Map of Nova Scotia, Canada

Nunavut is the newest, largest, northernmost, and second least populous of all Canadian territories. It was officially separated from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, through the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, although the boundaries were officially drawn in 1993. The creation of Nunavut resulted in the first major change to Canada's political map since the formation of the new province of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1949.

Iqaluit is the capital of the territory of Nunavut. It is also its largest community, its only city and the northernmost city in Canada. It was known as Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987, after the large bay on the coast on which the city is situated. Its traditional Inuktitut name was restored in 1987.

Nunavut is 1,836,994 km² in area and 160,930 km² of maritime area in Northern Canada. The territory includes a substantial part of the mainland, most of the Arctic Archipelago, and the waters and islands of Hudson Bay, James Bay, and Ungava Bay. It also includes the distant Belcher Islands and Akimiski Island (map on the right).

Nunavut shares long land borders with the Northwest Territories on the mainland and a few islands in the Arctic, and with Manitoba to the south on the mainland, and also touches Saskatchewan to the southwest. Its smaller satellite territories in the southeast, Nunavut shares short land borders with Newfoundland and Labrador at Killiniq Island, with Ontario at two locations in James Bay, the larger one west of Akimiski Island, and the smaller one around the Albany River near Fafard Island, and with Quebec at several locations, such as near Eastmain and near Inukjuak. It also shares maritime borders with Greenland and the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba.