Victoria Island, large island of the Arctic Archipelago, in both the Northwest Territories and Nunavut territory, northern Canada; it has an area of 217,291 sq km (83,897 sq mi). The island is separated from the mainland to the south by Dolphin and Union Strait, Coronation Gulf, Queen Maud Gulf, and Dease Strait. Among the island's few settlements are Cambridge Bay, site of a weather station on the southeastern coast, and Holman on the western coast. The island was sighted by the second Franklin Expedition in 1826, and was named for Queen Victoria of England by British explorers Thomas Simpson and P. W. Dease in 1839.