In autumn 1921, when the expedition set out on the ship Søkongen, their goal was to document the ways of life, myths, tools and history across the entire Arctic region and to demonstrate that Inuit culture possessed both geographic variation and historical continuity.

Rasmussen travelled with a small team of researchers, including the ethnographer Kaj Birket-Smith (1893–1977) and the archaeologist and cartographer Therkel Mathiassen (1892–1967), as well as several Inughuit – a sub-group of the Inuit – from North-West Greenland, who helped keep the living place, clothes and food in good condition.

The Fifth Thule Expedition fell into two main phases. From 1921 to 1923, it was based on a small island in Hudson Bay, which the team had dubbed Danske Øen (Danish Island). From here they made short journeys and spent extended periods with communities in central Canada.

They lived under the same conditions as the local population and often took part in everyday routines. This kind of presence and participation was not adventure but method: only through time, participation and trust was it possible to gain insight into social structures, traditions and knowledge.

The second phase was Rasmussen’s long dog-sledding expedition from spring 1923 to autumn 1924. Together with the two Greenlandic expedition members, Arnarulunnguaq (ca. 1896–1933) and Qâvigarssuaq Miteq (ca. 1899–1978), and the photographer Leo Hansen (1888–1962), who joined later, Rasmussen travelled by dog sled from Hudson Bay to the westernmost regions of Alaska. On their journey, they met Inuit-related groups along the coast, documenting languages, stories, myths and ways of life wherever they went.

After this journey, Rasmussen found clear cultural links among the Inuit peoples along their route. He even found that he could make himself understood in Greenlandic all the way to the Pacific – a linguistic testimony to common roots across vast distances.

During the first part of the expedition, Birket-Smith twice stayed with the so-called Reindeer Inuit west of Hudson Bay. His fieldwork showed that these inland groups did not represent an original Inuit culture but rather one of several historically variable and environmentally adapted Inuit traditions – a point that has been largely borne out by later research.

Mathiassen also carried out extensive archaeological excavations of former Inuit settlements. Based on his finds, he identified the so-called Thule culture, naming it after the expedition base in Thule, a name that Knud Rasmussen introduced in 1910 when he established his trading station near the old Uummannaq settlement in North-West Greenland.

The Thule culture – which is now regarded as the forerunner for modern-day Greenlanders – subsequently became a key concept in Arctic archaeology. Mathiassen’s work continues to form an important basis for research into the region’s prehistory.

The processing of the findings continued long after the completion of the expedition. Birket-Smith and Mathiassen developed an interdisciplinary interplay between ethnography and archaeology that influenced subsequent Arctic studies.

The expedition’s material formed the basis of an exceptional Inuit collection at the National Museum in Copenhagen and inspired new generations of researchers, such as Eigil Knuth (1903–1996), Jørgen Meldgaard (1927–2007) and Bjarne Grønnow (b.1956), who, each in their own way, have continued and renewed the archaeological-ethnographic studies of Inuit culture.

The Fifth Thule Expedition demonstrated that Inuit history is not fragmented but deeply interwoven by language and culture. It also exemplifies how basic research may require a mix of adventurousness, curiosity and patience, and how the protracted work of gathering, analysing and understanding can transform travels and experiences into enduring knowledge.

The chapter is written by Dorthe Chakravarty.