Arsuk is a village in the

Sermersooq Sermersooq () is a municipality in Greenland, formed on 1 January 2009 from five previous, smaller municipalities. Its administrative seat is the city of Nuuk (formerly called Godthåb), the capital of Greenland, and it is the most populous ...

municipality in southwestern

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 ...

. It had 73 inhabitants in 2020. The name of the settlement means ''the beloved place'' in the

Greenlandic language Greenlandic, also known by its Endonym and exonym, endonym Kalaallisut (, ), is an Inuit languages, Inuit language belonging to the Eskaleut languages#Internal classification, Eskimoan branch of the Eskaleut languages, Eskaleut language family. ...

.arsukfjorden.gl
− ''frames required'' The village is served by the communal all-purpose Pilersuisoq store.

Geography

Arsuk is located at the southern end of the Sermersooq municipality, on the coast of

Labrador Sea The Labrador Sea (; ) is an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean between the Labrador Peninsula and Greenland. The sea is flanked by continental shelf, continental shelves to the southwest, northwest, and northeast. It connects to the north with Baffi ...

near the mouth of the Arsuk Fjord in the southeast. It is north of Cape Desolation, where the coastline of southwestern Greenland turns to the east approximately to the south of the settlement at the wide mouth of Alanngorsuaq Fjord. The Kuunnaat mountain rises on the mainland directly to the north of the village.

History

The region was first settled by people of the

Saqqaq culture The Saqqaq culture was a Paleo-Eskimo culture in southern Greenland. It was named after the settlement of Saqqaq, the site of many archaeological finds. The Saqqaq were the longest-residing residents of Greenland in all of history. Timeframe T ...

arriving from the north. The area was resettled by the Norse between the 10th century and the 14th century.

Thule people The Thule ( , ) or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by 1000 AD and expanded eastward across northern Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people of the ...

were the second southbound

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

migration, to arrive in the region in the 15th century, with the area permanently settled since then. The discovery of

cryolite Cryolite ( Na3 Al F6, sodium hexafluoroaluminate) is a rare mineral identified with the once-large deposit at Ivittuut on the west coast of Greenland, mined commercially until 1987. It is used in the reduction ("smelting") of aluminium, in pest ...

in Ivittuut in the inner parts of Arsuk Fjord attracted the interest of the

Danes Danes (, ), or Danish people, are an ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. History Early history Denmark ...

during the colonial era, leading to the formal foundation of the settlement in 1805. The timber

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

church was built in 1830. The mines closed in 1987, with the Ivittuut settlement abandoned soon thereafter, leaving Arsuk on the economic periphery despite its tourism potential.

Transport

Arsuk is a port of call for the Arctic Umiaq Line coastal ship, linking the village with

Paamiut Paamiut, also known as Frederikshåb, is a town in southwestern Greenland in the Sermersooq municipalities of Greenland, municipality. Geography Paamiut is located on the coast of Labrador Sea in the southern end of a small estuary called Ku ...

in the north (6.5 hours), and

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 ...

in the southeast (9.5 hours), both towns serviced by

Air Greenland Air Greenland Aktieselskab, A/S (formerly named Grønlandsfly and Greenlandair) is the flag carrier of Greenland, owned by the Naalakkersuisut, Greenlandic Government. It operates a fleet of 28 aircraft, including a single Airbus A330-800 airli ...

.Air Greenland booking

Population

Most towns and settlements in southern Greenland exhibit negative growth patterns over the last two decades, with many settlements rapidly depopulating. Arsuk has been losing population for almost every year in the last two decades. It lost more than half of its population relative to the 1990 levels, over 10% relative to the 2000 levels.Statistics Greenland
The sharp decline in the 1990s was due to the mine closure and loss of employment. The weak growth in the late 2000s and stabilization of the population level prevented Arsuk from sharing the fate of

Qassimiut Qassimiut, also known by its Danish name Bødker, is a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. The settlement was founded in 1835 as a trading station. With a population of 14 in 2024, it is the smallest organised, perma ...

, which lost more than two thirds of the population and is headed for abandonment − and that of

Kangerluarsoruseq Kangerluarsoruseq, also known by its Danish name Færingehavn, is a former settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in southwestern Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the l ...

in the same municipality, which has already been abandoned in 2009.

References

{{Settlements in Greenland Populated places in Greenland Populated places established in 1805 1805 establishments in Greenland