Stefansson Island is an uninhabited island in 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 Kitikmeot Region

Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut

Kitikmeot Region is an administrative region of Nunavut, Canada. It consists of the southern and eastern parts of Victoria Island with the adjacent part of the mainland as far as the Boothia Peninsula, together with King William Island and the southern portion of Prince of Wales Island...

 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

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It has an area of 4463 km² (1,723.2 sq mi), making it the 128th largest island in the world, and Canada's 27th largest island. The island is located in Viscount Melville Sound

Viscount Melville Sound

Viscount Melville Sound is an arm of the Arctic Ocean in Kitikmeot, Nunavut, Canada. Forming part of the Parry Channel, it separates Victoria Island and Prince of Wales Island from the Queen Elizabeth Islands. East of the sound lies Lancaster Sound, leading into Baffin Bay; westward lies the...

, with M'Clintock Channel

M'Clintock Channel

M'Clintock Channel is located in the territory of Nunavut, Canada. The channel, an arm of the Arctic Ocean, divides Victoria Island from Prince of Wales Island. This channel is named after Sir Francis Leopold McClintock, in Irish explorer in the British Royal Navy, famous for his Canadian Arctic...

 to the east. It lies just off Victoria Island's Storkerson Peninsula, separated by the Goldsmith Channel

Goldsmith Channel

Goldsmith Channel is a waterway in the Canadian territory of Nunavut connecting Parry Channel and M'Clintock Channel. Broadest in the northwest, the island-filled channel narrows as it progresses to the southeast where it separates northeastern Victoria Island's Storkerson Peninsula from western...

. Stefansson Island's highest mount is 267 m (876 ft).

The first European sighting of the island was in 1917 by Storker T. Storkerson who was travelling with Canadian explorer 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...

(1879-1962), for whom the island was named.