The French Geographical Expedition to Thule, 1950-51: A Preliminary Report

• Published in: ARCTIC
• Main Author: Malaurie, J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Arctic Institute of North America 1955
• Subjects: Artifacts; Atmosphere; Biological sampling; Bird nesting; Birds; Bones; Brant; Caribou; Corals; Gulls; Inuit archaeology; Lamellibranchiata; Lesser Snow Geese; Logistics; Long-tailed Ducks; Mammals; Measurement; Meteorology; Mollusks; Palaeontology; Plants (Biology); Research; Research organizations; Ross' Geese; Size; Surveying; Whistling Swans; White-fronted Geese; Firth River region; Alaska/Yukon; Greenland; Denmark; Banks Island; N.W.T; Liverpool Bay region; Firth River; Kane; Liverpool Bay; Siorapaluk; Yukon; Arctic; eskimo*; inuit; Kane Basin; Thule; Alaska
• Online Access: https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/66868

Summarized results of author's expedition to northwest Greenland, July 1950-July 1951. With base at Siorapaluk, 125 mi north of Thule, winter sledge trips were made to collect demographic, economic and social data on the Eskimos. Author counted 302 Polar Eskimos in ten different settlements. Genealogies were traced. Birth and death rates are discussed; also effects on Eskimo society of contact with white men and possibility of successful integration. In spring, geomorphic expedition was made around Kane Basin. Most significant geomorphic factor appears to be extreme aridity. No intense wind erosion occurs. Glacial erosion was limited, and present frost action is weak. Water erosion in summer produces steep slopes which undergo parallel recession. Present processes seem insufficient to account for present landscape.