Knud Rasmussen

Knud Johan Victor Rasmussen (June 7, 1879–December 21, 1933) was a Greenlandic polar explorer and anthropologist. He has been called the "father of Eskimology" and was the first to cross the Northwest Passage via dog sled. He remains well known in Greenland, Denmark and among Canadian Inuit.

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Rasmussen was born in Ilulissat, Greenland, the son of aDanish missionary, the vicar Christian Rasmussen, and an Inuit-Dutch mother, Lovise Rasmussen (née Fleischer). He had two siblings, including a brother, Peter Lim. Rasmussen spent his early years in Greenland among the Kalaallit (Inuit) where he learned from an early age to speak the language (Kalaallisut), hunt, drive dog sleds and live in harsh Arctic conditions. "My playmates were native Greenlanders; from the earliest boyhood I played and worked with the hunters, so even the hardships of the most strenuous sledge-trips became pleasant routine for me."

Greenland: Greenland (Greenlandic: Kalaallit Nunaat, "The Land of the Greenlanders (Kalaallit)"; Danish: Gr?nland) is a self-governed Danish territory. An Arctic island nation located in North America by geography, culture and demographics, Greenland is part of Europe politically. The Atlantic Ocean and Icelan...

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