Smith Island (Hudson Bay, Nunavut)
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Native name: Qikirtajuaq | |
|---|---|
Smith Island in the distance, seen from Akulivik | |
  Smith Island  Smith Island | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Hudson Bay |
| Coordinates | 60°45′N 078°25′W / 60.750°N 78.417°W |
| Archipelago | Arctic Archipelago |
| Area | 131 km2 (51 sq mi) |
| Length | 25.5 km (15.84 mi) |
| Administration | |
Canada | |
| Territory | Nunavut |
| Region | Qikiqtaaluk |
| Demographics | |
| Population | Uninhabited |
Smith Island is a northern Canadian island in eastern Hudson Bay.[1][2] It is a part of Qikiqtaaluk Region in the territory of Nunavut, though situated 2 km (1.2 mi) off the western coast of Quebec's Ungava Peninsula, right where the Inuit village of Akulivik is located.
The island was named in 1750 after Sir Thomas Smith, merchant and first Governor of The Company of Adventurers,[3] and is also called Qikirtajuaq by the Inuit, who use it as one of their traditional hunting grounds.[4]
Cape Smith is the western-most point of the island,[5] as well as the name of a locality on the southern coast of the island, the site of a former Hudson's Bay Company post.[6] It also gave its name to the Cape Smith Belt, an ophiolite that stretches across the entire Ungava Peninsula.[7]
The island is the summer habitat of large flocks of snow geese and Canada geese.