Murchison Promontory
{{Short description|Northernmost point of mainland North America}}
{{Location map
| Canada Nunavut
| caption = Location in Nunavut, Canada{{Cite web| url=http://www4.rncan.gc.ca/search-place-names/unique/OALDT| title=Murchison Promontory| publisher=Natural Resources Canada| accessdate=October 10, 2019}}
| label = Murchison Promontory
| lat_deg = 71
| lat_min = 58
| lat_dir = N
| lon_deg = 094
| lon_min = 57
| lon_dir = W}}
File:Wfm prince of wales island nunavut.jpg at centre. Near top right is the square-shaped Somerset Island, below which is the Murchison Promontory at the north end of the Boothia Peninsula, part of the continental mainland.]]
Murchison Promontory ({{coord|71|58|N|94|57|W|type:landmark_region:CA-NU_source:http://www4.rncan.gc.ca/search-place-names/unique/OALDT|name=Murchison Promontory|display=inline,title}}), a cape (promontory) in the northern Canadian Arctic, is the northernmost mainland point of the Americas and of Canada.[http://geonames2.nrcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/v9/sima_unique_v9?english?OASFF?C Querying Geographical Names of Canada ] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608154719/http://geonames2.nrcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/v9/sima_unique_v9?english%3FOASFF%3FC |date=2011-06-08 }} at Natural Resources Canada[http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/search/search_results?expression=Murchison+Promontory+ Murchison Promontory] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927050304/http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/search/search_results?expression=Murchison+Promontory+ |date=2012-09-27 }} at the Atlas of Canada Located {{convert|1087|nmi|mi km|lk=in}} from the North Pole, it is {{convert|64|km|abbr=on}} farther north than Point Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost point of all U.S. territory.{{Cite web| title=The Northernmost Points In The United States| url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-are-the-northernmost-points-in-the-united-states.html| website=worldatlas.com| accessdate=October 10, 2019}}
Geography
File:MS Ocean Endeavour proceeding west to east along Bellot Strait, ahead is Zenith Point, northernmost point of continental North America, September 2019.jpg in September 2019 proceeding west to east along the Bellot Strait; ahead is Zenith Point, the northernmost point of continental North America.]]
Murchison Promontory extends along the northern edge of the Boothia Peninsula, at right angles to the Bellot Strait, which separates it from Somerset Island. Situated in the Kitikmeot Region (Inuktitut: Qitirmiut) of Nunavut, its northernmost point, Zenith Point, is located at {{coord|72|00|N|94|39|W|type:landmark_region:CA-NU_source:http://www4.rncan.gc.ca/search-place-names/unique/OASFF|name=Zenith Point}}.{{Cite web| url=http://www4.rncan.gc.ca/search-place-names/unique/OASFF| title=Zenith Point| publisher=Natural Resources Canada| accessdate=October 10, 2019}}{{cite web |url=http://www.oceandots.com/arctic/canada/somerset.php |title=Somerset Island |accessdate=2010-09-25 |url-status=usurped |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223043232/http://www.oceandots.com/arctic/canada/somerset.php |archivedate=December 23, 2010 }} at Oceandots The nearest community is Taloyoak, approximately {{convert|250|km|abbr=on}} to the south.
History
The area was first explored in April 1852 by the Canadian Captain William Kennedy and the French explorer Joseph René Bellot while searching for traces of John Franklin's lost Arctic expedition.[http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=6894&interval=25&&PHPSESSID=o83es2bjrls8q3lv3soh8pbo64 Francis Leopold McClintock] at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography[http://www.bartleby.com/69/37/B04437.html The Columbia Gazetteer of North America 2000] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311014238/http://www.bartleby.com/69/37/B04437.html |date=2007-03-11 }} The strait was then named after Bellot, who drowned the following year when he fell through the ice in the Wellington Channel.
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.[https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/bellot-strait Bellot Strait] at The Canadian Encyclopedia In July 1859, McClintock named the promontory, which his expedition determined to be the northernmost point of the mainland, after Royal Geographical Society president Roderick Murchison. Murchison was a prominent supporter of Jane Franklin in her efforts towards a continued search for her husband, which included the sponsorship of McClintock's expedition.{{cite book|last=McClintock|first=Francis|author-link=Francis Leopold McClintock|date=January 1881|title=Fate of Sir John Franklin: The Voyage of the Fox in the Arctic Seas in Search of Franklin and His Companions|url=https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=ZuFKAAAAYAAJ&pcampaignid=books_web_aboutlink|location= |publisher=John Murray|page=276|isbn=}}
In 1937, Scot E. J. "Scotty" Gall passed the promontory on his ship Aklavik on the first crossing of the Bellot Strait,[http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic41-2-156.pdf University of Calgary, Scotty Gall] travelling from the western shore to the eastern for the Hudson's Bay Company.
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110608154842/http://geonames2.nrcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/v9/sima_unique_v9?english%3FOALDT%3FC About Murchison Promontory]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20071023155550/http://www.pelagic.co.uk/nwp/images/03_Au11lars.jpg Map of Murchison Promontory]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110716211431/http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/northwest-passage/nwp-today12.jpg Image of Murchison Promontory]
{{Peninsulas of Nunavut}}