Murchison Promontory
Murchison Promontory is a peninsula in northern Canada that is the northernmost point on mainland Canada and on the mainland of North America;[1][2] it is also one of the Extreme points of Earth.
The distance to the North Pole is 1,087 nautical miles (1,251 mi; 2,013 km), or 64 km (40 mi) closer than the distance from Point Barrow, Alaska (the northernmost point in the United States) to the Pole.
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[edit] Geography
Murchison Promontory is situated in Nunavut on the northern part of the Boothia Peninsula in the northern Canadian Arctic. The northernmost point on the promontory is Zenith Point[3] with coordinates 72°00′00″N 94°38′59″W / 72°N 94.64972°W.[4]
The cape is located on the south side of the, 48 by 3 km (30 by 1.9 mi), Bellot Strait which separates it from Somerset Island and roughly about 250 km (160 mi) north of the hamlet of Taloyoak.
Murchison Promontory is part of the Kitikmeot Region (Qitirmiut).
[edit] History
The area was first explored in April 1852 by Canadian Captain William Kennedy and French explorer Joseph René Bellot while searching for traces of John Franklin's lost Arctic expedition.[5][6] The strait was then named after Bellot.
Irish born Francis Leopold McClintock also wintered in the area with his ship Fox in the winter of 1858 - 1859 in his search for the Franklin expedition.[7]
In 1937 Scot E. J. "Scotty" Gall passed the promontory on his ship "Aklavik" on the first crossing of the Bellot Strait[8] travelling from the western shore to the eastern for the Hudson's Bay Company.
[edit] References
- ^ Querying Geographical Names of Canada at Natural Resources Canada
- ^ Murchison Promontory at the Atlas of Canada
- ^ Somerset Island at Oceandots
- ^ Zenith Point at the Atlas of Canada
- ^ Francis Leopold McClintock at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography
- ^ The Columbia Gazetteer of North America 2000
- ^ Bellot Strait at The Canadian Encyclopedia
- ^ University of Calgary, Scotty Gall
[edit] External links
Coordinates: 71°58′N 094°57′W / 71.967°N 94.95°W
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