Fifth Thule Expedition National Historic Event
Danish Island, Nunavut
Fifth Thule Expedition
(© None)
Address :
Danish Island, Nunavut
Recognition Statute:
Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date:
1977-01-01
Other Name(s):
-
Fifth Thule Expedition
(Designation Name)
Importance:
Danish expedition, 1921-24, identified Thule culture of 900-1450 AD
Plaque(s)
Existing plaque: Nunavut
The Danish Ethnographical Expedition to Arctic North America, known as the Fifth Thule Expedition, was led by Knud Rasmussen. The geographical explorations and scientific studies of the expedition produced important descriptions of various Inuit peoples between Hudson Bay and Bering Strait. The archaeologist, Therkel Mathiassen, identified the "Thule Culture" of the immediate prehistoric Inuit period, ca. A.D. 900-1450. The expedition ended in an epic dog team journey by the Greenlanders, Kunu (Rasmussen), Mitiq and Arnarulunguaq from their headquarters here on Danish Island to East Cape, Siberia.