Athabasca

Athabasca is an anglicized version of the Cree name for Lake Athabasca in Canada, āthap-āsk-ā-w /a:θしーたapa:ska:w/ “grass or reeds here and there”.

Related to the lake are several other geographical and administrative features called Athabasca. Most places named Athabasca are found in Alberta, Canada:

Geographical features:

• Mount Athabasca (3,491 metres (11,453 ft)), a mountain in Jasper National Park, Canada
  • Athabasca Glacier, a glacier in Jasper National Park, Canada
• Athabasca River, river in Alberta, Canada
  • Athabasca Falls, waterfalls on the Athabasca River
  • Peace-Athabasca Delta - Delta of the Peace River, Athabasca River, near Lake Athabasca
• Athabasca Tar Sands - oil producing region in Alberta, Canada
• Lake Athabasca, large lake in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada
• Athabasca Pass, a mountain pass in Jasper National Park
• Athabasca Valles, a feature on the surface of the planet Mars

Administrative features:

• Athabasca, Alberta, town in Alberta, Canada
• Athabasca Landing, Alberta, former name (1880 to 1914) of the town of Athabasca, Alberta, Canada
• Athabasca County, Alberta - County in Alberta, Canada
• District of Athabasca, former district of the North-West Territory
• Athabaska (electoral district), (1925-1968) former federal electoral district Alberta
• Athabasca (electoral district), (from 1968) former federal electoral district in the Province of Alberta.
• Athabasca (provincial electoral district), former provincial electoral district in the Province of Alberta.
• Athabasca (former Saskatchewan provincial electoral district), former provincial electoral district in the Province of Saskatchewan.
• Athabasca (Saskatchewan provincial electoral district), current provincial electoral district in the Province of Saskatchewan.
• Athabasca University, distance learning university in Athabasca, Alberta, Canada
  • Athabasca University Students' Union

Additional meanings include:

• Athabascan a family of Indigenous languages in North America.
• Athabaska Herald - Athabaska Herald of Arms, one of the officers of arms at the Canadian Heraldic Authority
• Athabasca (novel) - novel by Alistair MacLean
• Athabasca - character in Terry Brooks's Shannara series
• SS Athabasca, a steamship launched in Scotland in 1883 and put into service on the Great Lakes, along with SS Alberta and SS Algoma

Also associated with the name Athabasca:

• Athabascaville, Quebec
• Any one of three ships named HMCS Athabaskan
• MS Fort Athabasca, a Canadian-owned, British-registered merchant ship bombed 2 December 1943 during World War II
• Athabascaite, a mineral

See also:

• Arthabasca, the name several geographic features in Quebec, shares the same root