Why Ellesmere Island
Ellesmere Island is the northernmost landmass in Canada and ranks as the country's third-largest island, as well as the tenth-largest island globally. Situated within the Arctic Archipelago as part of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, this expansive territory covers 197,790.33 square kilometres and stretches 830 kilometres in length. It features Cape Columbia, the most northerly terrestrial point in Canada, and hosts the earth's north geomagnetic pole. Administered within the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, the island contains three small settlements—Alert, Eureka, and Grise Fiord—which had a combined population of 144 residents in 2021.
The island's landscape is heavily defined by the Arctic Cordillera, making it the most mountainous terrain in the Arctic Archipelago. Glacial ice, meltwater streams, and sea ice have carved its surface, which includes fold mountains in the Grant Land Highlands, the elevated Greely-Hazen Plateau, and extensive coastal sedimentary plateaus. Geological features also reveal ancient fossil forests and Precambrian rock extensions of the Canadian Shield in the southeastern sector. To preserve these arctic environments, more than twenty percent of Ellesmere Island is protected within Quttinirpaaq National Park.
Human history on the island spans thousands of years, documented by remarkably preserved archaeological sites naturally freeze-dried by icy winds or kept intact within the permafrost. Early nomadic groups belonging to the Arctic Small Tool tradition hunted muskoxen in interior regions like the Hazen Plateau starting around 2700 BCE. Around 1000 CE, the Thule culture arrived, establishing camps and semi-permanent stone homes around sites such as Lake Hazen, Lady Franklin Bay, and Archer Fiord. The Thule utilized sled dogs, kayaks, and umiaks to harvest marine mammals before the cooling climate of the Little Ice Age forced their departure by 1600.
European contact began when William Baffin sighted the coast in 1616, though intensive exploration occurred later in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries during searches for the Northwest Passage and the North Pole. Notable historic landmarks include Fort Conger, established in the north during the 1881 Greely expedition, and Stenkul Fiord, explored in 1902. Archaeological discoveries along the Bache Peninsula and in western areas include dozens of medieval Norse artifacts, such as chain mail and bronze scales, indicating early trade networks. Early twentieth-century sovereignty patrols led to the establishment of Royal Canadian Mounted Police outposts at locations such as Cape Herschel, Craig Harbour, and Bache Post.
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