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Freuchen Peter (02.02.1886 - 02.09.1957)
Born in the town of Nykebinge, in Denmark. His parents were Lorenz Benzon and Anna Petrina Frederikka (nee Rasmussen). Despite the fact that from childhood he was attracted to the sea, Freyhen graduated from the university with a degree in philology. This helped him to become famous as a writer and journalist. In the years 1906-1908 he participated in the expedition to Greenland, which determined his entire fate - he fell ill with the North. In 1910, Freykhen, together with Knud Rasmussen, founded the trading station Tule. In 1912, the so-called first expedition of Thule under the leadership of Rasmussen took place, in which Freyhen took part as a cartographer. In dog sledding, the researchers traveled from Tula about 300 kilometers to the north along the western coast of Greenland to the Etamok Etamok settlement, after which they crossed the Greenland ice sheet and reached the northeast coast of the island. Continuing the journey, they plotted significant areas of the northern and northeastern regions of Greenland. Freychen settled in Thule, married an Inuit who bore him a son and daughter, and lived among the Inuit from 1913 to 1919. Freyhen loved Greenland, but the harsh nature of the other territories of the Far North beckoned him with no less force. In 1921-1924 as a cartographer and zoologist, Freichen participated in the fifth expedition led by Rasmussen, the most ambitious Thule expedition, whose goal was to study the folklore, ethnography and anthropology of the indigenous people of the polar regions of North America from eastern Canada to Alaska, as well as archaeological research. From the base camp on the Danish island in the western part of the Hudson Bay for the next two and a half years, various parties made long-lasting sled expeditions to the south, west and north of the American continent. Contacts were established and Inuit tribes were studied: netsilik, igloo, caribou, and archaeological research was conducted. When the Americans decided to make a documentary about the natural beauties of Alaska, Freyhen headed this film expedition. Later he traveled to the extreme northern territories of Sweden (Lapland) and Norway, took part in two Soviet expeditions to the Soviet Arctic. Only in 1935, Freykhen temporarily changed the polar latitudes to warmer countries. He went to South Africa, traveled through South and North America and finally realized that there was nothing better for him, harsh Arctic places. After the outbreak of World War II, Freichen returned to his homeland, Denmark, and became an active participant in the resistance movement, despite the fact that at that time he had lost his leg due to frostbite in 1926. After the end of the Second World War, Freichen returned to his dear heart Greenland, to the Inuit language, customs and traditions of which he knew so well.Passion for travel did not leave him until his death. Freychen died of a heart attack at the airport of Elmendorf, Alaska, when he was about to fly to Greenland. According to his will, the dust was scattered over the mountains of Thule. Peru Freyhena, in addition to scientific works owns many works of art. In Russian, his novels “My Greenlandic Youth” and “The Great Catcher” and the story “The Hunters of Melville Bay”. For his activities, he was awarded gold medals of the Geographical Society of Philadelphia and the name of Hans-Egede. He was also awarded the highest prize of Benjamin Franklin. Territory (Land Freichen) on the north-west coast of Greenland. Named, most likely, in 1912 by the first Thule expedition under the leadership of Rasmussen. |
