Cape York Perlernerit | |
|---|---|
  Cape York | |
| Coordinates:75°55′N66°27′W / 75.92°N 66.45°W /75.92; -66.45 | |
| Location | Avannaata,Greenland |
| Offshore water bodies | Baffin Bay |
| Area | |
| • Total | Arctic |
Cape York (Greenlandic:Perlernerit,Danish:Kap York) is acape on the northwestern coast ofGreenland, in northernBaffin Bay.
It is a pronounced projection. It delimits the northwestern end of 190-mile (310 km)Melville Bay, with the other end commonly defined asWilcox Head, the western promontory onKiatassuaq Island.[1]De Dodes Fjord andSidebriksfjord are north of the cape, and the Crimson Cliffs to the west.
A chain of small coastal islands stretches between Cape York andCape Melville to the east, the largest of which isMeteorite Island.[2] The cape is 37 km (23 mi) west-south-west ofSavissivik, the settlement on Meteorite Island.
There was one nearer permanent settlement,Perlernerit, approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) northeast of the cape.
The cape was the one of many places visited in 1894 by AdmiralRobert Peary during his second expedition to theArctic. A way east across the bay is the island of discovery of theCape York Meteorite fragments. In theGreenlandic language, the name of the settlementSavissivik on the island close to the cape means 'place of meteorite iron' (savik = iron/knife),[3] alluding to the numerousmeteorites from 10,000 years ago that have been found in the area.[4] The meteorite is estimated to have weighed 100 tonnes before it exploded.[4] Theiron from the meteorite attracted migratingInuit fromArctic Canada.[4]
