The Queen Elizabeth Islands are a group of islands at the top of the ARCTIC ARCHIPELAGO. They form the northern tip of Canada. Included in the group are ELLESMERE, AXEL HEIBERG, AMUND RINGNES, ELLEF RINGNES, PRINCE PATRICK, MELVILLE, BATHURST, CORNWALLIS, and DEVON islands, as well as several smaller islands. The whole group was named in 1953 for Queen Elizabeth II.

Ice caps and glaciers cover much of the area. In the east, the islands tend to be high and dramatic. The highest point in eastern North America is Mount Barbeau on Ellesmere Island (2616 m). Toward the west, the land becomes flatter and lower.

The islands were first inhabited by the ancestors of the Inuit. After 1818, a series of British naval expeditions visited the area. From 1898 to 1902 a Norwegian expedition led by Otto SVERDRUP explored the most northerly islands, and in 1916-17 Vilhjalmur STEFANSSON located the final islands of the group.

Today the islands are largely uninhabited except for remote weather and research stations. The hamlet of RESOLUTE lies on Cornwallis Island and GRISE FIORD is on the south coast of Ellesmere Island.