Cape Thompson is a headland on the Chukchi Sea

Chukchi Sea

Chukchi Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west by the De Long Strait, off Wrangel Island, and in the east by Point Barrow, Alaska, beyond which lies the Beaufort Sea. The Bering Strait forms its southernmost limit and connects it to the Bering Sea and the Pacific...

 coast of Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

. It is located 26 miles to the southeast of Point Hope, Arctic Slope. It is part of the Chukchi Sea unit of Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge

Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge

The Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge comprising 2,400 islands, headlands, rocks, islets, spires and reefs in Alaska, with a total area of , of which is wilderness)...

.

Early Inuit

Inuit

The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...

 names for this cape were "Eebrulikgorruk" and "Uivaq", also 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."

The first recorded Europeans to sight this cape were Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n explorers Mikhail Vasiliev

Ensign Mikhail Vasiliev

Mikhail Nikolayevich Vasilyev was a Russian explorer and vice admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy. He is reputed for having surveyed the then little-known coast of Alaska as navigator. Vasiliev was sent by the Russian Imperial Hydrographic Service in 1819 to explore the northern parts of the...

 and Gleb Shishmaryov

Gleb Shishmaryov

Gleb Semyonovich Shishmaryov was a rear admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy. He is reputed for having surveyed the then little-known coast of Alaska as navigator...

 of the Imperial Russian Navy

Imperial Russian Navy

The Imperial Russian Navy refers to the Tsarist fleets prior to the February Revolution.-First Romanovs:Under Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, construction of the first three-masted ship, actually built within Russia, was completed in 1636. It was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein...

 on the ships Otkrietie and Blagonamierennie. Vasiliev and Shishmaryov named this headland Mys Rikord, after Peter Ivanovich Rikord (1776–1855), who was Governor of Kamchatka

Kamchatka Oblast

Kamchatka Oblast was, until being incorporated into Kamchatka Krai on July 1, 2007, a federal subject of Russia . To the north, it bordered Magadan Oblast and Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Koryak Autonomous Okrug was located in the northern part of the oblast...

 between 1817 and 1822.

This cape was later renamed by Captain Frederick William Beechey

Frederick William Beechey

Frederick William Beechey was an English naval officer and geographer. He was the son of Sir William Beechey, RA., and was born in London.-Career:...

 of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, who wrote on August 2, 1826: "We closed with a high cape, which I named after Mr. Deas Thomson, one of the commissioners of the navy."

In 1958 Cape Thompson was the proposed site for an artificial harbor to be dug using hydrogen bombs via Project Chariot

Operation Chariot (1958)

Project Chariot was a 1958 US Atomic Energy Commission proposal to construct an artificial harbor at Cape Thompson on the North Slope of the U.S...

.