Baffin Island

Iceberg at the flow edge, Baffin Island, Northwest Territories, Canada.

Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, situated across the entrance to Hudson Bay; area 507,451 sq km/195,927 sq mi; population (2001 est) 14,400. The island's principal town is Iqaluit. Baffin Island is the largest island in Canadia, and the fifth-largest in the world. Its mountains rise 2,156 m/7,074 ft at Tête Blanche and 2,011 m/6,598 ft at Mount Asgard, and there are several large lakes. The northernmost part of the strait separating Baffin Island from Greenland forms Baffin Bay; the southern end is Davis Strait. The predominantly Inuit population is settled mainly around Iqaluit and Kimmirut (formerly Lake Harbour) in the south.

The island is named after English explorer and navigator William Baffin, who carried out research in Baffin island in 1616 during his search for the Northwest Passage. English navigator Martin Frobisher, landed on the island in 1576 and discovered gold. There are also coal and iron-ore deposits. As Qikiqtaaluk, Baffin Island is one of the three administrative regions of Nunavut.

Features include Bylot Island Migratory Bird sanctuary (1965) situated off the north coast; the Dewey Soper Game Sanctuary (1957), located on the Foxe Basin shore on the west coast; and Auyuittuq National Park (1975), which is accessible from the settlement of Pangnirtung in the northeast.