Stefansson Facts Country Canada Occupation Ethnologist, author, explorer Arctic Regions Explored Canadian Arctic, Beaufort Sea Region # of Arctic expeditions 3 Most famous Arctic expedition Lived with Copper Inuit (1908-12) Other Significant Events Wrote several books about his experiences Did you know? On his last Arctic trip in 1913, Stefansson and a small hunting party became separated from their ice-bound ship. They spent the next 4 years drifting on ice floes, living among the Inuit and exploring Northern Canada. Since many of the Inuit Stefansson met had European features and some had blue eyes, he theorized that they had intermixed with early Norse explorers or members of the lost expedition of Sir John Franklin. Although his theory was not accepted, it did give Stefansson quite a bit of notoriety. In 1952, Stefansson Island, at the tip of Victoria Island, was named for him.

After studying anthropology, Stefansson went on his first Arctic expedition in 1906-07; this trip was led by the Danish explorer Ejnar Mikkelson. They traveled to Herschel Island (in the Beaufort Sea just north of the Yukon), and Stefansson began studying the language and culture of the Inuit and the Mackenzie River Indians. Towards the end of this trip, Stefansson met Roald Amundsen.

In 1908, Stefansson returned to the Arctic with the Canadian zoologist Rudolph M. Anderson. They traveled to Herschel Island, Cape Parry, and the south side of Victoria Island. Enroute they encountered the Copper Inuit (a previously unknown group of Inuits) who used and made tools of copper. Stefansson stayed with the Copper Inuit until 1912.

Stefansson's last Arctic trip was in 1913, when he was appointed head of a Canadian scientific expedition. Sailing from Seattle, Washington in an old sealing ship Karluk, the expedition became trapped in sea ice north of Alaska in August, 1913. In September, Stefansson and a small group left the ship to hunt for food, but never returned to the westward-drifting ship, which was eventually crushed. However, most of the crew survived while Stefansson and his small party drifted on ice floes, living among the Inuit and exploring Northern Canada, eventually returning in 1918.

By establishing peaceful contacts with local people and adopting the native way of life during his expeditions, Stefansson succeeded where many previous expeditions had failed. Not only did he learn how best to survive in the harsh Arctic conditions, but he also avoided the violent conflicts which had befallen several earlier explorers.

The latter part of Stefansson's life was spent as Director of Polar Studies at Dartmouth College (Hanover, New Hampshire, US). He wrote many books, including My Life with the Eskimos (1913), The Friendly Arctic (1921), and Discovery (Stefansson's autobiography), which was published in 1964, two years after his death.