The District of Franklin was a regional administrative district of

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 ...

's Northwest Territories. The district consisted of the Canadian high Arctic Islands, notably Ellesmere Island, Baffin Island, and

Victoria Island Victoria Island ( ikt, Kitlineq, italic=yes) is a large island in the Arctic Archipelago that straddles the boundary between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the List of islands by area, eighth-largest island in the world, ...

. The district also contained the mainland

Melville Peninsula Melville Peninsula is a large peninsula in the Canadian Arctic north of Hudson Bay. To the east is Foxe Basin and to the west the Gulf of Boothia. To the north the Fury and Hecla Strait separates it from Baffin Island. To the south Repulse B ...

and

Boothia Peninsula Boothia Peninsula (; formerly ''Boothia Felix'', Inuktitut ''Kingngailap Nunanga'') is a large peninsula in Nunavut's northern Canadian Arctic, south of Somerset Island. The northern part, Murchison Promontory, is the northernmost point of ...

. English navigators Martin Frobisher and

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 16 ...

were the first Europeans known to have visited the area (although Viking sailors, coming from Greenland, may have made occasional landings and hunting treks on Baffin Island in the 11th and 12th centuries). The area was transferred from British colonial authority to the Dominion of Canada in 1894 and named after Sir

John Franklin Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. After serving in wars against Napoleonic France and the United States, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through t ...

in the following year; however, the northernmost islands were claimed by

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

until the year 1930. Along with the District of Keewatin and the District of Mackenzie, it was one of the three districts of the old Northwest Territories before the formation of Nunavut in 1999, at which point the district ceased to exist, although as an administrative district of the NWT it had ceased to function several years prior to the splitting off of Nunavut. The area of the former District of Franklin was divided between the remaining portion of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. In the process, Victoria Island was divided with approximately two-thirds of its area falling in Nunavut, and several other islands were also divided between the two territories.

* Balkwill, H. R. ''Geology of Amund Ringnes, Cornwall, and Haig-Thomas Islands, District of Franklin''. Ottawa, Ont., Canada: Geological Survey of Canada, 1983. * Balkwill, H. R., W. S. Hopkins, and J. H. Wall. ''Geology of Lougheed Island and Nearby Small Islands, District of Franklin (Parts of 69C, 79D)''. Ottawa, Canada: Minister of Supply and Services Canada, 1982. * Geological Survey of Canada, R. L. Christie, H. P. Trettin, and U. Mayr. ''Lady Franklin Bay, District of Franklin, Northwest Territories''. Open file (Geological Survey of Canada), 2136. 1984. * Dyke, Arthur S., John T. Andrews, and Gifford H. Miller. ''Quaternary Geology of Cumberland Peninsula, Baffin Island, District of Franklin''. Ottawa, Canada: Geological Survey of Canada, 1982. * Geological Survey of Canada, A. F. Embry, H. P. Trettin, and U. Mayr. ''Tanquary Fiord, District of Franklin, Northwest Territories''. Open file (Geological Survey of Canada), 2135. 1988. {{coord missing, Northwest Territories Districts of the Northwest Territories Baffin Island

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