Thule

Thule is the most northerly location mentioned in <a href="/facts/Ancient_Greek_literature/mAqmUXeF">ancient Greek</a> and <a href="/facts/Latin_literature/qX5zBEDL">Roman</a> literature and <a href="/facts/Cartography/8YdDAAeX">cartography</a>. First written of by the Greek explorer <a href="/facts/Pytheas/Ducfwbbs">Pytheas</a> of <a href="/facts/Massalia/ClNrFksS">Massalia</a> (modern-day <a href="/facts/Marseille/kj7te1HG">Marseille</a>, France) in about 320 BC, it was often described by later writers as an island north of <a href="/facts/Ireland/35vYxXdP">Ireland</a> or Britain. Modern interpretations have included <a href="/facts/Orkney/CDuLIPfu">Orkney</a>, <a href="/facts/Shetland/8YfMHIlV">Shetland</a>, <a href="/facts/Northern_Scotland/YSUrk2wG">Northern Scotland</a>, the <a href="/facts/Faroe_Islands/HMJ3bfmN">Faroe Islands</a>, and <a href="/facts/Iceland/E4KGYs2j">Iceland</a>. Other potential locations are the island of <a href="/facts/Saaremaa/UWMqkdRL">Saaremaa</a> (Ösel) in Estonia, or the Norwegian island of <a href="/facts/Sm%25C3%25B8la_(island)/wQa1hk6e">Smøla</a>.
In <a href="/facts/Classics/CXF1ltbH">classical</a> and <a href="/facts/Medieval_literature/0trqsTXe">medieval literature</a>, ultima Thule (Latin "farthest Thule") acquired a <a href="/facts/Metaphor/xwsLaqJI">metaphorical</a> meaning of any distant place located beyond the "borders of the known world". By the <a href="/facts/Late_Middle_Ages/XNtcJjrU">Late Middle Ages</a> and the <a href="/facts/Early_modern_period/hhpHM721">early modern period</a>, the Greco-Roman Thule was often identified with the real Iceland or <a href="/facts/Greenland/aagXRTB7">Greenland</a>. Sometimes Ultima Thule was a Latin name for Greenland, when Thule was used for Iceland. By the 19th century, however, Thule was frequently identified with Norway, Denmark, the whole of <a href="/facts/Scandinavia/KpLQ40kl">Scandinavia</a>, one of the larger <a href="/facts/List_of_islands_of_Scotland/TkmbVDPf">Scottish islands</a>, the Faroes, or several of those locations.
Thule formerly gave its name to real places. In 1910, the explorer <a href="/facts/Knud_Rasmussen/JNeVFR1W">Knud Rasmussen</a> established a missionary and trading post in north-western Greenland, which he named "Thule". It later gave its name to the northernmost <a href="/facts/United_States_Air_Force/7MxWBYlc">United States Air Force</a> base, Thule Air Base, in northwest Greenland. With the transfer of the base to the <a href="/facts/United_States_Space_Force/bWlsxC5D">United States Space Force</a>, its name was changed to <a href="/facts/Pituffik_Space_Base/6s8r6EEh">Pituffik Space Base</a> on April 6, 2023.

Thule open-in-new

Thule