Hi I am Peter Henson – I live in the north of Greenland.

I am a unique individual – and my family story is amazing….

Let me tell you about it…

And about my links to the wider world

I live in Qaanaaq with my extended family who are nearly all Inuit / American descendents.

This is the small settlement of Qaanaaq with its colourful wooden homes with iron sheet roofs. You can sea the icebergs floating in the sea behind them.

Qaanaaq has the most northerly restaurant in the world!!

The hunting of seals, polar bears, birds, narwhals and walrus provides the only means of survival in

a community which consists of one town with around 600 inhabitants and five settlements.

The settlement of Siorapaluk is the northernmost community on earth,

and is also well-known as the fictitious birthplace of Miss Smilla in the novel and film Smilla's Sense of Snow.

This is me – a Polar Inuit waiting

with my harpoon

at a seal breathing hole

in the sea ice at sunset.

Qaanaaq – is in the north of the country called north Greenland

Nuuk – main town – capital of Greenland

Nuuk is the capital of Greenland. The missionary Hans Egede founded Nuuk in 1728 as the very first town in Greenland. 

Greenland has been semi-autonomous since 1979,

but Denmark remains in charge of foreign and defence policy for the 56,000 islanders.

Qaanaaq is in the country called Greenland

This is Greenland

This is the USA

My great grandfather is really famous

To many people he is a role model - a hero!

My great grandfather was Matthew A. Henson

– I am Peter Henson remember.

He was a polar explorer

This is my great grandmother

Akatingwah

-when Matthew left Greenland for the last time in 1909 he never returned

- so never saw my grandfather … his then unborn son

- Anaukaq

Matthew returned to New York

He married a girl called Lucy Ross.

They lived together for 50 years

but they had no children

So we Greenland Hensons are his only surviving blood relations

In 1909 - my great grandfather Matthew Henson was the first man to reach the North Pole

He got there 45 minutes before his colleague –

Robert Peary.

Matthew’s achievements were ignored for a long time

His co-explorer Robert Peary got all the credit

Because Peary was a superior officer and Peary was white

Robert Peary

Matthew Henson

Matthew was a Black American.

It wasn't until 1937, at age seventy, that Henson got some of the attention he deserved.

In that year he was made an honorary member of the famed Explorers Club in New York.

On April 6th 1988 Matthew and Roses’ bodies were reinterred with full Presidential Honours in Arlington National Cemetery.

April 6, 1909 American explorers Robert Peary and Matthew Henson reach the top of the world.

Now All American children Black, White and Inuit learn about both heroes.

For Black Americans reading Henson’s story was life changing

His life story blew my mind. And convinced me that black people could be heroes too.

"...even if he is a negro, is an American..."In 1909 the newspapers were ‘racist’ in their attitude to this story.

Matthew is a hero now

And we his surviving descendants are proud of him

We live on in Greenland and we are proud of Akatingwah too.

It is a small world

And everyone has their place in it

We all depend on each other

And must get on together

There is nowhere else to go.