Grinnell Land is the central section of Ellesmere Island

Ellesmere Island

Ellesmere Island is part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Lying within the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, it is considered part of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, with Cape Columbia being the most northerly point of land in Canada...

 in the northernmost part 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...

 territory in 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 was named for Henry Grinnell

Henry Grinnell

Henry Grinnell was an American merchant and philanthropist.-Career:In 1818, Grinnell moved to New York City where he became a clerk in the commission house of H.D. & E.B. Sewell. He married Sarah Minturn in 1822. In 1825, Henry joined his brother Joseph Grinnell in Fish, Grinnell & Company...

, a shipping magnate from New York, who in the 1850s helped finance two expeditions to search for Franklin's lost expedition

Franklin's lost expedition

Franklin's lost expedition was a doomed British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed England in 1845. A Royal Navy officer and experienced explorer, Franklin had served on three previous Arctic expeditions, the latter two as commanding officer...

.

The name was given by Captain Edwin De Haven

Edwin De Haven

Edwin Jesse De Haven was a United States Navy officer and explorer of the first half of the 19th century.He was born in Philadelphia and became a midshipman at the age of 10, serving until 1857...

 during the First Grinnell Expedition

First Grinnell Expedition

The First Grinnell Expedition of 1850 was the first American effort, financed by Henry Grinnell, to determine the fate of the lost Franklin Polar Expedition. Led by Lieutenant Edwin De Haven, the...

upon sighting the high grounds in September of 1850. He beheld the landmass on the 22nd of that month, which was distinguished by its mountain tops which were seen to be "rising above the clouds." De Haven went on to substantiate the name in his official report of the voyage, dated October 1851.