Cape Columbia is the northernmost point of land of Canada, located on

Ellesmere Island Ellesmere Island (; ) is Canada's northernmost and List of Canadian islands by area, third largest island, and the List of islands by area, tenth largest in the world. It comprises an area of , slightly smaller than Great Britain, and the total ...

in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of

Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...

. It marks the westernmost coastal point of Lincoln Sea in the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

. It is the world's northernmost point of land outside

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

. The distance to the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

is . As the northernmost point of Canada, Cape Columbia is exposed to the ice drift of the Arctic sea ice. The approximately thick pack ice of the

moves several hundred metres per day from east to west. As a result, mighty ice pressure ridges can be piled up at Cape Columbia.

History

In 1876, Pelham Aldrich was the first European to reach Cape Columbia. He was a lieutenant with the British Arctic Expedition (1875-76) of explorer George Nares.

Gallery

Peary

Robert Peary chose the Cape as the location for the northernmost depot of his final attempt to reach the

(1909), not only for its proximity but because it is located far enough west to be out of the ice current setting down Robeson Channel. From Cape Columbia his party planned to strike straight north over the ice of the

. His winter camp and ship the were situated some southeast, at Cape Sheridan near Alert. Peary's sledge divisions left the Roosevelt from February 15 to 22, 1909, rendezvoused at Cape Columbia, and on March 1 the expedition left Cape Columbia, heading across the Arctic Ocean for the Pole. The 84th parallel was crossed on March 18, the 86th on March 23. Peary returned to land at Cape Columbia again on April 23. Peary's claim to have reached the North Pole has long been subject to doubt. While some polar historians believe that Peary honestly thought he had reached the pole, others have suggested that he was guilty of deliberately exaggerating his accomplishments.

References

* Headlands of Qikiqtaaluk Region Extreme points of Canada Ellesmere Island {{QikiqtaalukNU-geo-stub