Qeqertarsuaq () is a port and

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Qeqertalik Qeqertalik (, da, Den Ene med Øerne, lit=The One with Islands) is a municipality of Greenland created in 2018 from four southern regions of the former Qaasuitsup Municipality. Geography Qeqertalik Municipality is flanked in the south by the ...

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

, located on the south coast of

Disko Island Disko Island ( kl, Qeqertarsuaq, da, Diskoøen) is a large island in Baffin Bay, off the west coast of Greenland. It has an area of ,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 i ...

. Founded in 1773, the town is now home to a campus of the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

known as Arctic Station. ''Qeqertarsuaq'' is the Kalaallisut name for Disko Island and is also now used for several other islands on Greenland, including those formerly known as

Upernavik Upernavik (Kalaallisut: "Springtime Place") is a small town in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland, located on a small island of the same name. With 1,092 inhabitants as of 2020, it is the twelfth-largest town in Greenland. It c ...

and Herbert Island. Qeqertarsuaq means ‘the big island’ in Kalaallisut ( da, den store ø). In 2020, the town had 839 inhabitants. The remainder of the population of the island (less than 50 people) lives in the Kangerluk settlement, a few hours by boat to the northwest.

Geography

The total area of

Disko Island Disko Island ( kl, Qeqertarsuaq, da, Diskoøen) is a large island in Baffin Bay, off the west coast of Greenland. It has an area of ,Qeqertarsuatsiaq Island Qeqertarsuatsiaq Island (old spelling: ''Qeqertarssuatsiaq'', da, Hareøen) is an isolated and uninhabitedQeqertaq on the southwest coast at the mouth of Disko Fjord) is . Blæsedalen valley is to the north of the town. Kangerluk is the location where researchers found a 'galloping' glacier in 1999 that moves up to a day.

History

Traces of settlement between five and six thousand years ago have been found at Qeqertarsuaq. The settlers were paleo-Eskimos wandering south. During the 18th century, the first whalers came to Qeqertarsuaq, where they found a suitable anchorage. The town was founded as Godhavn by the whaler Svend Sandgreen in 1773. The name was sometimes

anglicized Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influenc ...

as Guthaven and the settlement was also known as Lievely or Leifly. It served as the northernmost point in the enforcement of the Danish rights to whaling in the region. Whaling has been of great importance to the town over the past two centuries. Hunting and fishing are still the primary occupations for the island's inhabitants. From an early date, Godhavn shared the administration of Greenland with

Godthåb Nuuk (; da, Nuuk, formerly ) is the capital and largest city of Greenland, a constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the country's largest cultural and economic centre. The major cities from other coun ...

(modern

Nuuk Nuuk (; da, Nuuk, formerly ) is the capital and largest city of Greenland, a constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the country's largest cultural and economic centre. The major cities from other coun ...

). Godhavn served as the capital for North Greenland while Godthåb directed

South Greenland The Southern Inspectorate of Greenland also known as South Greenland was a Danish inspectorate on Greenland consisting of the trading centers and missionary stations along the southwest coast of the island. Its capital was at Godthaab (modern N ...

. In 1862, a new law on municipalities was passed and the so-called Directions were introduced in Greenland. The primary task of the Directions was the administration of the means set apart for social purposes: support for widows, orphans, and others in need. The Directions also functioned as inferior courts in case of theft and other petty crimes. The Directions also took active part in the fight against the spreading of distemper. In Godhavn, they founded a kayak school for boys and a sewing school for girls. The Councils of Northern and Southern Greenland were summoned to a meeting in Godhavn on 3 May 1940. Following this meeting, administration for the entire island was concentrated in Godthåb. The Chief Administrative Office was abolished in 1950 at the establishment of the National Council of Greenland. With the end of government positions in town, the local economy focused more directly on hunting and fishing. On 1 January 2009, the former Qeqertarsuaq municipality was merged into the new

Qaasuitsup 400px, Clockwise from top left: Ukkusissat, Upernavik, Ilulissat Icefjord">Upernavik.html" ;"title="Ukkusissat, Upernavik">Ukkusissat, Upernavik, Ilulissat Icefjord, Uummannaq Qaasuitsup (, ''Place of Polar Darkness'') was a Municipalities of ...

municipality. This in turn was partitioned on 1 January 2018, at which time Qeqertarsuaq became part of the new municipality of

Tourism

Many of the flat

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...

ic mountains found on Disko Island are covered with perpetual snow. The largest is called Sermersuaq ("Grand Glacier"). Sermersuaq is situated rather far from the coast and is difficult to reach in the summer. Lyngmarksbræen ("Lyngmark Glacier") is much smaller, covering only about 10 km, but can be reached more easily in a few hours' walk. From Lyngmarksfjeld, a panoramic view of Disko Bay allows viewers to see the icebergs at Ilulissat almost away. Qeqertarsuaq has a dog sled rental.

Transport

Ilulissat-airport-air-greenland-sikorsky-s61n

During the winter,

Air Greenland Air Greenland A/S (formerly named Grønlandsfly), also known as Greenlandair, is the flag carrier airline of Greenland, owned by the Greenlandic Government. It operates a fleet of 32 aircraft, including 1 airliner used for transatlantic and ch ...

operates air services from Qeqertarsuaq Heliport to Ilulissat,

Qasigiannguit Qasigiannguit (), formerly Christianshåb, is a town located in western Greenland on the southeastern shore of Disko Bay in the Qeqertalik municipality. With 1,081 inhabitants in 2020, it is the thirteenth-largest town in Greenland. The main indu ...

, and

Aasiaat Aasiaat () or Ausiait, formerly Egedesminde, is a town in the Qeqertalik municipality in western Greenland, located in the heart of Aasiaat Archipelago at the southern end of Disko Bay. With a population of 3,069 as of 2020, it is Greenland's fo ...

.Air Greenland, Departures and Arrivals
When the waters of Disko Bay are navigable during summer and autumn, the heliport is closed and communication between settlements occurs only by sea via

Diskoline Disko Line A/S is a passenger and freight ferry line in western Greenland. It was founded in 2004DiskolineAbout/ref> as a small freight company. Complementary transport services Diskoline provides sea transport services on contract with the ...

. The ferry links Qeqertarsuaq with Ilulissat, Aasiaat, Qasigiannguit, and Kitsissuarsuit.

Notable current/former residents

* Rasmus Lerdorf, creator of the computer programming language PHP, was born in Qeqertarsuaq.Do you PHP?
by Rasmus Lerdorf

Population

With 839 inhabitants in 2020, Qeqertarsuaq was the smallest town in the then-municipality of Qaasuitsup. The population has decreased by more than 22% relative to the 1990 levels and by nearly 15% relative to the 2000 levels.

Sister cities

* Húsavík,

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

References

External links

greenland.com
Map of Qeqertarsuaq area {{Authority control Disko Island Populated places in Greenland Populated places of Arctic Greenland Populated places established in 1773 1773 establishments in North America 18th-century establishments in Greenland Qeqertalik