James Ross Island is a large island off the southeast side and near the northeastern extremity of the
Antarctic Peninsula, from which it is separated by
Prince Gustav Channel. Rising to , it is irregularly shaped and extends in a north–south direction. It was charted in October 1903 by the
Swedish Antarctic Expedition under
Otto Nordenskiöld, who named it for Sir
James Clark Ross, the leader of a British expedition to this area in 1842 that discovered and roughly charted a number of points along the eastern side of the island. The form James Ross Island is used to avoid confusion with the more widely known
Ross Island in
McMurdo Sound.