Dixon Entrance

The Dixon Entrance as delineated by BCGNIS and the disputed "A-B Line", along with Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound. Red dots indicate capes and points, gray text indicates island names. The international boundary between Canada and the United States follows Portland Canal to "Point B", thence to Cape Muzon. The "A-B Line" portion of the boundary is disputed.

The Dixon Entrance is a strait about 80 kilometres (50 mi) long and wide in the Pacific Ocean at the International Boundary between the U.S. state of Alaska and the province of British Columbia in Canada. It is named after Captain George Dixon, a Royal Navy officer, fur trader and explorer, who surveyed the area in 1787. The Dixon Entrance is part of the Inside Passage shipping route. It forms part of the maritime boundary between the U.S. and Canada, though that boundary is disputed. A more ancient name in the Haida is Seegaay.

The Dixon Entrance lies between Clarence Strait in Alexander Archipelago in Alaska to the north, and Hecate Strait the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia, to the south. Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, is the largest of the Alaskan islands on the north side of the entrance, and is also home to a branch of the Haida, known as the Kaigani Haida. The Queen Charlotte Islands which lie on the south side of the Entrance are named Haida Gwaii, meaning "land of the people", by the Haida people in the 1970s. Members of the Haida nation maintain free access across the Strait.

The so-called A-B Line (approximately 54°40'N), which marks the northern boundary of the Dixon Entrance, was delineated during the 1903 Alaska Boundary Treaty. The meaning of the line remains in dispute between Canada and the United States. Canada claims the line is the international maritime boundary, while the United States holds that its purpose was only to designate which islands belonged to which country, and holds that the maritime boundary is an equidistant line between islands.^[1] Territorial fishing disputes between the countries remain today as the United States does not recognize the A-B Line for purposes of seafloor resources or fishing rights and has never shown the treaty boundary on its own maps.

A map of the Dixon Entrance showing the A-B Line of 1903 (left) and the boundary currently claimed by the U.S. (right)

See also

• Alaska boundary dispute
• List of areas disputed by the United States and Canada

References

This article about a location in the Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Alaska is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e

This article about a location in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e

This article about a location on the Coast of British Columbia, Canada is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e

Coordinates: 54°22′N 132°20′W / 54.367°N 132.333°W / 54.367; -132.333