Help choose the location of the 2007 Wikitravel Get-together!

Nunavut Travel Guide

From Wikitravel

North America : Canada : North : Nunavut
Jump to: navigation, search

Nunavut[1] is an extensive territory in the far North of Canada, located east of the Northwest Territories (of which it used to be part), north of the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, and west of the Danish territory of Greenland. Nunavut comprises a large portion of the northern tip of the North American continent and a large number of islands on Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean.

Contents

Regions

  • Baffin Island - Canada's largest island (and the world's 5th largest) located in the eastern portion of the territory of Nunavut
  • Ellesmere Island

Cities

  • Iqaluit - capital and largest settlement of Nunavut (Note: don't spell it "Iqualuit" - that generally means "large backside" in Inuktitut!)

Other destinations

  • Resolute Bay - the 2nd most northern community in the world and a cultural tourist attraction. Flights available to Resolute Bay on Cornwallis Island can be taken from Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet.
  • Ellef Ringnes Island - the land currently nearest the geomagnetic north pole, which previously passed through the island.

Understand

Nunavut means our land in Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit. This newest and largest of Canada's provinces and territories was split off from the Northwest Territories in 1999 after a long land-claims process. The official languages are English, French, Inuktitut, and Innuinaqtun.

It is one of the most sparsely populated regions of the world - fewer than 30,000 people in an area the size of Western Europe. The immense territory includes most of Canada's Arctic Islands, from Baffin Island in the territory's southeast, where the capital Iqaluit is located, to Ellesmere Island a few hundred kilometers from the North Pole. The territory also includes all of the islands in Hudson Bay.

Its tourist trade, based on Inuit crafts and culture and the austere beauty of the wilderness, is rudimentary but growing.

Talk

Though most Inuits probably speak English it would be a good idea to learn a few key phrass or bring a Inuktitut phrase book along. French may also be useful though not necesary. In the more remote places Inuktitut may be necesary.

Get in

Access is only by air - there is no road or rail from the south, and consequently prices are rather expensive owing to the difficulty of shipping goods in.

Get around

See

Do

Eat

Drink

Get out

This article is an outline and needs more content. It has a template, but there is not enough information present. Please plunge forward and help it grow!
In other languages