Fitz Hugh Sound, sometimes spelled Fitzhugh Sound, is a sound

Sound (geography)

In geography a sound or seaway is a large sea or ocean inlet larger than a bay, deeper than a bight and wider than a fjord; or it may be defined as a narrow sea or ocean channel between two bodies of land ....

 on the British Columbia Coast

British Columbia Coast

The British Columbia Coast or BC Coast is Canada's western continental coastline on the Pacific Ocean. The usage is synonymous with the term West Coast of Canada....

 of Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, located between Calvert Island

Calvert Island

Calvert Island is an island in Whitefish Bay, Lake of the Woods in Kenora District, Ontario, Canada. It is about south of the community of Sioux Narrows and west of Ontario Highway 71....

 and the mainland. Fitz Hugh Sound is part of a group of named bodies of water around the opening of Dean Channel

Dean Channel

Dean Channel is the upper end of one of the longest inlets of the British Columbia Coast, from its head at the mouth of the Kimsquit River. The Dean River, one of the main rivers of the Coast Mountains, enters Dean Channel about below the head of the inlet, at the community of...

, one of the coast's main fjords, where it intersects the infra-insular waterway known as the Inside Passage

Inside Passage

The Inside Passage is a coastal route for oceangoing vessels along a network of passages which weave through the islands on the Pacific coast of North America. The route extends from southeastern Alaska, in the United States, through western British Columbia, in Canada, to northwestern Washington...

. Queen Charlotte Sound lies to its west, beyond which is the open ocean. Fitz Hugh Sound is the southern limit of the large group of offshore islands known as the North Coast Archipelago, which extends to the Dixon Entrance

Dixon Entrance

The Dixon Entrance is a strait about long and wide in the Pacific Ocean at the International Boundary between the U.S. state of Alaska and the province of British Columbia in Canada. It was named by Joseph Banks for Captain George Dixon, a Royal Navy officer, fur trader, and explorer, who...

 and the opening of the Portland Canal

Portland Canal

The Portland Canal is an arm of Portland Inlet, one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast. It is approximately long. The Portland Canal forms part of the border between southeastern Alaska and British Columbia. The name of the entire inlet in the Nisga'a language is K'alii...

 at the boundary of Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

.

Fitz Hugh Sound was given its name in 1785 by James Hanna

James Hanna

James Hanna was the first European to sail to the Pacific northwest to trade in furs. This Maritime fur trade was an important factor in the early history of the Pacific Northwest and the westward expansion of the United States and Canada....

, the first non-indigenous person to find and map it. Hanna was the first British maritime fur trade

Maritime Fur Trade

The Maritime Fur Trade was a ship-based fur trade system that focused on acquiring furs of sea otters and other animals from the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and natives of Alaska. The furs were mostly sold in China in exchange for tea, silks, porcelain, and other Chinese...

r to visit the Northwest Coast.

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