King Christian Island is an uninhabited member of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago

Canadian Arctic Archipelago

The Canadian Arctic Archipelago, also known as the Arctic Archipelago, is a Canadian archipelago north of the Canadian mainland in the Arctic...

 in the Sverdrup Islands

Sverdrup Islands

The Sverdrup Islands is an archipelago of the northern Queen Elizabeth Islands, in Nunavut, Canada. The islands are situated in the Arctic Ocean, west of Ellesmere Island from 77° to 81° North and 85° to 106° West.- History :...

, a part of the Queen Elizabeth Islands

Queen Elizabeth Islands

The Queen Elizabeth Islands are the northernmost cluster of islands in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, split between Nunavut and Northwest Territories in Northern Canada.-Geography:...

 archipelago

Archipelago

An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...

, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut

Nunavut

Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...

, Canada. It lies in the Arctic Ocean

Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...

, 13.5 km (8.4 mi) from the southwestern coast of Ellef Ringnes Island

Ellef Ringnes Island

Ellef Ringnes Island is one of the Sverdrup Islands in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. Also a member of the Queen Elizabeth Islands and Canadian Arctic Archipelago, it is located in the Arctic Ocean, east of Borden Island, and west of Amund Ringnes Island...

, separated by the Danish Strait

Danish Strait

Danish Strait is a natural waterway through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago in the territory of Nunavut. To the north-west is Thor Island, Ellef Ringnes Island is to the north and east, and King Christian Island is to the south....

.

The first European to visit the island was Gunnar Isachsen

Gunnar Isachsen

Gunnerius Ingvald Isachsen , was a Norwegian military officer and polar scientist. From 1923, he was the first president of the Norwegian Maritime Museum.-Early years:...

 in 1901. Vilhjalmur Stefansson

Vilhjalmur Stefansson

Vilhjalmur Stefansson was a Canadian Arctic explorer and ethnologist.-Early life:Stefansson, born William Stephenson, was born at Gimli, Manitoba, Canada, in 1879. His parents had emigrated from Iceland to Manitoba two years earlier...

charted its southern coast in 1916.

The island has an area of 645 km² (249 sq mi).