Canada’s Arctic Islands
As I watched this captivating video by Geography By Geoff, I was transported to Baffin Island’s towering peaks and the fjords of Ellesmere, realms sculpted by glaciers since the last Ice Age. It’s Earth’s last true untamed edge, a place that humbles visitors with its raw scale and silence.
The geography alone defies imagination. These islands, strung out across 1.4 million square kilometers, could bridge Canada to the UK if connected. From Victoria Island’s rolling tundra to Axel Heiberg’s glaciated mountains, diversity reigns: deep fjords rival Norway’s and permafrost extends hundreds of meters deep.
Yet, this isn’t a barren void. Life pulses beneath the surface. Musk oxen huddle against gales, arctic foxes are abundant, and narwhals pierce icy waters with their mythical tusks. Fossils in sedimentary rocks tell the story of prehistoric worlds, while untapped minerals hold the promise of global riches—guarded by an unforgiving terrain.
For 4,500 years, Indigenous peoples have thrived here. Paleo-Eskimos crossed the Bering Strait with razor-sharp tools, evolving into Dorset artisans and Thule innovators—ancestors of today’s Inuit—who mastered dog sleds, umiaks, and bow-and-arrow hunts. Europeans arrived later, chasing the riches of the Northwest Passage. Martin Frobisher’s fool’s gold quests and Sir John Franklin’s tragic 1845 vanishing (starvation and lead poisoning claimed 129 souls) mapped the unknown but scarred cultures. Inuit testimony pieced together the horror, while search parties claimed the land for Britain, then Canada in 1880. Norwegian claims were quashed by 1930, sealing sovereignty through flags, patrols, and diplomacy.
Today, about 23,000 souls call this home—Inuit in Nunavut communities like Iqaluit, blending high-speed internet with caribou hunts. Canadian Rangers, mostly Inuit, patrol on snowmobiles, eyes of the nation. But climate change cracks the ice: warming twice the global rate melts sea ice, unlocking oil, gas, and a shortcut Passage that slashes trade routes—but erodes hunting grounds, buckles permafrost, and swallows villages.
Canada’s Arctic isn’t a footnote; it’s a bellwether. As the video poignantly notes, this evolving frontier tests adaptation, from ancient migrations to modern geopolitics. It reminds us: in nature’s grand indifference, beauty and peril entwine. Visit if you dare—it’s a world that reshapes your own.