Named by John Franklin in 1826, this island in 1890 became the principal base for American whalers in the western Arctic. During the peak winter of 1894-95 it boasted a brawling community of 2,000, both whalers and Inuit, who here made their first prolonged contact with Europeans. Alarmed by the demoralization of the natives, Reverend I. O. Stringer established a mission here in 1896. In 1903, Canadian sovereignty was asserted by an R. N. W. M. P. post, one of the first in the Arctic. Herschel Island was a major trading centre, but by the 1930s it had been abandoned for mainland settlements. *Note: This designation has been identified for review. A review can be triggered for one of the following reasons - outdated language or terminology, absence of a significant layer of history, factual errors, controversial beliefs and behaviour, or significant new knowledge.