Baffin Island Baffin Island 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 and its population is about 11,000 (2007 estimate). It is located 65.4215 N and 70.9654 W. Named after English explorer William Baffin, it is likely that the island was known to Pre-Columbian Norse explorers from Greenland and Iceland and that it was the location of "Helluland", spoken of in the Icelandic sagas (the Grœnlendinga saga and the Saga of Erik the Red, Eiríks saga rauða). Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, is
Baffin Island 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. The island has been continuously inhabited by Inuit peoples for centuries. In September 2008, "Nunatsiaq News" reported that a team led by Dr. Patricia Sutherland of the Canadian Museum of Civilization had found archaeological remains of