page_title: Baffin Island
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Baffin Island / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: Southern tip of Baffin Island
context_page_description: Baffin Island, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is 507,451 km² and its population was 13,148 as of the 2016 Canadian Census. It is located in the region of 70° N and 75° W.
  It was named by English colonists after English explorer William Baffin. Historians believe it is likely that Pre-Columbian Norse explorers from Greenland and Iceland knew of the island. They believe it is the site of Helluland, referred to in the Icelandic sagas.
context_section_description: Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, is located on the southeastern coast. Until 1987, the town was called Frobisher Bay, after the English name for the bay on which it is located, named for Martin Frobisher. That year the community voted to restore the Inuktitut name.
  To the south lies Hudson Strait, separating Baffin Island from mainland Quebec. South of the western end of the island is the Fury and Hecla Strait, which separates the island from the Melville Peninsula on the mainland. To the east are Davis Strait and Baffin Bay, with Greenland beyond. The Foxe Basin, the Gulf of Boothia and Lancaster Sound separate Baffin Island from the rest of the Arctic Archipelago to the west and north.
  The Baffin Mountains run along the northeastern coast of the island and are a part of the Arctic Cordillera. The highest peak is Mount Odin, with an elevation of at least 2,143 m (7,031 ft), although some sources say 2,147 m (7,044 ft). Another peak of note is Mount Asgard, located in Auyuittuq National Park, with an elevation of 2,011 m (6,598 ft). Mount Thor, with an elevation of 1,675 m (5,495 ft), is said to have the greatest purely vertical drop (a sheer cliff face) of any mountain on Earth, at 1,250 m (4,100 ft).
  The two largest lakes on the island lie in the south-central part of the island: Nettilling Lake (5,542 km² [2,140 sq mi]) and Amadjuak Lake (3,115 km² [1,203 sq mi]) further south.
  The Barnes Ice Cap, in the middle of the island, has been retreating since at least the early 1960s, when the Geographical Branch of the then Department of Mines and Technical Surveys sent a three-man survey team to the area to measure isostatic rebound and cross-valley features of the Isortoq River. Conversely, in the 1970s parts of Baffin Island failed to have the usual ice-free period in the summer.
caption: Southern tip of Baffin Island.
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