Ammassivik (old spelling: ''Angmagssivik'') is a settlement in the

Kujalleq Kujalleq (Greenlandic language, Greenlandic: , ) is a municipality on the southern tip of Greenland, operational from 1 January 2009. The administrative center of the municipality is in Qaqortoq (formerly called Julianehåb). Creation The munic ...

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

in southern

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

. The modern name is the Kalaallisut for "where you catch ammassaat (capelin)". Its population was 74 in 2010. As of 1 January 2024, its population was 32. The settlement was founded in 1889 as Sletten. In 1899, a school the ''Isak Lundip atuarfia'' was built in the settlement by Danish missionaries. The school had 6 students in 2005. In 1922, the settlement became a trading centre. Until December 31, 2008, the settlement belonged to the Nanortalik municipality. Since January 1, 2009, the settlement has been part of the Kujalleq municipality, when the former municipalities of

Qaqortoq Qaqortoq (), also known as Julianehåb, is the capital city of the Kujalleq municipalities of Greenland, municipality in southern Greenland, located near Cape Thorvaldsen. With a population of 3,050 in 2020, it is the most populous town in sout ...

Narsaq Narsaq ( Danish: ''Nordprøven'') is a town in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. The name ''Narsaq'' is Kalaallisut for "Plain", referring to the shore of Tunulliarfik Fjord where the town is located. History People have liv ...

, and

Nanortalik Nanortalik (, ), formerly Nennortalik, is a town in Nanortalik Island, Kujalleq municipalities of Greenland, municipality, southern Greenland. With 1,072 inhabitants as of 2024, it is the List of cities and towns in Greenland, eleventh-largest ...

ceased to exist as administrative entities.

Transport and communications

The settlement has a heliport, connecting it to the nearby

and Aappilattoq, and with the rest of the world. The main transportation is by sea. During winter,

dog sled A dog sled or dog sleigh is a sled pulled by one or more sled dogs used to travel over ice and through snow, a practice known as mushing. Numerous types of sleds are used, depending on their function. They can be used for Sled dog racing, dog sl ...

routes are important transport links to the surrounding area. The settlement is served by a

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...

supported

ADSL Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is a type of digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over Copper wire, copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem ...

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

link. Ammassivik is also the postal centre of the surrounding area, being regularly visited by a post ship.

Geography

The settlement is located at approximately , on the shore of the

Alluitsoq Fjord Alluitsoq, formerly spelled Agdluitsok, is a former settlement in southern Greenland, located on the Alluitsoq or Lichtenau Fjord near Cape Farewell. It is about 13 kilometers from Ammassivik (Sletten), located on the opposite side of the sam ...

(). The sheep farms of Qallimiut and

Qorlortorsuaq Qorlortorsuaq is a village in the Nanortalik district, in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland, located at the site of the largest waterfall in the country; the waterfall also goes by the name of Qorlortorsuaq. In 2020, the town had onl ...

are nearby, with 15 and 13 inhabitants, respectively. On the opposite side of the fjord are the ruins of the Moravian mission Lichtenau, once Greenland's most populous settlement.

Population

Most towns and settlements in southern Greenland exhibit negative growth patterns over the last two decades, with many settlements rapidly depopulating. The population of Ammassivik more than halved relative to the 1990 levels, and decreased over a quarter relative to the 2000 levels.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Greenland Kujalleq