James Bay

James Bay, southern arm of Hudson Bay, in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, eastern Canada. A saltwater body, the bay occupies an area of about 32,000 sq km (12,350 sq mi) and is relatively shallow with an average depth of less than 60 m (200 ft). It is about 485 km (300 mi) long and 240 km (150 mi) wide.

The bay contains many islands, all of which are uninhabited. The largest is Akimiski Island, measuring 3,002 sq km (1,159 sq mi). Eight main rivers flow into James Bay: the Eastmain, La Grande Rivière, Rupert, Harricanaw, and Nottaway from Quebec and the Moose, Albany, and Attawapiskat from Ontario.

There are six small Native American communities along the shores of James Bay, the largest of which is Chisasibi, a Cree community at the mouth of the La Grande Rivière. Originally called Fort George, it was moved to higher ground because its river valley was flooded by the completion in 1985 of the first phase of the James Bay Project, a hydroelectric installation consisting of a series of massive dams on the rivers leading into the bay.

The James Bay region supports coniferous forest and numerous species of wildlife, including beaver, lynx, caribou, black bear, and moose. Summers in the region are short and cool, while winters are long and frigid; the waters of James Bay freeze over every winter.

In 1610 the English explorer Henry Hudson became the first European to reach the bay. The bay is named after Captain Thomas James, an English navigator who explored it in 1631. Both Hudson and James had been searching for the North West Passage. In 1668 the Hudson’s Bay Company, seeking furs, sent its first ship to James Bay. The voyage was a commercial success and James Bay became an important fur-trading region for the next 200 years.