Cape York () is a

cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

on the northwestern coast of

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...

, in northern

Baffin Bay Baffin Bay (Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; kl, Avannaata Imaa; french: Baie de Baffin), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arc ...

Geography

It is a pronounced projection. It delimits the northwestern end of Melville Bay, with the other end commonly defined as

Wilcox Head Wilcox Head is a cape in Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. Geography The cape is the western promontory on Kiatassuaq Island,''Upernavik Avannarleq'', Saga Map, Tage Schjøtt, 1992 delimiting the southern end of Melville Bay, w ...

, 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 Meteorite Island ( da, Meteorit Ø) is an island in Baffin Bay, in Avannaata municipality, off NW Greenland. The Cape York Meteorite fell thousands of years ago on the southern shore of this island. Geography Meteorite Island is quite barren an ...

. The cape is west-south-west of

Savissivik Savissivik (West Greenlandic; old spelling: ''Savigsivik'') or Havighivik (Inuktun) is a settlement in the Avannaata municipality in northern Greenland. Located on Meteorite Island, off the northern shores of Melville Bay, the settlement had 5 ...

, 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 Robert Edwin Peary Sr. (; May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer and officer in the United States Navy who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for, in Apri ...

during his second expedition to the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

. 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. In addition to many small fragments, at least eight large fragments with a ...

fragments. In the

Greenlandic language Greenlandic ( kl, kalaallisut, link=no ; da, grønlandsk ) is an Eskimo–Aleut language with about 56,000 speakers, mostly Greenlandic Inuit in Greenland. It is closely related to the Inuit languages in Canada such as Inuktitut. It is the m ...

, 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 solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or moon. When the original object ...

s from 10,000 years ago that have been found in the area. The meteorite is estimated to have weighed 100 tonnes before it exploded. The

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) 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, right in ...

from the meteorite attracted migrating

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territorie ...

from Arctic Canada.

Photographs

File:Glaciers and Icebergs at Cape York.jpg,

Glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...

s and

iceberg An iceberg is a piece of freshwater ice more than 15 m long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open (salt) water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially-derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". The ...

s at Cape York, Greenland File:CapeYork_Icebergs.jpg, Icebergs around Cape York File:CapeYorkGreenland.jpg, Cape York File:Cape York monument.JPG, Robert Peary monument seen from a helicopter File:Robert Peary monument at Cape York, Greenland.jpg,

monument at Cape York

References

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

Melville Bay {{Greenland-geo-stub

Geography

History

Photographs

See also

References