Pangnirtung

Pangnirtung (or Pang, also Pangniqtuuq) is an Inuit hamlet in the Canadian territory of Nunavut (formerly in the Northwest Territories). It is located at 66°08’ North Latitude and 65°45’ West Longitude on Baffin Island. As of the 2001 Census, the population is 1,276. The area of the town is 7.54 square kilometres. It is located on the shore of the Cumberland Sound.

Pangnirtung is nicknamed the Switzerland of the Arctic.

Famous people from Pangnirtung include Nunavut premier Paul Okalik.

There is also some confusion with the name. Residents of Pangnirtung will say that the real name of the town is Panniqtuuq, which means “the place of many bull caribou”. However, residents early in 2005 declined a proposal to officially change the name, opting to continue with the meaningless Pangnirtung due to world marketing of the name for traditional arts.

Pangnirtung is the nearest town (3 hours by boat) to Auyuittuq National Park and is well known for weaving and printmaking. There is also a visitor’s center, the Angmarlik Visitor Centre, near the park office.

The text in this article excerpt is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Pangnirtung, Nunavut”.