Churchill is a subarctic port town in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly 140 km (87 mi) from the Manitoba–Nunavut border.

[9] Danish archaeologists in 1964 discovered remains of the abandoned ship, the frigate Unicorn, in the tidal flats some kilometres from the mouth of the river.

The trading post and river were named after John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, who was governor of the Hudson's Bay Company in the late 17th century.

The leaders agreed Hearne would be released and given safe passage to England, along with 31 British civilians, in the sloop Severn, on condition he immediately publish his story A Journey to the Northern Ocean.

[citation needed] Between the years of decline in the fur trade and the emergence of Western agricultural success, Churchill phased into and then back out of obsolescence.

They aggressively negotiated for the creation of a significant new northern shipping harbour on Hudson Bay, linked by rail from Winnipeg.

This was purely due to his determination to take the Hudson Bay route to Saskatchewan from Britain—most passengers returned via the St. Lawrence River.

[citation needed] In 1942, the United States Army Air Forces established a base called Fort Churchill, 8 km (5.0 mi) east of the town.

The site of the former rocket range now hosts the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, a facility for multidisciplinary Arctic research.

[13] In the 1950s, the British government considered establishing a site near Churchill for testing their early nuclear weapons before choosing Australia instead.

The landscape around Churchill is influenced by shallow soils caused by a combination of subsurface permafrost and Canadian Shield rock formation.

Several tour operators offer expeditions on land, sea and air, using all-terrain vehicles, tundra buggies, boats, canoes, helicopters, and ultralight aircraft.

Tourism and ecotourism are significant contributors to the local economy, with the polar bear season (October and November) being the largest.

The Churchill Northern Studies Centre also attracts visitors and academics from around the world who are interested in sub-Arctic and Arctic research.

[17][18][29] Churchill is situated along Manitoba's 1,400 km (870 mi) coastline, on Hudson Bay at the meeting of three major biomes: marine, boreal forest and tundra,[30][31][32][33] each supporting a variety of flora and fauna.

Tourists can safely view polar bears from specially modified vehicles built to navigate the tundra terrain.

October and early November are the most feasible times to see polar bears, thousands of which wait on the vast peninsula until the water freezes on Hudson Bay so they can return to hunt their primary food source, ringed seals.

[37] Thousands of beluga whales, which move into the warmer waters of the Churchill River estuary during July and August to calf, are a significant summer attraction.

[38] Birders have recorded more than 270 species within a 40 km (25 mi) radius of Churchill, including snowy owl, tundra swan, American golden plover and gyrfalcon.

It provides accommodations, meals, equipment rentals, and logistical support to scientific researchers who work on a diverse range of topics of interest to northern science.

[43] It facilitates studies to address technological, scientific and economic issues pertaining to Arctic oil spills, gas exploration,[44] and other contaminants.

[45] The facility is located in the Churchill River estuary, and consists of two saltwater sub-pools designed to simultaneously accommodate contaminated and control experiments on various scenarios of the behaviour of oil spills in sea ice.

[46][47] The concrete pools are equipped with a movable fabric roof to control snow cover and ice growth, and various sensors and instruments to allow real-time monitoring.

The 1,700 km (1,100 mi) journey from Winnipeg takes approximately 40 hours, and services many smaller communities in northern Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan.

[65] On 1 November 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined Churchill residents to celebrate the resumption of rail freight service to the town.

[3] The non-native population is mainly of European descent, although a small number of Black Canadians (2.3%) and Latin Americans (1%) also reside in Churchill.

Nearby is the Itsanitaq Museum, operated by the Diocese of Churchill-Baie d'Hudson, with over 850 high quality Inuit carvings on permanent display.

[84] The Parks Canada visitor centre also has artifacts on display and makes use of audiovisual presentations of various topics involving the region's natural and archaeological history.

In the late 1950s, the first local paper, the weekly Churchill Observer was produced by an avocational journalist, Jack Rogers, at Defence Research Northern Laboratories (DRNL) and continued for some years even after his departure.