Nanuuseq is a coastal island, although it is also considered a peninsula owing to it almost being attached to the mainland shore of King Frederick VI Coast.

[1] The island's coast is deeply indented and the sound separating it from the peninsula on the mainland to the west is very narrow.

Queen Louise Island lies 7.7 km (4.8 mi) to the south, on the other side of the mouth of Lindenow Fjord.

Until recent times the Southeast-Greenland Inuit visited the area around Nanusek during hunting trips up and down the coast.

Fridtjof Nansen wrote about them towards the end of the 19th century: The woman-boat in question had in this manner spent three years on the passage from Umivik, and would no doubt take pretty nearly as long to return.