The capital of Nunavut is Iqaluit. Other major communities include [Rankin Inlet]? and [Cambridge Bay]?. Nunavut has a population of only about 25,000 spread over an area the size of Western Europe.
Nunavut means our land in Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit.
The recorded history of Nunavut began in 1576?. [Martin Frobisher]?, while leading an expedition to find the Northwest Passage, thought he had discovered gold ore in what is now known as [Frobisher Bay]? on the coast of [Baffin Island]?. The ore turned out to be worthless, but Frobisher made the first recorded European contact with the Inuit. The contact was hostile, with Frobisher capturing four Inuit people and bringing them back to England, where they quickly perished.
Other explorers in search of the elusive Northwest Passage followed in the 17th century, including [Henry Hudson]?, [Willian Baffin]? and [Robert Bylot]?.
(and there were quite a few more after that. More needs to be said about various explorers and collonial history in Nunavut. But for now, let's make a jump into recent history)
In 1976, negotiations for a land claim agreement and the new territory between the [Inuit Tapirisat of Canada]? and the federal government began. In April 1982, a majority of Northwest Territories residents voted in favour of a division, and the federal government gave a conditional agreement seven months later. A land claims agreement was reached in September, 1992 and ratified by nearly 85% of the voters in Nunavut. In June 1993 the [Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act]? and the [Nunavut Act]? were passed by the Canadian Parliament, and the transition was completed on April 1, 1999.
See also:
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