{"id":48094,"date":"2022-02-09T02:30:54","date_gmt":"2022-02-09T02:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/explorersweb.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=48094"},"modified":"2022-02-09T13:51:10","modified_gmt":"2022-02-09T13:51:10","slug":"tete-michel-kpomassie-african-in-greenland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explorersweb.com\/tete-michel-kpomassie-african-in-greenland\/","title":{"rendered":"At 80, Greenland&#8217;s First African Visitor Returns to Live Out His Final Years in the Arctic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the summer of 1965, T\u00e9t\u00e9-Michel Kpomassie became the first African to explore <a href=\"https:\/\/explorersweb.com\/great-explorers-greenland-sled-dogs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Greenland<\/a>. He was 24 on the day that he stepped onto the dock at Qaqortoq, on Greenland&#8217;s southern coast. But his arctic journey had actually begun some seven years prior, in the West African town of Lom\u00e9, Togo.<\/p>\n<p>Now approaching 81 years of age, Kpomassie is packing up his Parisian apartment and heading back to northern Greenland, where he intends to live out his gloaming.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_48113\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48113\" class=\"wp-image-48113 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08223936\/Kpomassie-learned-to-ice-fish-from-the-Greenlandic-Inuit-Photo-Michel-Tete-Kpomassie-e1644361063692.png\" alt=\"Kpomassie learned to ice fish from the Greenlandic Inuit Photo: Tete-Michel Kpomassie\" width=\"620\" height=\"348\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08223936\/Kpomassie-learned-to-ice-fish-from-the-Greenlandic-Inuit-Photo-Michel-Tete-Kpomassie-e1644361063692.png 620w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08223936\/Kpomassie-learned-to-ice-fish-from-the-Greenlandic-Inuit-Photo-Michel-Tete-Kpomassie-e1644361063692-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08223936\/Kpomassie-learned-to-ice-fish-from-the-Greenlandic-Inuit-Photo-Michel-Tete-Kpomassie-e1644361063692-320x180.png 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-48113\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kpomassie learned to ice fish from the Greenlandic Inuit. Photo: T\u00e9t\u00e9-Michel Kpomassie<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>The story of an African and Greenland<\/h2>\n<p>Kpomassie&#8217;s fabled life story starts with a bit of chance and a book. The young Togolese was 16 when he bought anthropologist Robert Gessain&#8217;s <em>Les Esquimaux du Groenland \u00e0 l\u2019Alaska<\/em> (The Eskimos from Greenland to Alaska) from a small bookshop in Lome. Immediately, the subject captivated him, and within a year he&#8217;d run away from home in pursuit of the Arctic.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_48098\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48098\" class=\"wp-image-48098 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08204608\/1-Photo-Tete-Michel-Kpomassie.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: Tete-Michel Kpomassie\" width=\"630\" height=\"378\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08204608\/1-Photo-Tete-Michel-Kpomassie.jpg 630w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08204608\/1-Photo-Tete-Michel-Kpomassie-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08204608\/1-Photo-Tete-Michel-Kpomassie-320x192.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-48098\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: T\u00e9t\u00e9-Michel Kpomassie<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>His trajectory to Greenland was anything but direct. He traveled along the West Coast of Africa, from C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire in the south to the northern crest of Algeria, eventually crossing into Europe. Ther,e he stayed for some time before disembarking for Greenland via Copenhagen.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I took my time to step out,&#8221; he recalled in an interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2022\/feb\/06\/breaking-the-ice-one-mans-epic-journey-from-togo-to-greenland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The Guardian<\/em><\/a>. &#8220;I suspected none would have met a black man before. When I did, everyone stopped talking, all were staring. They didn\u2019t know if I was a real person or wearing a mask. Children hid behind their mothers. Some cried, presuming I was a spirit from the mountains.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_48111\" style=\"width: 686px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48111\" class=\"wp-image-48111 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08220202\/tete-michel-kpomassie-qaqortoq-groenland-1965.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: Tete-Michel Kpomassie\" width=\"676\" height=\"497\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08220202\/tete-michel-kpomassie-qaqortoq-groenland-1965.jpg 676w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08220202\/tete-michel-kpomassie-qaqortoq-groenland-1965-300x221.jpg 300w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08220202\/tete-michel-kpomassie-qaqortoq-groenland-1965-320x235.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-48111\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: T\u00e9t\u00e9-Michel Kpomassie<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Kpomassie found his true home in Greenland&#8217;s northern reaches, where the Inuit culture that he&#8217;d pored over in a book as a boy was very much alive. Over the next 18 months, Greenland&#8217;s first African transplant learned to ski, mush, ice fish, hunt, and flourish in the tundra.<\/p>\n<p>He returned to Togo in late 1966, reluctant but determined. He adapted the journal he&#8217;d kept into a tome, and taught himself several languages through correspondence with friends he&#8217;d made on his pilgrimage.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_48114\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48114\" class=\"wp-image-48114 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08223938\/kpomassie.png\" alt=\"Photo: Tete-Michel Kpomassie\" width=\"600\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08223938\/kpomassie.png 600w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08223938\/kpomassie-300x180.png 300w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08223938\/kpomassie-320x192.png 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-48114\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: T\u00e9t\u00e9-Michel Kpomassie<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Kpomassie then went on to give numerous lectures about his experience in halls and classrooms throughout Africa and Europe. And he settled down in Paris and raised a family, returning to Greenland on three occasions in that time. &#8220;[A]ll the while I knew where I ultimately needed to end up,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>His seminal book, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/0940322889\/?tag=20exweb-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">An African in Greenland<\/a>,&#8221; was published in France in 1977 and reproduced in English in 1981. It earned him France&#8217;s Prix Litt\u00e9raire Francophone International award, also in 1981, and has since been translated into eight languages.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_48103\" style=\"width: 658px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48103\" class=\"wp-image-48103 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08204620\/IMG_2369.jpg\" alt=\"An African in Greenland book by Kpomassie. Photo: Jerry Kobalenko\" width=\"648\" height=\"864\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08204620\/IMG_2369.jpg 648w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08204620\/IMG_2369-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08204620\/IMG_2369-320x427.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 648px) 100vw, 648px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-48103\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kpomassie&#8217;s seminal text, &#8216;An African in Greenland,&#8217; was published in French in 1977 and translated to English in 1981. Photo: Jerry Kobalenko<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Kpomassie intends to close his story much as it began \u2014 with a book and a bit of chance. &#8220;I&#8217;ll have a dog sled and huskies,&#8221; the explorer remarked. &#8220;I\u2019ll find myself a small fishing boat. And here I\u2019ll happily spend my remaining days, and finally find time to write my second book, about my childhood in Africa.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_48101\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48101\" class=\"wp-image-48101 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08204616\/Photo-Anne-Holland.jpg\" alt=\"Tete-Michel Kpomassie Photo: Anne Holland\" width=\"630\" height=\"378\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08204616\/Photo-Anne-Holland.jpg 630w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08204616\/Photo-Anne-Holland-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/08204616\/Photo-Anne-Holland-320x192.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-48101\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kpomassie at his home in Paris. Photo: Anne Holland<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the summer of 1965, T\u00e9t\u00e9-Michel Kpomassie became the first African to explore Greenland. He was 24 on the day that he stepped onto the dock at Qaqortoq, on Greenland&#8217;s southern coast. But his arctic journey had actually begun some seven years prior, in the West African town of Lom\u00e9, Togo. Now approaching 81 years [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4739,"featured_media":48099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"categories":[64,94,68,96,100,86],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-48094","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arctic-2","category-expeditions","category-history","category-polar-exploration","category-polar-research","category-science"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>At 80, the First African to Visit Greenland Returns to Live Out His Last Years &#187; Explorersweb<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The African-born Kpomassie is packing up and heading back to his spiritual home in northern Greenland, where he intends to live out his gloaming.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/explorersweb.com\/tete-michel-kpomassie-african-in-greenland\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"At 80, the First African to Visit Greenland Returns to Live Out His Last Years &#187; 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