Cambridge Bay

Cambridge Bay

Cambridge Bay is a hamlet in the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut, on Victoria Island, Canada. It is the largest settlement on Victoria Island, named after Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, while the area's traditional Inuinnaqtun name is Iqaluktuuttiaq, meaning "good fishing place". The Cambridge Bay is the most important stop for passenger and research vessels passing through the Northwest Passage of the Arctic Ocean. The first people known to have occupied the area were the Pre-Dorset people, about 4000 years ago, and were seal and caribou hunters. The following group to arrive in the area was a Paleo-Eskimo people known as the Dorset, arriving around 500 CE. The Tuniites were the last Palaeo-Eskimo people to appear here, around 800 CE, and traces of their habitation can be seen near Cambridge Bay. The Thule people were the next group, the ancestors of the present-day Inuit, who lived in the area from the 13th century CE. Then, about 500 years ago, the modern Inuit appeared. The first European to reach Cambridge Bay, led by Thomas Simpson in 1839, were overland Arctic explorers seeking the Northwest Passage, crossing the sea ice on foot. Today the Canadian High Arctic Research Station is located in Cambridge Bay. The climate of Cambridge Bay is polar, with no month having an average temperature of 10 °C or higher. The sun is below the horizon continuously from about 30 November to 11 January, polar night, and above the horizon, midnight sun, from 19 May to 22 July.