From Far and Wide: A History of Canada's Arctic Sovereignty

By: Peter Pigott

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Synopsis: In the early 20th century the Canadian North was a mystery, but the Canadian military stepped in, and this book explores its historic activities in Canada’s Arctic. Is the Canadian North a state of mind or simply the lands and waters above the 60th parallel? In searching for the ill-fated Franklin Expedition in the 19th century, Britain’s Royal Navy mapped and charted most of the Arctic Archipelago. In 1874 Canadian Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie agreed to take up sovereignty of all the Arctic, if only to keep the United States and Tsarist Russia out. But as the dominion expanded east and west, the North was forgotten. Besides a few industries, its potential was unknown. It was as one Canadian said for later. There wasn’t much need to send police or military expeditions to the North. Not only was there little tribal warfare between the Inuit or First Nations, but there were few white settlers to protect and the forts were mainly trading posts. Thus, in the early 20th century, Canada’s Arctic was less known than Sudan or South Africa. From Far and Wide recounts exclusively the historic activities of the Canadian military in Canada’s North.