20 Interesting Facts About Iqaluit

Facts About Iqaluit

Facts About Iqaluit

  • Iqaluit is the capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, its largest community, and its only city.
  • Iqaluit is known as Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987, after the large bay on the coast of which the city is situated.
  • In 1987, its traditional Inuktitut name was restored.
  • In 1999, Iqaluit has designated the capital of Nunavut after the division of the Northwest Territories into two separate territories.
  • The city has a polar climate, influenced by the cold deep waters of the Labrador Current just off Baffin Island; this makes the city of Iqaluit cold, although it is well south of the Arctic Circle.
  • Iqaluit has been a traditional fishing location used by Inuit for thousands of years.
  • The Estimated Population of Iqaluit 7,740.
  • The name, Iqaluit, comes from Inuktitut Iqaluit, which means place of many fish.
  • The American military left Iqaluit in 1963.
  • Iqaluit is located in the Everett Mountains rising from Koojesse Inlet, an inlet of Frobisher Bay, on the southeast part of Baffin Island. It is well to the east of Nunavut’s mainland, and northeast of Hudson Bay.
  • There is no “majority mother tongue” in Iqaluit, as 45.4% reported their mother tongue as being English, and 45.4% also reported their mother tongue as Inuktitut.
  • The lowest temperature ever recorded was −45.6 °C on 10 February 1967. The highest temperature ever recorded in Iqaluit was 26.7 °C on 21 July 2008.
  • The land area of Iqaluit is 52.50 km2 (20.27 sq mi).
  • Iqaluit is the smallest Canadian capital in terms of population, and the only capital that is not connected to other settlements by a highway.
  • Iqaluit has quite a young population, the median age of the population is more than 10 years younger than the national rate, 30.1 years old compared to 40.6 years old.
  • Iqaluit Airport is a modern facility with a runway long enough for most modern jet aircraft. A new, larger passenger terminal building north of the old terminal was completed in 2018.
  • The lowest temperature ever recorded in Iqaluit was -46°C.
  • The second highest tides in Canada are found in Iqaluit, The highest are in the Bay of Fundy.
  • Iqaluit’s population density is more concentrated averaging 382 residents per square mile.
  • Most notable people born in Iqaluit: Annabella Piugattuk, Malaija Pootoogook & Severin France.
Facts About Iqaluit
Facts About Iqaluit