Foxe Peninsula


Foxe Peninsula is a peninsula found at the southern end of Baffin Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. It juts out from the southerly end of the island in a southwestly direction, dividing Foxe Basin and Hudson Strait. Its western extremity is Cape Queen; to the southeast lies the Inuit hamlet of Cape Dorset. Inuksuk Point at the western coast contains more than 100 inuksuit.
The peninsula is long and to wide.
The peninsula is named for the English explorer Luke Foxe.

Exploration

The first exploration of the Foxe Peninsula by Europeans was carried on by Luke Foxe in 1631. Although the exact route of his ship, Charles, remains uncertain, it is believed that he surveyed the coast of the Foxe Peninsula during September 1631 as far as the Cape Dorchester. During his journey Luke Foxe named several features on the coast of the Foxe Peninsula, notably Cape Dorset, King Charles Cape, Cape Queen, and Cape Dorchester. However, the exact position of the named places cannot be ascertained accurately due to discrepancies between Foxeʼs MS journal and his written narrative published later. Although many of the names invented by Luke Foxe in 1631 are used even today, it is almost certain that the places which hold the names do not match the positions as described by Foxe.
Further exploration of the peninsula by Europeans was very sporadic over the next three centuries. Several portions of the coast of the Foxe Peninsula were explored by Donald Baxter MacMillan, who wintered in Schooner Harbour in 1921-1922, and George P. Putnam, who mapped the north coast of the peninsula in 1927. Interior of the peninsula was explored by J. Dewey Soper between 1928 and 1929. During his 1928-1929 exploration Soper was residing in Cape Dorset, from which he made several journeys across the peninsula. Mapping of the Foxe Peninsula was completed between 1956 and 1957 through geodetic survey utilising SHORAN electronic length measurement.