Broughton Archipelago is a group of islands located at the eastern end of

Queen Charlotte Strait , image = Canadian pilot, near Port Hardy BC.jpg , alt = , caption = A pilot boat plies Queen Charlotte Strait near Port Hardy , image_bathymetry = Locmap-QCS-Hecate-Dixon.png , alt_bathymetry = ...

Mount Waddington Regional District The Regional District of Mount Waddington (RDMW) is a regional district in British Columbia. It takes in the lower Central Coast region centred on the Queen Charlotte Strait coast of northern Vancouver Island and the adjoining parts of mainland ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. The archipelago is the traditional territory of the Musgamagw Dzawada'enuxw, Namgis, Ma'amtagila and Tlowitsis nations of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples.

Etymology

Broughton Archipelago was named in 1792 by

George Vancouver Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what a ...

in honour of

William Robert Broughton William Robert Broughton (22 March 176214 March 1821) was a British naval officer in the late 18th century. As a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, he commanded HMS ''Chatham'' as part of the Vancouver Expedition, a voyage of exploration through th ...

, the captain of the expedition's second ship, ''HMS Chatham''.

Geography

The Broughton Archipelago includes numerous islands and islets scattered throughout the eastern end of

. The largest island of the archipelago is

Gilford Island Gilford Island is an island in British Columbia, Canada, located between Tribune Channel and Knight Inlet. The island has an area of . Turnour Island is to the south across Tribune Channel, the entrance to Thompson Sound to the east. Port Eliz ...

with a total area of .

Cormorant Island Cormorant Island is a 10 ha island lying in Bismarck Strait 1 km south of Anvers Island, east-south-east of Bonaparte Point, in the Palmer Archipelago of Antarctica. It lies some 5 km to the south-east of the United States' Palm ...

is the most densely populated island with 270 residents/km² (710 residents/mi²) as of 2016. The major islands of the Broughton Archipelago are as follows: *

Baker Island Baker Island, formerly known as New Nantucket, is an uninhabited atoll just north of the Equator in the central Pacific Ocean about southwest of Honolulu. The island lies almost halfway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbor is Ho ...

* Bonwick Island * Broughton Island *

Crease Island Crease Island, formerly Lewis Island, is an island in the Broughton Archipelago Marine Provincial Park in the Queen Charlotte Strait- Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is located north of Harbledown Is ...

East Cracroft Island East Cracroft Island is an island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It is the smaller of the two Cracroft Islands, and at low tide is really one island with its larger neighbour, West Cracrof ...

* Eden Island *

Hanson Island Hanson Island is an island in the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, located west of Harbledown Island and south of the Plumper Islands. The westernmost part of Johnstone Strait is to the south of the island, ...

Harbledown Island Harbledown Island is an island in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada, located west of West Cracroft Island. It is at the west end of Johnstone Strait and lies at the eastern edge of the Queen Charlotte Strait region. Hanson Is ...

Malcolm Island Malcolm Island is an island in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located north of Haddington Island in the Queen Charlotte Strait near Vancouver Island. It has ferry access from the Vancouver Island community of Port McNeill. The island ...

Midsummer Island Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer usually held at a date around the summer solstice. It has pagan pre-Christian roots in Europe. The undivided Christian Church designated June 24 as the feast day of the early Christian martyr S ...

Minstrel Island Minstrel Island, is an island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It is near the entrance to Knight Inlet just east of Turnour Island at the junction of Clio and Chatham Channels. The islan ...

North Broughton Island North Broughton Island (french: île North Broughton) is an island in the Broughton Archipelago, located as its name suggests to the north of Broughton Island in the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. ...

Swanson Island Swanson is a brand of TV dinners, broths, and canned poultry made for the North American and Hong Kong markets. The former "Swanson Company" was founded in Omaha, Nebraska, where it developed improvements of the frozen dinner. The TV dinner bu ...

Turnour Island Turnour Island is an island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, located between Gilford Island and West Cracroft Island. On the other side Canoe Passage on its northwest is Village Island, while to its south ...

Village Island Village Island is an island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada, located on the northwest side of Turnour Island. The Kwakwaka'wakw village of Memkumlis or Meem Quam Leese or Memkoomlish, common ...

* Viscount Island *

Watson Island Watson Island is a neighborhood and man-made island in Biscayne Bay, in Miami, Florida. It is located Immediately east of the Central Business District and Arts & Entertainment District neighborhoods of downtown Miami and is connected to the ma ...

West Cracroft Island West Cracroft Island is an island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, located east of Port McNeill. It is the larger of the two Cracroft Islands, the other, East Cracroft Island, being so named to dist ...

Major waterways

Major waterways include

Beware Passage Beware Passage is a strait or channel in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada, between Harbledown Harbledown is a village in Kent, England, immediately west of Canterbury and contiguous with the city. At local government level ...

Broughton Strait Broughton Strait is a strait off the north coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, separating that island from Malcolm and Cormorant Islands, on the farther side of which is the larger Queen Charlotte Strait, which also lies beyond the ...

, Clio Channel, Fife Sound,

Johnstone Strait , image = Pacific Ranges over Johnstone Strait.jpg , image_size = 250px , alt = , caption = Johnstone Strait backdropped by the Vancouver Island Ranges , image_bathymetry = Carte baie Knight ...

Kingcome Inlet Kingcome Inlet is one of the lesser principal fjords of the British Columbia Coast, north and east of Broughton Island. It is sixth in sequence of the major saltwater fjords north from the 49th parallel near Vancouver and similar in width, on av ...

Knight Inlet Knight Inlet (Kwakʼwala: ''Tsawatti'') is one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast, and the largest of the major inlets in the southern part of the Coast. It is fifth in sequence of the great saltwater inlets north from the 49th ...

, Retreat Passage,

Tribune Channel Tribune Channel is a channel or strait on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, separating Gilford Island on the west and north from the mainland. The channel bends around Gilford Island, with the mouth of Thompson Sound at the elbow of ...

, and

Wells Passage Wells Passage is a strait and marine waterway in the northeastern Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, on the west side of North Broughton Island. Across from that island, the headland at the northwest en ...

Conservation

The archipelago is rich in biodiversity and culturally significant sites. Protected areas include Broughton Archipelago Conservancy, Broughton Archipelago Provincial Park, Burdwood Group Conservancy,

Cormorant Channel Marine Provincial Park Cormorant Channel Marine Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located in the Pearse Islands, a small archipelago to the east of Cormorant Island and the Village of Alert Bay at the western end of Johnstone Strait. S ...

, Echo Bay Marine Provincial Park, and Qwiquallaaq/Boat Bay Conservancy.

References

External links