January 13, 2021
Hundreds perhaps thousands of people took part in the international race to explore the Arctic and claim the North Pole. Here s a collection of some of the most important and influential figures discussed in Mental Floss s new podcast,
1. Arnaq // Inuit // ?-1577
Arnaq was the name assigned to an Inuit woman from Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada, who was taken captive by Martin Frobisher in 1577, along with Kalicho and her infant son called Nutaaq.
Arnaq means “woman” or “female” in Inuktitut.
2. William Baffin // English // c. 1584-1622
Baffin was a navigator and ship s pilot who searched for the elusive Northwest Passage. His namesakes are Baffin Island (now part of Nunavut, Canada) and Baffin Bay, which separates the island from Greenland. He found Lancaster Sound, the entrance to the Northwest Passage, but believed ice would always make it impassable. Baffin also sailed within 800 nautical miles of the geographic North Pole, the northernmost point