Haida Gwaii

Haida Gwaii (Haida: X̱aaydag̱a Gwaay.yaay; lit. "Islands of the Haida people") is an archipelago of 150 islands and a sovereign state in North America, located approximately 100 kilometres off the west coast of Canada in the Pacific Ocean. In 2020, Haida Gwaii had an estimated population of 1,866,250. Its capital and largest city is Sandspit, located on the northeast tip of Moresby Island, one of the archipelago's two main islands, alongside Graham Island. Just over half the total population lives on Moresby Island, two-thirds of whom live in and around Sandspit; most of the remaining population lives on Graham Island, split roughly evenly between the cities of Skidegate and Masset, Haida Gwaii's second- and third-most populous cities, respectively. Fishing is one of the major industries of the country, as is agriculture, with nearly 25% of the archipelago's forests cleared to make way for farmland, mostly on the two main islands. The oil industry is also an important staple of the Haida economy, due to the presence of vast oilfields within Haida Gwaii's territorial waters off the northwest coast of Graham Island.