The Arctic Bay area has been occupied for nearly 5000 years by Inuit nomads migrating from the west. In 1872, a European whaling ship, the Arctic, captained by Willie Adams, passed through and gave the area its English name.

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Arctic Bay

In 1910 Captain Joseph Bernier's third expedition wintered in Arctic Bay. Bernier sent out dog sled parties to explore and map much of North Baffin. The Hudson's Bay Company established a post in Arctic Bay in 1926. The post closed a year later but reopened in 1936. Inuit in the area trapped white fox using stone cairns and gathered around the post when they came to trade the pelts for goods.

The northern part of Baffin Island is classified as a Polar Desert. In other words, the annual snowfall in Arctic Bay is about 72 centimetres and the annual rainfall is about 5 centimetres. Contrary to popular belief, winters here are not full of blizzards. In January, temperatures range between a low of -34º Celsius and a high of about -26º Celsius. In July the temperatures range between a low of 2º Celsius to a high of about 10º Celsius. The ice starts to freeze up in October and begins to thaw around mid-July. The amount of daylight in the winter diminishes to nothing by mid-November and it remains dark for about two and a half months, till the end of January. The amount of daylight increases to 24 hours a day by the beginning of May and for the next three and a half months until mid-August, daylight is continuous.

The Department of Transportation set up a weather station in 1942 and it remained in Arctic Bay until 1952. A Federal school was built in 1962 encouraging more permanent settlement. Oil exploration by Panarctic Oil and the development of the lead-zinc mine at Nanisivik, 32 kilometres away, led to Arctic Bay becoming the more wage-dependent community it is today. Traditional hunting and fishing activities are still a vital part of community life and one outpost camp still operates in the area.