Cape York (, ) is a
cape
A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment of any length that hangs loosely and connects either at the neck or shoulders. They usually cover the back, shoulders, and arms. They come in a variety of styles and have been used th ...
on the northwestern coast of
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 ...
, in northern
Baffin Bay
Baffin Bay (Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; ; ; ), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is sometimes considered a s ...
.
Geography
It is a pronounced projection. It delimits the northwestern end of
Melville Bay
Melville Bay (; ), is a large bay off the coast of northwestern Greenland. Located to the north of the Upernavik Archipelago, it opens to the south-west into Baffin Bay. Its Kalaallisut name, ''Qimusseriarsuaq'', means "the great dog sledding pla ...
, with the other end commonly defined as
Wilcox Head, the western promontory on
Kiatassuaq Island.
[''Upernavik Avannarleq'', Saga Map, Tage Schjøtt, 1992] De Dodes Fjord and
Sidebriksfjord are north of the cape, and the Crimson Cliffs to the west.
A chain of small coastal islands stretches between Cape York and
Cape Melville to the east, the largest of which is
Meteorite Island. The cape is west-south-west of
Savissivik, the settlement on Meteorite Island.
There was one nearer permanent settlement, ''
Perlernerit'', approximately northeast of the cape.
History
The cape was the one of many places visited in 1894 by Admiral
Robert Peary during his second expedition to the
Arctic
The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...
. A way east across the bay is the island of discovery of the
Cape York Meteorite
The Cape York meteorite, also known as the Innaanganeq meteorite, is one of the largest known iron meteorites, classified as a medium octahedrite in chemical group IIIAB meteorites, IIIAB. In addition to many small fragments, at least eight large ...
fragments. In the
Greenlandic language
Greenlandic, also known by its Endonym and exonym, endonym Kalaallisut (, ), is an Inuit languages, Inuit language belonging to the Eskaleut languages#Internal classification, Eskimoan branch of the Eskaleut languages, Eskaleut language family. ...
, the name of the settlement ''Savissivik'' on the island close to the cape means 'place of meteorite iron' (''savik'' = iron/knife),
quarkexpeditions.com
/ref> alluding to the numerous meteorite
A meteorite is a rock (geology), rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical ...
s from 10,000 years ago that have been found in the area.iron
Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
from the meteorite attracted migrating Inuit
Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...
from Arctic Canada
Northern Canada (), colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada, variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories a ...
.
Photographs
File:Glaciers and Icebergs at Cape York.jpg, Glacier
A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...
s and iceberg
An iceberg is a piece of fresh water ice more than long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". Much of an i ...
s at Cape York, Greenland
File:CapeYorkGreenland.jpg, Cape York
File:Robert Peary monument at Cape York, Greenland.jpg, Robert Peary monument at Cape York
See also
* Meteorite Island
References
York
York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
Melville Bay
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