Information About

Cape Thompson

Quick Facts

Open in The Map Cape Thompson on The Map

Location

68 ° 8' 38" N,
165 ° 58' 40.001" W

Region

North Slope

Nearest City

Kivalina

Elevation

246 ft (74.98 m)

Cape Thompson in Detail.

About

Juts into the Chukchi Sea, 26 mi SE of Point Hope, Arctic Slope.

History

Named by Captain Frederick William Beechey (1831, p. 262), Royal Navy, who wrote on August 2, 1826, "We closed with a high cape, which I named after Mr. Deas Thompson, one of the commissioners of the navy." An early Eskimo name for the cape was "Uivaq," generally spelled "Wevuk" or "Wevok." Cape Thompson was often referred to as "Unvaq Qanitoq," meaning "near cape," as opposed to "Univaq Ungasiktoq" (Cape Lisburne) meaning "distant cape." This cape was discovered by the Russians in the late eighteenth century and was called by them "M(ys) Rikord," i.e., "Cape Rikord," for Peter Ivanovich Rikord, 1776-1855, Imperial Russian Navy (IRN), Governor of Kamchatka, 1817-22.