Kodlunarn Island National Historic Site of Canada

Kodlunarn Island was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1964 because:

• it is associated with Martin Frobisher’s “gold mining” activities in Frobisher Bay in 1576, 1577 and 1578.

The heritage value of Kodlunarn Island National Historic Site of Canada lies in its association with the mining attempts of Martin Frobisher as illustrated by the site and the archaeological evidence it retains to confirm Frobisher’s 16th-century presence and activities. Evidence also survives in the oral traditions of the Inuit people who have preserved an account of this first European attempt to exploit the natural resources of the Arctic.

Kodlunarn Island was the site of mining expeditions by British explorer Martin Frobisher during the summers of 1576, 1577, and 1578. Like his predecessor John Cabot, Frobisher was searching for a northwest passage when he found what he thought was gold. His vessels returned to the Arctic for three consecutive years to remove some 1400 tons of worthless ore from several mines. They remained for a period of four to five weeks each of year, exploring the area and making landfalls to extract ore. One of the major sites they visited was Kodlunarn Island, also known as Qallunaat, White Man’s Island, and Countess of Warwick Island, where Frobisher planned to leave a large party to mine during the winter of 1578-79. Although his plan was never realized, he did build a stone house for accommodation. Today the ruins of this house together with various excavations, earthworks and scattered artifacts remain on the island. Archaeological expeditions carried out preliminary surveys of the locations related to Frobisher on this island in the 1970s and 1980s.