Inuit place names and land-use history on the Harvaqtuuq (Kazan River), Nunavut Territory

• Main Author: Keith, Darren E. (Darren Edward), 1967-
• Other Authors: Muller-Wille, Ludger (advisor)
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: McGill University 2000
• Subjects: Names; Geographical > Nunavut > Kazan River Valley > Inuktitut dialect; Land use > Nunavut > Kazan River Valley > History; Nunavut; inuit; inuktitut; Kazan River
• Online Access: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=30180

This thesis classifies Inuit place names and analyses their meanings to reveal Harvaqtuurmiut land-use history on the Harvaqtuuq [Kazan River], Nunavut Territory. The author collected previously unrecorded toponyms from the territory of this Caribou Inuit society, the Harvaqtuuq [Kazan River], and corroborated the data of earlier researchers. The Harvaqtuuq landscape was organized from foci of subsistence activities by application of Inuktitut geographical terminology and concepts. These foci moved over time and betray changing land-use patterns. The Harvaqtuuq was a frontier for Inuit, due to the need to depend on caribou, and due to the conflict engendered by overlapping Dene occupation. The presence of anthroponyms, and the paucity of pan-Inuit myths in the landscape allow for the speculative interpretation that the names support current theories of a recent arrival of Inuit to the Harvaqtuuq .