Dixon Entrance
From Free net encyclopedia
The Dixon Entrance is a strait about 80 km (50 miles) long and wide in the Pacific Ocean at the International Boundary between the United States (Alaska) and Canada. The northern and southern islands of Haida Gwaii which are the continuously occupied homelands of the Haida Indigenous Peoples lie on either side of the Strait.
It lies between the Clarence Strait in Alexander Archipelago in Alaska to the north, and the Hecate Strait into the Haida Gaii, also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia, Canada, to the south.
The Dixon Entrance is part of the Inside Passage. Part of the maritime boundary between two of the nations in Dixon Entrance is disputed by the United States and Canada. The Haida nation maintains free access across the Strait.
The Dixon Entrance is named after Capt. George Dixon who surveyed the area in 1787. The more ancient name in Haida is Seegaay.
Dixon Entrance was first claimed as Canadian territory by the 1903 Alaska Boundary Award, which set the A-B line [54°40'] as the land and marine boundary between Canada and the U.S, however territorial fishing disputes between the countries remain today.
Image:Contour map of Dixon Entrance.gif
