Franz Boas, Sketch of Iceberg in Cumberland Sound

Franz Boas, sketch of iceberg in Cumberland Sound, Franz Boas Papers, Graphics Number F8-2-9, 1883.

At the universities of Heidelberg and Bonn, Franz Boas studied physics and geography before completing a doctorate in physical geography at Kiel in 1881. Intending on testing then-current theories of environmental determinism, he signed on to an anthropological expedition to Baffin Island in 18831884, expecting that he would document the close adaptative fit of Central Eskimo cultures to their extreme climate. His experiences in the Arctic, however, led him to the contrary conclusion: that social traditions, not environmental, exerted a dominant influence over human societies, and from this point onward, he was led to pursue the cultural over than physical dimensions of humanity. Boas drew this iceberg, located in the sound between Baffin and Cumberland Islands, on his first expedition to the Arctic.