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Knud Rasmussen

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description Knud Rasmussen Overview

Knud Rasmussen (1879-1933) was a Greenland-born Danish explorer, ethnologist and writer of mixed Danish and Inuit heritage. He founded the Thule trading and research station in Greenland and led the Fifth Thule Expedition from 1921 to 1924, which traveled across Arctic North America from Hudson Bay toward the Bering Strait. The expedition gathered archaeological, linguistic and ethnographic material, including Inuit oral traditions, and its records are used in Arctic Indigenous studies. [Smithsonian Institution](https://www.si.edu/object/siris_sic_11491) [Thule Project](https://www.thuleproject.org/5th-thule-expedition)

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Who was Knud Rasmussen?

Knud Rasmussen was a Greenland-born Danish explorer, ethnologist, and writer of mixed Danish and Inuit heritage. He lived from 1879 to 1933 and became known for combining Arctic exploration with language and oral-history research. [Source](https://www.thuleproject.org/knud-rasmussen)

What was the Fifth Thule Expedition?

The Fifth Thule Expedition was Rasmussen's major Arctic journey from 1921 to 1924. It traveled across Arctic North America from Greenland toward Siberia and documented Inuit communities, languages, stories, and material culture. [Source](https://www.thuleproject.org/5th-thule-expedition)

Why was the Thule station important to Rasmussen?

Rasmussen founded the Thule trading and research station in Greenland as a base for cultural research, trade, and Arctic travel. The station supported the expeditions that made his ethnological work possible.

What did Rasmussen record besides maps and geography?

Rasmussen collected Inuit stories, songs, vocabulary, religious ideas, and accounts of everyday life. His work treated oral tradition and local knowledge as central evidence for understanding Arctic societies, not as secondary folklore.

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