Cornwallis Island

Cornwallis Island is one of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, part of the Arctic Archipelago, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut in the Canadian Arctic. It lies to the west of Devon Island, the largest uninhabited island in the world, and at its greatest length is about 113 km (70 mi). At 7,070.11 km2 (2,729.78 sq mi) in size, it is the 96th largest island in the world, and Canada's 21st largest island. Cornwallis Island is separated by the Wellington Channel from Devon Island, and by the Parry Channel from Somerset Island to the south. Northwest of Cornwallis Island lies Little Cornwallis Island, the biggest of a group of small islands at the north end of McDougall Sound, which separates Cornwallis Island from nearby Bathurst Island.

Cape Airy is located at the island's southwestern extremity. Also on the southwestern coast, Griffith Island lies directly across from the island's only hamlet, Resolute (Qausuittuq), separated by the 10.5 km (6.5 mi) wide Resolute Passage. The first European to visit Cornwallis Island was the British Arctic explorer and naval officer Sir William Edward Parry in 1819. The island is named for Royal Navy admiral Sir William Cornwallis. Cornwallis Island is also home to microbiological colonies known as hypoliths, from their tendency to take hold under ("hypo") stones ("lith"). Several sites on Cornwallis Island including Char Lake and Meretta Lake were key research locations in the International Biological Program and proved foundational to the development of high-latitude limnology.

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