# How much of the Arctic Circle Does Canada Own? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 16, 2019, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-arctic-circle-does-canada-own/843556 "2019-11-16T22:13:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-arctic-circle-does-canada-own/843556/1 "2019-11-16T22:13:21Z")
In terms of both percentage and square miles/kilometres, how much of the area of the Arctic Circle, in land area and sea area, does Canada claim directly or indirectly? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2019, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-arctic-circle-does-canada-own/843556/2 "2019-11-17T00:25:56Z")
Wikipedia says 39% of Canada’s area lies north of the Arctic Circle, so that would be 532,000 square miles. That’s about 6.9% of the 7.7 million total square miles north of the Arctic Circle. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2019, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-arctic-circle-does-canada-own/843556/3 "2019-11-17T01:23:53Z")
For length, they own from about 61W to 141W longitude or about 80/360 = 0.22… of the circle (about Cape Dyer on Baffin Island to the western border of the Yukon). Arctic circle is about 11000 miles in circumference, so something in the vicinity of 2400 miles. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2019, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-arctic-circle-does-canada-own/843556/4 "2019-11-17T01:35:25Z")
See this Wikipedia article on Territorial Claims in the Arctic: > **[Territorial claims in the Arctic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_claims_in_the_Arctic)** > > The Arctic consists of land, internal waters, territorial seas, exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and international waters above the Arctic Circle (66 degrees 33 minutes North latitude). All land, internal waters, territorial seas and EEZs in the Arctic are under the jurisdiction of one of the eight Arctic coastal states: Canada, Denmark (via Greenland), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States. International law regulates this area as with other portions of Earth. > Under inte... ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-arctic-circle-does-canada-own/843556/5 "2019-11-19T00:53:09Z")
All of it. But canucks are too polite to make a fuss about it if you hang out there. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-arctic-circle-does-canada-own/843556/6 "2019-11-20T01:51:34Z")
Except for those sneaky Danes on Hans Island! Them, we worry about. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-arctic-circle-does-canada-own/843556/7 "2019-11-20T10:08:09Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Except for those sneaky Danes on Hans Island! Them, we worry about. I hear they can be bought off with a bottle of whiskey, though. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-arctic-circle-does-canada-own/843556/8 "2019-11-20T15:03:00Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > I hear they can be bought off with a bottle of whiskey, though. The horrible truth is that they think a bottle of schnapps is a fair trade for a bottle of whiskey. If that doesn’t prove to you that the Danes are untrustworthy, I don’t know what to tell you. ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-arctic-circle-does-canada-own/843556/9 "2019-11-20T15:38:17Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > The horrible truth is that they think a bottle of schnapps is a fair trade for a bottle of whiskey. If that doesn’t prove to you that the Danes are untrustworthy, I don’t know what to tell you. I had no idea Canada and Denmark were at war. > **[The Hans Island "liquor wars" between Canada and Denmark may be the cutest...](https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/09/18/hans-island-liquor-wars-canada-denmark-may-cutest-dispute-history/)** > > For nearly a century, Canada and Denmark have been locked in a bitter dispute - all because of a barren hunk of land in the icy Arctic channel near