of John Franklin, who was lost in the Arctic, prompted a French explorer-traveler to study these places in 1852.

This harsh area is surrounded by permafrost almost all year round. Cape coordinates - 71 degrees. 50 minutes north latitude, 94 degrees. 45 minutes west.

Taloyoak

This small town is located in the southern part of the Butia Peninsula, 128 kilometers southwest of the city of Nunavut. You can get to the village by plane through the airport of the same name, located at a distance of just over one kilometer west of Taloyoak. At the end of the summer, within a few weeks, you can cross the water to the neighboring towns of Kugaaruk and Gjoa Haven. There are no roads to the settlement.

The village until mid-summer 1992 was called Spence Bay. The population is 809 (as of 2006).

North of Taloyoak there is a huge rock comparable to the famous Uluru rock in Australia.

In conclusion, a little about nature

Where the Butia Peninsula (Far North) is located, the territory is a vast zone of Arctic deserts, which, as you move south, are replaced by tundra, starting from the edge of eternal snow.

In such harsh climatic conditions, on soil bound by permafrost, only a meagertundra vegetation represented by annual herbs and shrubs.