Baker Lake (
Inuktitut
Inuktitut (; , syllabics ; from , "person" + , "like", "in the manner of"), also Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree line, including parts of the provinces o ...
: ; 'where the river widens') is a lake in the
Kivalliq Region,
Nunavut
Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' ...
, Canada. It is fed by the
Thelon River from the west and the
Kazan River from the south. It outflows into
Chesterfield Inlet. The lake is approximately in size. It has several named bays, and a few islands.
In 1762 William Christopher reached Baker Lake via Chesterfield Inlet. The
Inuit hamlet of
Baker Lake is at the west end of the lake near the mouth of the Thelon River. Although the Inuit had been in the area for some time, the first outside presence was the
Royal North-West Mounted Police
The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territor ...
post at the east end of the lake in 1915. This was followed in 1916 by the
Hudson's Bay Company post set up at the Kazan River delta until 1930 when it moved to its present location.
Fauna
The lake's area is home to Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou herds, as well as other wildlife associated with
northern Canada
Northern Canada, colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three Provinces_and_territories_of_Canada#Territories, territor ...
's Arctic.
See also
*
List of lakes of Nunavut
This is an incomplete list of lakes of Nunavut, a territory of Canada.
Larger lake statistics
"The total area of a lake includes the area of islands. Lakes lying across provincial boundaries are listed in the province with the greater lake are ...
*
List of lakes of Canada
References
External links
Hamlet of Baker Lake
Lakes of Kivalliq Region
Hudson's Bay Company trading posts in Nunavut
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