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Knud Johan Victor Rasmussen
Born: 7th June 1879, in Jakobshavn, Greenland - Died: 21st December 1933, in Copenhagen, Denmark
Interesting Trivia:
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His mother was of Inuit descent, who had married his missionary Danish father
- Tried his luck (albeit unsuccessfully) as an opera singer and actor
- Married Dagmar Andersen in 1908
- Was fascinated with native languages and their ways of living
- Got “Doctor of Honor” title from the University of Copenhagen
- Wrote books like Greenland by the Polar Sea (1921), Across Arctic America (1927) and The People of the Polar North (1908).
- Wrote several other works on the Inuit and Greenlandic people
- 1924 – received Ph. D from the University of Copenhagen
- He has been called the "father of Eskimology"
- “Knud Rasmussen College”, Greenland and “Knud Rasmussens House”, Denmark were named after him.
His Story:
Rasmussen’s first language was not Danish, but the language of his Inuit mother. He did not learn Danish until he was sent to school. He was not a very good student and failed to graduate from the University of Copenhagen.
His first expedition was with Mylius Erichsen who took the 23-year old Rasmussen on the "Danish Literary Greenland Expedition" (1902-1904). The aim was to study the Inuit culture. Knud’s language skills and knowledge of the People was very useful and he served as an interpreter.
In 1910, he established Thule Station at Cape York, from which he led various expeditions, the so called “Thule Expeditions” (from 1921 – 1924). The station was used mainly as a trading post. He explored tens of thousands of miles in the Arctic North America and he visited as many Inuit peoples as he could. Meanwhile, he created detailed maps of the areas he traveled to. The Inuit culture fascinated him and he collected artifacts and compiled the Peoples legends and songs. He would spent weeks with the various tribes and learn about their culture and customs.
His expeditions came up with various “discoveries”. One of them was that the “Peary Channel” did not exist. Although his expeditions were often hazardous, he only ever lost two team mates (on his Second Thule Expedition (1916-1918)).
His most famous expedition was no doubt his "Great Sledge Journey", which started in June of 1921 (again from Thule Station). He traveled all the way to the Pacific and became the first man to traverse the Northwest Passage by dogsled (a journey he took with two Inuit companions and which took him 16 months to complete). When he returned, he had collected a wealth in information, and wrote over 30 journals.
He translated the information collected from the Inuit in Danish which was no easy task as the Inuit language is impossible to translate word for word. But with his background he did a splendid job. Other translations, for instance, in English, were done as well.
The rest of the time was spent between Greenland and Denmark. Rasmussen spent time writing and translating and giving lectures.
In 1933, he went on expedition again (the Seventh Thule Expedition), from Thule to southeast Greenland for archaeological and ethnological research. It was to be his last. He contracted food poisoning which resulted in pneumonia. He returned to Copenhagen, but he never recovered. He died, age only 54, on December 21st 1933.
Te Papa Whale exhibition in Washington, DC