Belle Isle (French for "Beautiful Island") is an uninhabited island slightly more than 24 km (15 mi) off the coast of Labrador and slightly less than 32 km (20 mi) north of Newfoundland at the Atlantic entrance to the Strait of Belle Isle, which takes its name. Named by the French explorer Jacques Cartier, the island lies on the shortest shipping lane between the Great Lakes and Europe and is on the main north-south shipping route to Hudson Bay and the Northwest Territories. The northern terminus of the International Appalachian Trail is on Belle Isle.