[1] The population was forcibly relocated from its former, traditional home, which was expropriated for the construction of a United States Air Force base in 1953.

By 1600, climatic effects of the Little Ice Age caused the semi-nomadic Thule culture in Greenland to fragment into isolated groups, with inhabitants of the northwest diverging as the Inughuit.

[4] In 1818, Sir John Ross's expedition made first contact with nomadic Inuktun (Polar Eskimos) in the area.

[5] Robert Peary built a support station by a protected harbor at the foot of iconic Mount Dundas in 1892.

However, in 1953 the USAF planned to construct an air defense site near that village, and in order to prevent contact with soldiers in a way deemed "unhealthy", the Danish government forcibly relocated "Old Thule" with about 130 inhabitants to a newly constructed, modern village 60 miles (97 km) north, known as Qaanaaq, or "New Thule".

USAAF Colonel Bernt Balchen, who built Sondrestrom Air Base, knew Rasmussen and his idea.

Balchen led a flight of two Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats to Thule on 24 August 1942 and then sent a report advocating an air base to USAAF chief Henry "Hap" Arnold.

However, the 1951 air base site is a few miles inland from the original 1946 airstrip and across the bay from the historical Thule settlement, to which it is connected by an ice road.

The joint Danish-American defense area, designated by treaty, also occupies considerable inland territory in addition to the air base itself.

When the sea becomes open sometime around August, large dinghies with powerful engines are used for both hunting trips and ordinary journeys.

There is still sunlight twenty-four hours a day at this time—the midnight sun lasts from the middle of April to the end of August.

Qaanaaq is home to a remote CTBTO infrasound listening station called IS-18, which uses an array of barometric sensors to detect possible nuclear tests around the world.