King William Island

Article by

S.C. Zoltai

Published Online	February 7, 2006
Last Edited	March 4, 2015

King William Island, Nunavut, 13 111 km2, in the Arctic Archipelago.

On 1 June 1831 Ross discovered the North Magnetic Pole, set up the British flag and erected a cairn (courtesy National Portrait Gallery).

Sir John Franklin, naval officer, arctic explorer

Best known for the famous search for his lost expedition, Franklin was a bold explorer who mapped more of Canada's coast than any explorer except Vancouver (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-1352).

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King William Island, Nunavut, 13 111 km², in the Arctic Archipelago, is a lake-studded, gently rolling plain, with a maximum elevation of 137 m. Its vegetation, a polar semidesert, serves as summer range for mainland caribou. It was discovered 1830 by Sir John Ross and named after the British monarch King William IV. Remains of the ill-fated Franklin expedition have been found here.

See also Franklin Search.