The Sverdrup Islands is an archipelago of the northern Queen Elizabeth Islands, in Nunavut, Canada. The islands, part of the Arctic Archipelago, are situated in the Arctic Ocean, west of Ellesmere Island from 77° to 81° North and 85° to 106° West.

History

The islands are named after Norwegian explorer Otto Sverdrup, who explored and mapped them from 1898 to 1902 with the vessel Fram, although Inuit previously inhabited some of them. Sverdrup claimed the islands for Norway, but the Norwegian government showed no interest in pursuing the claim until 1928. At that point, the Norwegian government raised the claim, primarily to use the islands as bargaining chips in negotiations with the United Kingdom over the status of two other islands: the Jan Mayen in the Arctic and Bouvet Island in the Antarctic. On 11 November 1930, Norway recognized Canadian sovereignty over the Sverdrup Islands. On 19 November 1930, the United Kingdom recognized Norwegian sovereignty over Jan Mayen.

Geography

The main islands of the group are Axel Heiberg Island, Ellef Ringnes Island, Amund Ringnes Island, Cornwall Island, Graham Island, Meighen Island, King Christian Island, Stor Island, and the archipelago also includes a number of smaller islands in the surrounding waters. The only inhabited place was Isachsen, a formerly staffed weather station, 1948 through 1978, on Ellef Ringnes Island and McGill Arctic Research Station on Axel Heiberg Island (a research station since 1959 occupied during the summer).

Main islands

{| class="wikitable sortable"

!Island|| Peak || Height<br />m|| Area<br />km<sup>2</sup> ||Rank<br />Canada ||Rank<br />World

|-

|Axel Heiberg||Outlook Peak||align="right" |2,211||align="right" |43,178||align="right" |7||align="right" |32

|-

|Ellef Ringnes||Isachsen Dome||align="right" |260||align="right" |11,295 ||align="right" |16||align="right" |69

|-

|Amund Ringnes||...||align="right" |265||align="right" |5,255 ||align="right" |25||align="right" |111

|-

|Meighen||Meighen Icecap||align="right" |300||align="right" |955 ||align="right" |50||align="right" |337

|-

|King Christian||King Christian Mountain||align="right" |165||align="right" |645 ||align="right" |60||align="right" |420

|-

|Stor||...||align="right" |500||align="right" |313 ||align="right" |87||align="right" |...

|-

|Sverdrup||Outlook Peak||align="right" |2,211||align="right" |66,000 ||align="right"|- ||align="right" |-

|}

See also

  • Former colonies and territories in Canada
  • Territorial evolution of Canada after 1867

References

  • University of Guelph Ringnes Islands
  • Nunatsiaq News - Canada secures High Arctic sovereignty
  • Official site of the Fram Museum (Frammuseet)