Avannaa, originally Nordgrønland ("North Greenland"), was one of the three

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

() of

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 ...

, which existed until 31 December 2008. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

was

Qaanaaq Qaanaaq (), formerly known as New Thule, is the main town in the northern part of the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. The town has a population of 646 as of 2020. The population was forcibly relocated from its former, traditiona ...

, the main settlement. It was one of the least-densely populated

administrative division Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divi ...

s in the world, with 843 people living in 106,700 km² of ice-free land, a density of 0.0079 people per square kilometre. The total land area, including the land covered by the

ice cap In glaciology, an ice cap is a mass of ice that covers less than of land area (usually covering a highland area). Larger ice masses covering more than are termed ice sheets. Description By definition, ice caps are not constrained by topogra ...

, is over 500,000 km². North Greenland has a higher portion of ice-free land than most other areas of the country, because much of the extreme north, such as

Peary Land Peary Land is a peninsula in northern Greenland, extending into the Arctic Ocean. It reaches from Victoria Fjord in the west to Independence Fjord in the south and southeast, and to the Arctic Ocean in the north, with Cape Morris Jesup, the nor ...

, is largely ice-free due to its low

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

."The CIA World Factbook 2008" Central Intelligence Agency, Skyhorse Publishing, 2007, , p. 253 The county was also sometimes known as ''Avannaarsua'' or ''Avanersuaq''.

Former local divisions

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' ...

, created 1 January 1963 *

Pituffik Space Base Pituffik Space Base ( ; ; ), formerly Thule Air Base (), is a United States Space Force base located on the northwest coast of Greenland in the Kingdom of Denmark under a defense agreement between Denmark and the United States. 150 United Stat ...

( Pituffik) (unincorporated), an

enclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is so ...

surrounded by Qaanaaq Municipality (never part of Qaanaaq Municipality) *

Northeast Greenland National Park Northeast Greenland National Park (, ) is the world's largest national park and the 10th largest protected area (the only larger protected areas consist mostly of sea). Established in 1974, the Northeast Greenland national park expanded to its p ...

(northern part, since 1988 taken away from Qaanaaq Municipality, to enlarge the existing National Park) (unincorporated)

Local occupations

Seal hunting Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of Pinniped, seals. Seal hunting is currently practiced in nine countries: Canada, Denmark (in self-governing Greenland only), Russia, the United States (above the Arctic Circle ...

is the most important source of income for a large part of the population, and this is why the settlements here are different from those in the rest of Greenland. There are many settlements in the region, and the way of life is different from the one in busier Greenlandic towns. During the winter, when the fjords freeze over, the dog sled is a commonly used means of transport for the fishermen and hunters.

Wildlife

Land animals are limited to small mammals such as

fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

es or

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live Solitary animal, solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are precociality, able to fend for themselves ...

s, but air and sea life are plentiful. There are many species of

gull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed ...

; further, large numbers of

fulmar The fulmars are tube-nosed seabirds in the family Procellariidae. The family includes two extant species, and two extinct fossil species from the Miocene. Fulmars superficially resemble gulls, but are readily distinguished by their flight on s ...

s are often seen close to towns, where they make use of waste products from the fish factories.

Prawn Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton An exoskeleton () . is a skeleton that is on the exterior of an animal in the form of hardened integument, which both supports the body's shape and protects the intern ...

s, which are among Greenland's top exports, are the reason for many large

trawlers Trawler may refer to: Boats * Fishing trawler, used for commercial fishing * Naval trawler Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the World War I, Fir ...

and smaller fishing vessels which ply the waters of North Greenland. Also commonly seen is the gigantic

fin whale The fin whale (''Balaenoptera physalus''), also known as the finback whale or common rorqual, is a species of baleen whale and the second-longest cetacean after the blue whale. The biggest individual reportedly measured in length, wi ...

References

{{coord, 79, 00, N, 50, 00, W, scale:10000000, display=title Counties of Greenland States and territories disestablished in 2008 2008 disestablishments in Greenland

Former local divisions

Local occupations

Wildlife

See also

References