Kekerten Island
| Kekerten Island (Qikiqtaq) | ||
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| Waters | Cumberland Sound , Labrador Sea | |
| Archipelago | Kikastan Islands | |
| Geographical location | 65 ° 42 ′ 0 ″ N , 65 ° 48 ′ 30 ″ W | |
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| length | 7.4 km | |
| width | 4.1 km | |
| surface | 13.65 km² | |
| Highest elevation | 174 m | |
| Residents | uninhabited | |
| main place | Kekerten (historical) | |
Kekerten Island ( Inuktitut Qikiqtaq ) is an uninhabited island in the Qikiqtaaluk region of Nunavut , Canada . Your former whaling station has been a National Historic Site of Canada since 1985 .
geography
The island is the southernmost of the Kikastan Islands, off the confluence of the Kingnait Fiords in the Cumberland Sound of Baffin Island . Between Kekerten and Agulagok Island lies the sheltered Kekerten Harbor, which was formerly used by whalers. The next village is Pangnirtung, 50 km to the north .
history
In 1840 the young Inuk Eenoolooapik (approx. 1820–1847) led the Scottish whaler William Penny in the Cumberland Sound, which was rich in bowhead whales . Along with Blacklead Island, Kekerten Island became the center of whaling in Cumberland Sound and a place where the Inuit met with European and American whalers. The first permanent buildings were erected in 1857, and the safe harbor was used by many whalers for wintering. Inuit from the region settled near the station. They worked on the whaling boats and provided the whalers with food and furs. In return they received rifles, knives, matches and other useful goods. The settlement on Kekerten Island was abandoned in 1923 after whaling came to a standstill.
The remains of the whaling station, the nearby cemetery and a shipwreck are now protected as the National Historic Site of Canada.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kenn Harper: Eenoolooapik . In: Mark Nuttall (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Arctic . tape 1 . Routledge, New York and London 2003, ISBN 1-57958-436-5 , pp. 543-544 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
Web links
- Kekerten Iceland Whaling Station National Historic Site of Canada (English)
- Kekerten Territorial Park on the Nunavut Tourism website
- Kekerten Territorial Park (PDF; 869 kB), Nunavut Parks (English)