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Frobisher Strait

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

a passage between the W. side of Davis Strait and the N. side of Hudson Strait, is 240 miles long, with an average breadth of 20. It is not of any practical value as a channel of communication; and in fact it has been very seldom visited by vessels bound either W. or E. It was discovered in 1576 by Sir Martin Frobisher, an energetic English navigator. FRÖBEL, FRIEDERICH WILHELM AUGUST, a German educator. Born in 1782 in Thuringia, his boyhood was unusually sad and his days were spent in morbid introspection. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to a forester, after which time he attended for a few months the University of Jena. Unable to center his attention upon any one vocation, he spent the early years of manhood drifting from one thing to another. In 1816, when he was 34 years of age, he founded a school at Griesheim and began the work which was to give him fame. Although his school was closed by the reactionary officials, its influence on education in Germany was considerable. In 1835, with the encouragement of the Swiss officials, he founded an orphanage at Burgdorf, and there he resided until his death in 1852. Fröbel was the founder of the Kindergarten and his principles in reference to the methods of instruction for children between the ages of four and twelve are recognized as fundamental in modern educational practice. FRÖBEL, JULIUS, a German publicist; born in Griesheim, near Stadtilm, July 16, 1805; was active in the popular movements preceding and during 1848. He wrote: "The Republicans," a political drama; "Theory of Politics" (1861- 1864); "America; Experiences, Studies and Travels" (1857-1858), and "A System of Social Politics" (1847). He died in Zürich, Switzerland, Nov. 6, 1893.

What Has Changed in the Last Century

Collier's described in 1921 "a passage between the W. side of Davis Strait and the N. side of Hudson Strait" — but it is not a passage at all. It is a dead-end inlet of Baffin Island, as the American explorer Charles Francis Hall established during his stay among the Inuit in 1861-62, and it has been mapped as Frobisher Bay ever since. Far from being "of no practical value" and "very seldom visited," its head is now the site of Iqaluit, a town of roughly 7,000 that has been the capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut since 1999. Frobisher's own 1576 landing sites, including Kodlunarn Island where he loaded tons of worthless pyrite mistaken for gold, are now a protected National Historic Site.

Written for this edition, 2026.