Cultural Context
HISTORY & CULTURE
Baffin Island has been inhabited for thousands of years by the Inuit, descendants of the Thule people who migrated to Canada’s far northeast in the 12th and 13th centuries. Just a few years ago, it was believed that the first Europeans to have stepped foot in Canada’s Far North arrived in 1576, led by British explorer Martin Frobisher; however, ancient artifacts, including a notched wooden
American whalers discovered the Davis Strait in the 1820s and made Baffin Island a part of their annual pilgrimage. In the 19th century, Europeans began to establish more permanent whaling stations, and this increase in trade brought greater Inuit reliance on the European market. When whaling declined in the 20th century, many Inuit turned to trapping. Did You Know? Many historians and researchers believe that Baffin Island and Helluland, a rocky land of glaciers that Vikings reported they’d discovered west of Greenland, are one and the same.
stick used to record trading activities, discovered near the tiny community of
Kimmirut, suggest that there was prolonged contact between the Baffin Island Inuit and the Vikings as early as AD 1000. In more recent times, Baffin Island’s Inuit conducted trade with Europeans who stopped by en route to Hudson Bay. Scottish and
16 | QUARK EXPEDITIONS
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