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Frobisher Bay

 
Dictionary: Frobisher Bay
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An arm of the Atlantic Ocean extending into southeast Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. It was discovered by Martin Frobisher in 1576 and until 1860 was thought to be a strait separating Baffin Island from another island.

 

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Frobisher Bay
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Inlet of the North Atlantic Ocean. Extending northwest from the southeastern tip of Baffin Island, Can., it is about 150 mi (240 km) long and 20 – 40 mi (32 – 64 km) wide and has a maximum depth of 400 ft (120 m). It was discovered in 1576 by Martin Frobisher. The town of Iqaluit at the head of the bay is the capital of Nunavut.

For more information on Frobisher Bay, visit Britannica.com.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Frobisher Bay
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Frobisher Bay, arm of the Atlantic Ocean, 150 mi (240 km) long and from 20 to 40 mi (32-64 km) wide, Nunavut Territory, Canada. Cutting deeply into SE Baffin Island, it has steep, deeply indented shores and numerous islets. On its southwest side the Grinnell and Southeast icecaps rise to c.3,000 ft (910 m), extending tongues into the bay. At its head is Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut. The bay was explored (1576) by Sir Martin Frobisher; until 1860 it was believed to be a strait separating Baffin Island from another island.

Wikipedia: Frobisher Bay
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For the city formerly known as Frobisher Bay, see Iqaluit.
Frobisher Bay
Frobisher Bay - Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada.     Nunavut     Quebec     Newfoundland and Labrador
Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada.     Nunavut     Quebec     Newfoundland and Labrador
Location Labrador Sea
Coordinates 62°49′59″N 66°34′59″W / 62.83306°N 66.58306°W / 62.83306; -66.58306 (Frobisher Bay)Coordinates: 62°49′59″N 66°34′59″W / 62.83306°N 66.58306°W / 62.83306; -66.58306 (Frobisher Bay)
Countries Canada
Max. length 230 km (140 mi)
Max. width 40 km (25 mi)
Settlements Iqaluit, Nunavut
Frobisher Bay and environs
Frobisher Bay, December 2005.

Frobisher Bay is a relatively large inlet of the Labrador Sea in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. It is located in the southeastern corner of Baffin Island. Its length is about 230 km (140 mi) and its width varies from about 40 km (25 mi) at its outlet into the Labrador Sea to roughly 20 km (12 mi) towards its inner end.[1]

The capital of Nunavut, Iqaluit (known as Frobisher Bay until 1987), lies near the innermost end of the bay.

Contents

Geography

Frobisher Bay has a tapered shape formed by two flanking peninsulae, the Hall Peninsula to the northeast, and the Meta Incognita Peninsula to the southwest. The Bay's funnellike shape ensures that the tidal variance at Iqaluit each day is about 7 to 11 m. This shape is due to the large outlet glacier centred over Foxe Basin during the Pleistocene glaciation, which gouged the Bay's basin, now flooded by the sea.[1]

Within Frobisher Bay itself are a number of bays, inlets and sounds. Among these are Wayne Bay and Ward Inlet (up towards the far northwestern end), and also Newell Sound, Leach Bay and Kneeland Bay (along the southwest shore). Hamlen Bay, Newton Fiord, Royer Cove and Waddell Bay are to be found in the northeast shore. Indeed, Frobisher Bay's whole coastline is marked with innumerable narrow inlets into which flow many small streams. There are high cliffs on both shores, rising to roughly 330 m on the northeast shore, and twice that on the southwest shore as a result of the tilting of the earth's crust locally during the early Tertiary.[1]

Frobisher Bay is also studded with islands. These include Hill Island and Faris Island near Iqaluit, Pugh, Pike, Fletcher and Bruce Islands at the mouth of Wayne Bay, Augustus Island in Ward Inlet, and Chase, McLean, Gabriel and Nouyarn Islands towards the Bay's mouth.

History

Frobisher Bay is named for the English navigator Martin Frobisher, who, during his search for the Northwest Passage in 1576, became the first European to visit it. Until 1861, the Bay was thought by Europeans to be a strait separating Baffin Island from another island.

The first Church of England service recorded on North American soil was a celebration of Holy Communion at Frobisher Bay in the last days of August or early September 1578. The Anglican Church of Canada's Prayer Book fixes the day of commemoration as September 3. The chaplain on Frobisher's voyage was " 'Maister Wolfall (probably Robert Wolfall), minister and preacher', who had been charged by Queen Elizabeth 'to serve God twice a day'."[2]

Popular culture

Frozen in Frobisher Bay is a James Gordon song, featured in the TV program Canadian Idol.

References

  1. ^ a b c The Canadian Encyclopedia
  2. ^ Carrington, Philip (1963). The Anglican Church in Canada. Toronto: Collins. 

Further reading

  • Andrews, John T. Cumberland Sound and Frobisher Bay, Southeastern Baffin Island, N.W.T. Ottawa, Ont: National Research Council of Canada, 1987. ISBN 0660124777
  • Eggertsson, Olafur, and Dosia Laeyendecker. 1995. "A Dendrochronological Study of the Origin of Driftwood in Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island, N.W.T., Canada". Arctic and Alpine Research. 27, no. 2: 180.
  • Finkler, Harold W. Inuit and the Administration of Criminal Justice in the Northwest Territories The Case of Frobisher Bay. Ottawa: Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, 1976. ISBN 0662002229
  • Grainger, E. H. The Food of Ice Fauna and Zooplankton in Frobisher Bay. Ste-Anne de Bellevue, Que: Arctic Biological Station, Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans, 1985.
  • Gullason, Lynda. Engendering Interaction Inuit-European Contact in Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island. Ottawa: National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2001. ISBN 0612501809
  • Henshaw, Anne Stevens. Central Inuit Household Economies Zooarchaeological, Environmental, and Historical Evidence from Outer Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island, Canada. BAR international series, 871. Oxford, England: Archaeopress, 2000. ISBN 1841710733
  • Mallon, S. T. Inuktitut, Frobisher Bay Version. Yellowknife, N.W.T.: Dept. of Education, 1977.
  • Odess, Daniel. Interaction, Adaptation, and Culture Change Lithic Exchange in Frobisher Bay Dorset Society, Baffin Island, Arctic Canada. 1996.
  • Roy, Sharat Kumar. The Upper Ordovician Fauna of Frobisher Bay, Baffin Land. 1941.
  • Thomson, G. James. A Ring of Urgency An Engineering Memoir : from the Halls of Humberside to the Shores of Frobisher Bay. Scarborough, Ont: Abbeyfield Publishers, 1995. ISBN 0969953607

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Frobisher Bay".  Read more