Kugaaruk
| Kugaaruk | |||
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 Kugaaruk Airport Building |
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| Location in Nunavut | |||
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| State : |
 Canada
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| Territory : | Nunavut | ||
| Region: | Kitikmeot | ||
| Coordinates : | 68 ° 32 ′ N , 89 ° 49 ′ W | ||
| Residents : | 660 (as of:) | ||
Kugaaruk (formerly Pelly Bay, traditionally also called Arviligjuak by the Inuit, "place with many bowhead whales"), Nunavut Territory , is a settlement on the Canadian mainland at the mouth of the Kuggarjuk River in Pelly Bay with around 660 inhabitants (94 % Inuit ).
The first known contact between the Inuit and Europeans living in this region came about in 1829 when John Ross wintered here during his expedition to the Northwest Passage . By contrast, the extreme ice conditions prevailing here in the 19th century prevented both whalers and the Hudson's Bay Company from operating in the region.
Relatively late, not until 1935, the Roman Catholic Father Pierre Henry of the Order of the Oblates came here as the first missionary and initially built a small, habitable chapel made of stone, which, however, quickly proved unsuitable for living in the harsh arctic climate. The mission station that was now being built in Pelly Bay became famous for its seven structures, made of local stones and clay mortar mixed with seal oil, two of which have survived, including the 40 square meter stone church built in 1941 with a wooden interior. Oblate Fathers, who established a Catholic mission station in 1937, were the only non-Inuit living here until the opening of the first state school in 1962.
The "Arviligjuarmiut", as the Inuit, who were still semi-nomadic living around Pelly Bay at that time, called themselves, remained almost without contact with the outside world until 1955, when the establishment of the DEW Line ( Distant Early Warning ) began. and in the period that followed, many characteristics of the original Inuit culture that are also of interest to tourists have been preserved. The important documentary film about the Netsilik Eskimos, distributed by the Canadian National Film Board, was also shot at Pelly Bay, from which excerpts are often shown in more recent German television documentaries.
1968 is the founding year for the Pelly Bay settlement. In that year the Canadian government had 32 prefabricated wooden houses erected in the south for the Arviligjuarmiut. In 1999 Pelly Bay was renamed Kugaaruk (after the Kuggarjuk River flowing through it).
literature
- Miriam Dewar (Ed.): The Nunavut Handbook: Traveling in Canada's Arctic . Ayaya Marketing & Communications, Iqaluit / Ottawa 2004, ISBN 0-9736754-0-3 (English).
