Editing Thule (section)

===Modern research===
A map of the world voyage done by Sir Francis Drake in 1577–1580 shows  Thule (Tile/Tule) as what is likely modern Iceland near Greenland.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3201s.rb000011/?r=0.419,0.199,0.182,0.272,0 | title=La herdike enterprinse faict par le Signeur Draeck d'Avoir cirquit toute la Terre | website=[[Library of Congress]] | date=1581 }}</ref>

The British surveyor [[Charles Vallancey]] (1731–1812) was one of many antiquarians to argue that [[Ireland]] was Thule, as he does in his book ''An essay on the antiquity of the Irish language''.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/anessayonantiqu00vallgoog An essay on the antiquity of the Irish language]</ref> Scottish historian [[W.F. Skene]] identified Thule as [[Kintyre]] peninsula in 1876 based upon a description given by Solinus.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Skene |first1=W.F. |title=Celtic Scotland Vol.1 |date=1971 |publisher=Books For Libraries Press |page=40}}</ref>

Another hypothesis, first proposed by [[Lennart Meri]] in 1976, holds that the island of [[Saaremaa]] (which is often known by the [[exonym]] Ösel) in [[Estonia]], could be Thule. That is, there is a phonological similarity between Thule and the [[root word|root]] ''tule-'' "of fire" in [[Estonian language|Estonian]] (and other [[Finnic languages]]). A [[Volcanic crater lake|crater lake]] named [[Kaali crater|Kaali]] on the island appears to have been formed by a [[meteor strike]] in prehistory.<ref name="Raamat: Saaremaa ongi Ultima Thule"/><ref name="err.ee"/><ref name="Silverwhite">{{cite book
 | author = Lennart Meri
 | year = 1976
 | title = Hõbevalge (Silverwhite)
 | publisher = Eesti Raamat
 | location = [[Tallinn]], [[Estonia]]
 | title-link =Silverwhite
 | author-link =Lennart Meri
 }}</ref> This meteor strike is often linked to Estonian folklore which has it that Saaremaa was a place where the sun at one point "went to rest".

Nazi Germany leadership considered Iceland to be the Thule area and the birthplace of the ancient [[Aryan race]], with senior Nazi leader [[Heinrich Himmler]] even sending [[Bruno Schweizer|an expedition team]] to Iceland in 1938 with hopes of finding a temple for Nordic gods like [[Thor]] and [[Odin]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/archaeology/nazi-archaeology.htm|title=What did the Nazis have to do with archaeology?|first=Charles W.|last=Bryant|publisher=How Stuff Works|date=April 16, 2024|accessdate=November 19, 2024}}</ref> 

In 2010, scientists from the Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformation Science at [[Technische Universität Berlin]] claimed to have identified persistent errors in calculation that had occurred in attempts by modern geographers to superimpose [[geographic coordinate system]]s upon Ptolemaic maps. After correcting for these errors, the scientists claimed, Ptolemy's Thule could be mapped to the Norwegian island of [[Smøla (island)|Smøla]].<ref name=Germania/>