The Great Northern Peninsula (

Inuttitut Inuttitut, Inuttut, or Nunatsiavummiutitut is a dialect of Inuktitut. It is spoken across northern Labrador by Inuit, whose traditional lands are known as Nunatsiavut. The language has a distinct writing system, created in Greenland in the 1760s ...

: ''Ikkarumiklua'') is the largest and longest peninsula of Newfoundland,

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 ...

, approximately 270 km long and 90 km wide at its widest point and encompassing an area of 17,483 km². It is defined as that part of Newfoundland from

Bonne Bay Bonne Bay is a bay in Newfoundland, Canada. It is located on the western coast of Newfoundland and separates the Great Northern Peninsula from the rest of the island. It is a part of Gros Morne National Park. It is separated into two sections: ...

northwards around

Cape Norman Cape Norman is a barren, limestone headland located at the northernmost point of insular Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Cape Norman first appeared on French maps as Cape Dordois, in 1713, and then as Cape N ...

and

Cape Bauld Cape Bauld is a headland located at the northernmost point of Quirpon Island, an island just northeast of the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Cape Bauld, slightly north and east of ...

and thence southwards to the head of White Bay, bounded by the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the west, the

Strait of Belle Isle The Strait of Belle Isle (; french: Détroit de Belle Isle ) is a waterway in eastern Canada that separates the Labrador Peninsula from the island of Newfoundland, in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Location The strait is the northern o ...

on the north and the

Labrador Sea The Labrador Sea (French: ''mer du Labrador'', Danish: ''Labradorhavet'') is an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean between the Labrador Peninsula and Greenland. The sea is flanked by continental shelf, continental shelves to the southwest, northwest, ...

and White Bay on the east. The vast majority of the peninsula is located within

Division No. 9, Newfoundland and Labrador Census Division No. 9 is composed of the area of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador called the Northern Peninsula. It has a land area of 13,527.12 km² (5,222.85 sq mi) and had a population of 15,607 at the 2016 census. The largest co ...

, except for the southeastern corner, which is part of Subdivision G of Division No. 5, Newfoundland and Labrador. In 1991, the peninsula had 23,854 inhabitants. By 2016, however, the population had decreased to 15,607, further decreased to 14,733 in 2021. St. Anthony is the largest population centre on the peninsula. A

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

service operates at the western part of the Strait of Belle Isle between St. Barbe, Newfoundland, and Blanc Sablon,

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 ...

Topography

The Great Northern Peninsula can be divided into two main topographic areas, the high

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

of the

Long Range Mountains The Long Range Mountains are a series of mountains along the west coast of the Canadian island of Newfoundland. The long range mountains form the northernmost section of the Appalachian mountain chain on the eastern seaboard of North Amer ...

and the low-lying coastal areas around which all of settlements can be found. The Long Range Mountains are a mixture of steep mountain valleys with spectacular

fjords In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icela ...

leading to the sea and mountainous areas dotted with many lakes and rivers. The northern end of the peninsula is indented by Hare Bay. The south and eastern end of the peninsula are mountainous, while the western end has a coastal plain in the northern half and deep fiords in the southern half. Gros Morne National Park is located on the peninsula.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 50, 27, 48.6, N, 56, 46, 7.1, W, scale:2500000, display=title Peninsulas of Newfoundland and Labrador

Topography

See also

References

External links