Knud Rasmussen

Knud and his wife Dagmar Andersen married in 1908. They had three children: Inge Thorborg, Hanne Rasmussen and Niels Rasmussen

In 1946, a 10-volume series documenting Rasmussen's findings during the ‘Fifth Thule Expedition’ was posthumously published. The museums in Denmark house the artifacts discovered during the expedition.

Knud Johan Victor Rasmussen was born on June 7, 1879 in Iliussat, Greenland. His father was Christian Rasmussen, a Danish missionary, and his mother was Lovise Rasmussen, a Danish-Inuit woman.

Knud had two siblings. As a child, he played with Inuit children and learned their language, Kalaalisut. Later, his family moved to the continent and he studied in public school in Lynge, North Zealand, Denmark.

From 1898 to 1900, Rasmussen unsuccessfully tried to pursue a career as an opera singer and actor.

In 1902, he embarked on his first expedition, which later became known as 'The Danish Literary Expedition'. The purpose of the exploration was to investigate and document Inuit culture.

In 1904, he returned home and began touring the lecture circuit, talking about the expedition's discoveries. He published 'The People of the Polar North', a book about his adventures during the ‘Danish Literary Expedition’ four years later.

In 1910, he co-founded the ‘Thule Trading Station’ in Cape York, Greenland with his friend Peter Freuchen. The ‘Thule Trading Station’ was later used as the starting point for Rasmussen's seven polar explorations.

In 1912, he embarked on the ‘First Thule Expedition’ with Freuchen, to investigate whether or not a water channel divided Peary Land from Greenland. After traveling over 1,000 kilometers across the ice, the pair conclusively proved that the water channel did not exist.

Rasmussen was the first person of European descent to cross the Northwest Passage via dogsled. Together, his 15 volumes documenting Inuit life, culture and ethnic heritage remain one of the foremost authorities on the subject.