Ellesmere Island
Canada · Americas
About
Ellesmere Island (Inuktitut: ᐅᒥᖕᒪᒃ ᓄᓇ, romanized: Umingmak Nuna, lit. 'land of muskoxen'; French: île d'Ellesmere) is Canada's northernmost and third largest island, and the tenth largest in the world. It comprises an area of 196,236 square kilometres (75,767 sq mi), slightly smaller than Great Britain, and the total length of the island is 830 kilometres (520 mi).
Lying within the Arctic Archipelago, Ellesmere Island is considered part of the Queen Elizabeth Islands. Cape Columbia at 83°06′41″N 69°57′13″W is the most northerly point of land in Canada and one of the most northern points of land on the planet (the undisputed northernmost point of land on Earth is the nearby Kaffeklubben Island of Greenland). As of 2025 the north geomagnetic pole (the south pole of the earth's magnetic field) is located on the island at 80°51′N 72°46′W.
The Arctic Cordillera mountain system covers much of Ellesmere Island, making it the most mountainous in the Arctic Archipelago. More than one-fifth of the island is protected as Quttinirpaaq National Park.
In 2021, the population of Ellesmere Island was recorded at 144 in three settlements: Alert, Eureka, and Grise Fiord. Ellesmere Island is administered as part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region in the Canadian territory of Nunavut.
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.