The most recent migration to this area took place 130 years ago. Ways of living so far north and in such severe climatic conditions are passed on from generation to generation, and this ability to adapt has contributed to the survival of this small community. When the sea becomes open sometime around August, large dinghies with powerful engines are used for both hunting trips and ordinary journeys. It is still light twenty-four hours a day at this time - the midnight Sun lasts from the middle of April to the end of August. Nothing from the hunt goes to waste: the skins are used for clothing and covering the kayaks; the flesh and offal are eaten by humans and domestic animals; the narwhal and walrus tusks are carved into finely-worked figures, jewellery and hunting implements, and even feathers can be used in handicrafts.

The town of Qaanaaq was first established during the 1950s when the US airbase, which was originally built during the Cold War at Thule/Dundas, needed to be extended. At that time it was not considered appropriate for a civilian population to be living close to the base, so everybody was moved some 100 kilometres further north, where the new town of Qaanaaq was built in 1953.

The presence of Pituffik, as the US base is called, makes it difficult to visit the area, as permission to travel through it must be obtained from the Danish Foreign Ministry. But during the next few years a runway is to be built close to Qaanaaq, creating a direct connection between it and the other towns in the north of Greenland and improving access for both residents and tourists. There is a small hotel in Qaanaaq, and the inland ice is less than an hour's walk from town.