Foxe Channel (65°N 80°W / 65°N 80°W), formerly Fox Channel is an area of sea in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It separates the Foxe Basin (to the north) from Hudson Bay and the Hudson Strait (to the south). To the west and south-west is Southampton Island, to the east is Baffin Island, and to the north-west is the Melville Peninsula.
The channel takes its name from the English explorer Luke Foxe who reached it in 1631.
Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of 1,230,000 km (470,000 sq mi). It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast of Nunavut, but politically entirely part of Nunavut. It is an inland marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. The Hudson Strait provides a connection to the Labrador Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the northeast, while the Foxe Channel connects Hudson Bay with the Arctic Ocean in the north. The Hudson Bay drainage basin drains a very large area, about 3,861,400 km (1,490,900 sq mi), that includes parts of southeastern Nunavut, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, all of Manitoba, and parts of the U.S. states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana. Hudson Bay's southern arm is called James Bay.
The Eastern Cree name for Hudson and James Bay is Wînipekw (southern dialect) or Wînipâkw (northern dialect), meaning muddy or brackish water. Lake Winnipeg is similarly named by the local Cree, as is the location for the city of Winnipeg.
View the full Wikipedia page for Hudson BayLuke Foxe (or Fox) (20 October 1586 – c. 15 July 1635) was an English explorer, born in Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorkshire, who searched for the Northwest Passage across North America. In 1631, he sailed much of the western Hudson Bay before concluding no such passage was possible. Foxe Basin, Foxe Channel and Foxe Peninsula were named after him.
He left the Thames in May 1631 in the Charles, took 20 days to work through Hudson Strait, reaching the Bay on 11 July. Blocked by ice to the northward, he went south of Southampton Island to Roes Welcome Sound and south along the west shore to Port Nelson, Manitoba where he found Thomas Button's winter camp of 18 years before, turned north-east, met Thomas James on 29 August, went north into Foxe Channel and into the lower part of Foxe Basin, turned back at 66°47'N, passed Hudson Strait in 10 days and reached England in October without any deaths among his crew.
View the full Wikipedia page for Luke Foxe