King Christian IX Land ( da, Kong Christian IX Land) is a coastal area of Southeastern

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...

in Sermersooq Municipality fronting the

Denmark Strait The Denmark Strait () or Greenland Strait ( , 'Greenland Sound') is an oceanic strait between Greenland to its northwest and Iceland to its southeast. The Norwegian island of Jan Mayen lies northeast of the strait. Geography The strait connect ...

and extending through the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at ...

from 65°N to 70°N.

History

This area was named in September 1884 by Gustav Frederik Holm who claimed it for Denmark, naming it after the then-reigning Danish King

Christian IX Christian IX (8 April 181829 January 1906) was King of Denmark from 1863 until his death in 1906. From 1863 to 1864, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg. A younger son of Frederick William, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein ...

Geography

King Christian IX Land is bordered by

King Frederick VI Coast King Frederick VI Coast ( da, Kong Frederik VI Kyst) is a major geographic division of Greenland. It comprises the coastal area of Southeastern Greenland in Sermersooq and Kujalleq municipalities fronting the Irminger Sea of the North Atlantic ...

on the south,

King Christian X Land King Christian X Land ( da, Kong Christian X Land) is an area of northeastern Greenland. History This area was named after King Christian X of Denmark and Iceland (1870 – 1947), who rose to the throne in 1912. At the time of the Three-year ...

and the Scoresby Sound to the north, and the

Greenland Ice Sheet The Greenland ice sheet ( da, Grønlands indlandsis, kl, Sermersuaq) is a vast body of ice covering , roughly near 80% of the surface of Greenland. It is sometimes referred to as an ice cap, or under the term ''inland ice'', or its Danish equi ...

to the west. Greenland's highest mountain range, the

Watkins Range The Watkins Range ( da, Watkins Bjerge) is Greenland's highest mountain range. It is located in King Christian IX Land, Sermersooq municipality. The range was named after British Arctic explorer Gino Watkins. History Made up entirely of nuna ...

, as well as the nearly as high Schweizerland are located in this region.Kong Christian IX Land
/ref> The shore area of King Christian IX Land includes the

Blosseville Coast The Blosseville Coast ( da, Blosseville Kyst) is a long stretch of coast in King Christian IX Land, eastern Greenland. Administratively it belongs to the Sermersooq Municipality. The Blosseville Coast is steep and difficult to access by ship owin ...

to the east. There are many

fjords In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icela ...

, the largest of which are Sermilik, Kangerlussuaq and

Kangertittivatsiaq Kangertittivatsiaq, old spelling ''Kangerdlugssuatsiak'', meaning "The rather large fjord," is a fjord in Sermersooq, Eastern Greenland. There are numerous ruins of former relatively large Inuit settlements near the mouth of the fjord. These wer ...

, as well as numerous coastal islands, including

Ammassalik Ammassalik Island ( da, Ammassalik Ø) is an island in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland, with an area of .

which is the site of the most populous town in Eastern Greenland,

Tasiilaq Tasiilaq, formerly Ammassalik and Angmagssalik, is a town in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland. With 1,985 inhabitants as of 2020, it is the most populous community on the eastern coast, and the seventh-largest town in Gree ...

. On the coast itself there are some small settlements, such as

Sermiligaaq Sermiligaaq (old spelling: ''Sermiligâk´'') is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland. It is located near the Sermilik Sermilik ( da, Egede og Rothes Fjord) is a fjord in eastern Greenland. It is part of the S ...

, but areas far from the coast are uninhabited.

Image gallery

References

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External links

Caledonian magmatic activity in south-eastern Greenland
Geography of Greenland