Moresby Island is a large island (3,399.39 km2 or 1,312.51 sq mi) that forms part of the Haida Gwaii archipelago (formerly known as Queen Charlotte Islands) in British Columbia, Canada, located at 52°45′00″N 131°50′00″W / 52.75°N 131.8333333°W / 52.75; -131.8333333. Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site includes Moresby and other islands. The island, together with its numerous nearby smaller islands and islets in the southern portion of the archipelago, is defined by Statistics Canada as Skeena-Queen Charlotte E, with a population was 402 as of the 2006 census. Almost all of its population resided in the unincorporated community of Sandspit, on the northeast corner of Moresby. The total land area of the electoral area is 3,399.39 km2 (1,312.51 sq mi).
Moresby Island is the 175th largest island in the world, and the 32nd largest island in Canada.
On October 27, 2012, an earthquake of magnitude 7.7 (the strongest earthquake in Canada since the 1949 Queen Charlotte Islands earthquake) was epicentred at a depth of 17.5 km under the island.
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Famous quotes containing the word island:
“When the inhabitants of some sequestered island first descry the “big canoe” of the European rolling through the blue waters towards their shores, they rush down to the beach in crowds, and with open arms stand ready to embrace the strangers. Fatal embrace! They fold to their bosoms the vipers whose sting is destined to poison all their joys; and the instinctive feeling of love within their breasts is soon converted into the bitterest hate.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)