Moresby Island
| Moresby Island | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Waters | Pacific Ocean | |
| Archipelago | Haida Gwaii | |
| Geographical location | 52 ° 25 ′ N , 131 ° 30 ′ W | |
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| surface | 2 608 km² | |
| Highest elevation | 1143 m | |
| Residents | 402 (2006) <1 inh / km² |
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| main place | Sandspit | |
Moresby Island ( Haida Gwaii Hanas ) forms the southern part of Haida Gwaii , an archipelago off the northwest coast of British Columbia , Canada in the Pacific Ocean . It is the third largest of the Canadian Pacific Islands.
The island has an area of 2608 km² with a coastline of 1180 km and reaches a height of up to 1143 m above sea level. The Skidegate Channel , a narrow strait in the south, separates it from the main island of Graham Island (Haida: Haida Gwaii ).
The English name of the island goes back to the admiral of the British Royal Navy Fairfax Moresby , who was Commander in Chief of the Pacific Station from 1850 to 1853 . The Haidaname, Gwaii Haanas , comes from the indigenous people of the region and was the namesake for the island's national park.
Almost all of Moresby's residents live in Sandspit , a place on the north coast.
The island is a popular destination for tourists. Whale watching , hiking, and rafting are the main recreational sports that visitors can practice. The island 's national park , Gwaii Haanas National Park , which is jointly managed by the government and the indigenous peoples , is home to a variety of plants and animals that are rare even by Canadian standards.
On October 27, 2012 at 8:04 pm ( PDT ), the Haida Gwaii Islands were struck by an earthquake measuring 7.7 on the moment-magnitude scale . After the earthquake off the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1949 with a magnitude of 8.1 on the moment magnitude scale, it was the second strongest earthquake ever recorded in Canada. The epicenter of the Haida Gwaii earthquake was east of Moresby Island.
Web links
- Moresby Island . In: BC Geographical Names (English)
- Moresby Island on britishcolumbia.com (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ The Atlas of Canada. Sea Islands. Natural Resources Canada , archived from the original on January 22, 2013 ; accessed on November 22, 2013 (English).
- ^ UNEP Islands Directory
- ^ Andrew Scott: The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names: A Complete Reference to Coastal British Columbia . Harbor Publishing, Madeira Park, BC 2009, ISBN 978-1-55017-484-7 , pp. 400 (English).
- ↑ Earthquake details. Natural Resources Canada , March 11, 2019, accessed August 25, 2020 .