The island was first inhabited by
Independence I culture peoples around 2000 BC. They were followed by
Independence II,
Pre-Dorset, and
Dorset cultures. On the eastern coast lies
Brooman Point Village. The site has been occupied by the Dorset,
Paleo-Eskimo and the
Thule people around
AD 1000, conceivably during a warmer
climate episode. At the time of European arrival in the 1800s, nobody was living there, but
Inuit in the region likely knew of its abundant wildlife, and possibly travelled there on hunting trips.
William Edward Parry was the first
European to discover the island in 1819, charting its southern coast. It was named for
Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, British
Secretary of State for War and the Colonies 1812–1827.
Robert Dawes Aldrich charted much of its west coast in 1851, while
George Henry Richards and
Sherard Osborn charted its north coast in 1853. The Earth's
North magnetic pole tracked northwards across Bathurst and
Seymour Islands during the 1960s and 1970s. The
Canadian National Museum of Natural Sciences, led by renowned
Arctic biologist Stewart D. Macdonald, curator of Vertebrate Ethology, established a permanent High Arctic Research Station there in 1973. Located on the Goodsir River in Polar Bear Pass, the station was staffed seasonally until the 1980s. ==See also==