Hudson Bay

Inland sea of northeastern Canada, linked with the Atlantic Ocean by Hudson Strait and with the Arctic Ocean by Foxe Channel and the Gulf of Boothia; area 1,233,000 sq km/766,150 sq mi. It is bordered by (clockwise) the provinces of Québec, Ontario, Manitoba, and Nunavut. The Hudson Bay area is sparsely settled, chiefly by trappers, American Indians, and Inuit.

Hudson Bay is named after English explorer Henry Hudson, who reached it in 1610. It occupies a basin in the Canadian Shield, and is mostly shallow, with low shorelines, especially in the south and west. Southampton Island lies in the northwest of the bay, and James Bay is the major inlet at its southern end. The eastern shores are rocky, with some steep bluffs and a small chain of islands. Several rivers empty into the bay, including the Churchill, Nelson, Albany, Moose, and Rupert and Severn.

The bay is ice-free and navigable during the summer, when grain is shipped from Churchill, Manitoba, but the it is obstructed by drifting ice for nine months of the year. Hudson Bay abounds in fish, and whales, dolphins, seals, and walruses also inhabit its waters and coastline. Southampton Island houses the Harry Gibbons Migratory Bird Sanctuary (1959) and the East Bay Migratory Bird Sanctuary (1959).