Norway in America - Nunavut

Post office names in USA and Canada with Norwegian origin.
Research by Hallvard Slettebø and Dag Henriksbø.


This page was updated 26 April 2021

Gjoa Haven, NU
Gjoa Haven is an Inuit hamlet on King William Island in Nunavut. In 1903, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had entered the area on his ship Gjøa in an expedition intending to travel through the Northwest Passage. By October the straits through which he was travelling began to ice up. Amundsen put Gjøa into a natural harbour on the southeast coast of King William Island. He stayed there, in what Amundsen called "the finest little harbor in the world", for nearly two years. Permanent European-style settlement at Gjoa Haven started in 1927 with a Hudson's Bay Company trading outpost. In 1941 Henry Larsen reached the post from the west. The settlement has attracted the traditionally nomadic Inuit people as they have adapted a more settled lifestyle. The post office was established 1971 with Kekertak Co-op. Assoc. serving as postmaster. It is still in operation. At the 2016 census, the population was 1,324. Gjoa Haven is the only settlement on King William Island.



Grise Fiord, NU
Grise Fiord is an Inuit hamlet on Ellesmere Island in the territory of Nunavut. Just to the north of the community is the actual fiord, Grise Fiord. It means "pig fjord" in Norwegian. Otto Sverdrup from Norway named it so during an expedition around 1900 because he thought the walrus in the area sounded like pigs. The settlement at Grise Fiord, created by the Canadian Government in 1953 through a forced relocation of Inuit families from Inukjuak, Quebec, is the northernmost public community in Canada. The post office was established 1956. It is still in operation. The population was 129 in 2016.



Isachsen, NU
Isachsen, weather station on Ellef Ringnes Island, in the territory of Nunavut. This remote Arctic research-weather station is named after the Norwegian explorer of the Arctic, Gunnar Isachsen. It is located on the western shore of Ellef Ringnes Island in the Sverdrup Islands. The post office was established 1948 with Cecil William Farrow as postmaster. The post office closed 1978 when the station closed due to its high cost of operation.




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