Cape Wolstenholme (; french: cap Wolstenholme; iu, Anaulirvik) is a

cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

and is the extreme northernmost point of the province of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Located on the

Hudson Strait Hudson Strait (french: Détroit d'Hudson) links the Atlantic Ocean and Labrador Sea to Hudson Bay in Canada. This strait lies between Baffin Island and Nunavik, with its eastern entrance marked by Cape Chidley in Newfoundland and Labrador and ...

, about north-east of Quebec's northernmost settlement of

Ivujivik Ivujivik ( iu, ᐃᕗᔨᕕᒃ , meaning "Place where ice accumulates because of strong currents", or "Sea-ice crash Area") is a Types of municipalities in Quebec, northern village (Inuit community) in Nunavik, Quebec, and the northernmost settlem ...

, it is also the northernmost tip of the

Ungava Peninsula The Ungava Peninsula of Nunavik, Quebec, Canada, is bounded by Hudson Bay to the west, Hudson Strait to the north, and Ungava Bay to the east. This peninsula is part of the Labrador Peninsula, and covers about . Its northernmost point is Cape W ...

, which is in turn the northernmost part of the

Labrador Peninsula The Labrador Peninsula, or Quebec-Labrador Peninsula, is a large peninsula in eastern Canada. It is bounded by the Hudson Bay to the west, the Hudson Strait to the north, the Labrador Sea to the east, and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the southe ...

. Its high rocky cliffs dominate the surroundings and mark the entrance to the

Digges Sound Digges Sound is a Canadian Arctic waterway in Qikiqtaaluk, Nunavut, Canada. The sound is located at the juncture where the Hudson Strait meets northeastern Hudson Bay close to the northern tip of the Ungava Peninsula, between Digges Islands and ...

. Here the strong currents from Hudson Bay and the Hudson Strait clash, sometimes even crushing trapped animals between the

ice floes An ice floe () is a large pack ice, pack of Drift ice, floating ice often defined as a flat piece at least 20 m across at its widest point, and up to more than 10 km across. Drift ice is a floating field of sea ice composed of several ice fl ...

. The cape is the nesting place of one of the world's largest colonies of

thick-billed murre The thick-billed murre or Brünnich's guillemot (''Uria lomvia'') is a bird in the auk family (Alcidae). This bird is named after the Danish zoologist Morten Thrane Brünnich. The very deeply black North Pacific subspecies ''Uria lomvia arra'' i ...

. A area alongside the Hudson Strait and including the cape itself is being considered for becoming a park. It currently is a national park reserve, which is a temporary status until the territory obtains legal status.

History

Henry Hudson Henry Hudson ( 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States. In 1607 and 160 ...

's last mission in 1610, he mapped the coast and named the cape "Wolstenholme" to honour Sir John Wolstenholme (1562-1639), an English merchant who sponsored the expedition and was interested in finding the

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arct ...

. Shortly after, mutineers from Hudson's expedition clashed with local

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

on nearby Digges Islands, the second recorded encounter between Europeans and Inuit. (The first was in 1606 when the expedition of John Knight came under attack on the coast of northern Labrador. Knight and three others from the crew of the ''Hopedale'' disappeared after going ashore in a boat. The remaining eight crew members waited for Knight and his party, but the following day came under attack by a large number of hostile natives. They managed to drive off the natives and eventually found their way to the safety of open water off the coast.) In 1697, Captain

Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville (16 July 1661 – 9 July 1706) or Sieur d'Iberville was a French soldier, explorer, colonial administrator, and trader. He is noted for founding the colony of Louisiana in New France. He was born in Montreal to French ...

and his crew, in search of commercial opportunities in Hudson Bay, conducted the first commercial trades with Inuit at Cape Wolstenholme. In 1909, the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

established a

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...

called Wolstenholme in Erik Cove (), a small bay just east of the cape. Its first

factor Factor, a Latin word meaning "who/which acts", may refer to: Commerce * Factor (agent), a person who acts for, notably a mercantile and colonial agent * Factor (Scotland), a person or firm managing a Scottish estate * Factors of production, suc ...

was Ralph Parsons who was to develop the

Arctic fox The Arctic fox (''Vulpes lagopus''), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. It is well adapted to living in co ...

fur trade by establishing new relationships with the Inuit, who already hunted the fox. No Inuit visited or traded at the post for 2 years but eventually it turned profitable and operated until 1947. Remnants of the post can still be found here.

Alternate names and spellings

In 1744, cartographer

Jacques-Nicolas Bellin Jacques Nicolas Bellin (1703 – 21 March 1772) was a French hydrographer, geographer, and member of the French intellectual group called the philosophes. Bellin was born in Paris. He was hydrographer of France's hydrographic office, member of t ...

named it Cap Saint-Louis. Thereafter, the two names continued to identify this cape until Wolstenholme became official in 1968. "C Walsingam" is on the 1606 map ''Septentrio America''by

Jodocus Hondius Jodocus Hondius (Latinized version of his Dutch language, Dutch name: ''Joost de Hondt'') (17 October 1563 – 12 February 1612) was a Flemish people, Flemish and Dutch engraving, engraver and cartographer. He is sometimes called Jodocus Hon ...

. The 1645 map '' Regiones Sub Polo Arctico'' by

Joan Blaeu Joan Blaeu (; 23 September 1596 – 21 December 1673) was a Dutch cartographer born in Alkmaar, the son of cartographer Willem Blaeu. Life In 1620, Blaeu became a doctor of law but he joined the work of his father. In 1635, they published ...

shows the name "C. Worsnam". On the 1743 map ''Chart of Hudson's Bay & Straits, Baffin's Bay, Davis Strait and Labrador'' by C. Middelton "C. Walsingham" is shown. "Cape St. Louis" appeared on the map of ''Canada or New France and the discoveries'' made by

Guillaume Delisle Guillaume Delisle, also spelled Guillaume de l'Isle, (; 28 February 1675, Paris – 25 January 1726, Paris) was a French cartographer known for his popular and accurate maps of Europe and the newly explored Americas. Childhood and education Desli ...

in 1703.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolstenholme Headlands of Quebec Landforms of Nord-du-Québec Protected areas of Nord-du-Québec