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 Bay Merchants of London, Discoverers of the North-West Passage". Their governor Thomas Smythe organized five expeditions to explore the northern coasts of Canada in search of a maritime passage to the Far East. Henry Hudson and Thomas Button's explored Hudson Bay, William Gibbons Labrador, and Robert Bylot Hudson Strait and the area which became known as Baffin's Bay after his pilot William Baffin. Aboard the "Discovery", Baffin charted the area and named Lancaster, Smith, and Jones Sounds after members of his company. By the completion of his 1616 voyage, Baffin held out no hope of an ice-free passage and the area