Talk:Cape Columbia

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Location of Cape Columbia

The Geographical Names Board of Canada records the position of Cape Columbia as 83° 6′ 41″ N, 69° 57′ 13″ W, putting Cape Columbia 766 km from the North Pole (using the Haversine Formula for Great Circle distances at https://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/latlong.html). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_points_of_North_America quotes a position for Cape Columbia of 83°8′N 74°13′W, but gives no source.

In Canada, since 1987, geographical names have been authorised through a national committee, the Geographical Names Board of Canada (GNBC), which gives Cape Columbia’s location as above. The same source identifies Cape Aldrich (83° 7′ 0″ N, 69° 35′ 0″ W). See: http://www4.rncan.gc.ca/search-place-names/unique/OADRA Accessed 18 February 2021.

From the above it is not immediately clear which of the two capes, which are within 5 km of each other, rightly holds the accolade as the most northerly point of North America (excluding Greenland).

According to Rayburn (2001) in 1992 the Canadian Permanent Committee on Geographical Names decided that the small point at latitude 83° 06’ 41.35”, would be known as Cape Columbia. Source: Alan Rayburn (January 2001). Naming Canada: stories about Canadian place names. ISBN 9780802082930 pp23-24. Retrieved 18 February 2021.

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