Queen Elizabeth Islands
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Nunavut Northwest Territories Quebec Greenland
The Queen Elizabeth Islands (approx. ; French: Îles de la Reine-Élisabeth; formerly known as the Parry Islands) are the northernmost cluster of islands in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, split between Nunavut and Northwest Territories in Northern Canada.
Many of the islands are among the largest in the world, the largest being Ellesmere Island. Other major islands include Amund Ringnes Island, Axel Heiberg Island, Bathurst Island, Borden Island, Cornwall Island, Cornwallis Island, Devon Island, Eglinton Island, Ellef Ringnes Island, Mackenzie King Island, Melville Island, and Prince Patrick Island.
The islands, together 418 961 km² (161,762 square miles) in area, were named as a group after Elizabeth II on her coronation as Queen of Canada in 1953. Most are uninhabited, but their main industry is oil drilling. The largest municipalities are the hamlets of Resolute, on Cornwallis Island, and Grise Fiord, on Ellesmere Island.
First sighted by Europeans in 1616, the Queen Elizabeth Islands were not fully explored and charted until the British North West Passage expeditions and later Norwegian exploration of the 19th century. Many were explored by William Parry, after whom they were formerly named.
