Major Claus Enevold Paarss (18 February 1683 – 26 May 1762) was a
Danish military officer and official. Retired from service,
[Marquardt, Ole]
"Change and Continuity in Denmark's Greenland Policy"
in ''The Oldenburg Monarchy: An Underestimated Empire?''. Verlag Ludwig (Kiel), 2006. he was appointed governor of Greenland by King
Frederick IV between 1728 and 1730.
[Mirsky, Jeannette. ]
To the Arctic!: The Story of Northern Exploration from Earliest Times
'. Univ. of Chicago Press, 1998.
Paarss was born in
Thy in then
Denmark–Norway
Denmark–Norway (Danish language, Danish and Norwegian language, Norwegian: ) is a term for the 16th-to-19th-century multi-national and multi-lingual real unionFeldbæk 1998:11 consisting of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Norway (includ ...
in 1683 and commanded a Danish man-of-war and three
[Cranz, David & al. ]
The History of Greenland: including an account of the mission carried on by the United Brethren in that country
'. Longman, 1820. or four other ships to
Hans Egede
Hans Poulsen Egede (31 January 1686 – 5 November 1758) was a Denmark–Norway, Danish-Norwegian Lutheran missionary priest who launched mission efforts to Greenland, which led him to be styled the Apostle of Greenland. He established a succes ...
's "Haabets Koloni" on
Kangeq, which he removed to the mainland opposite and fortified under the name "Godt-Haab",
later known as
Godthåb and then
Nuuk
Nuuk (; , formerly ) is the capital and most populous city of Greenland, an autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the territory's largest cultural and economic center. It is also the seat of gove ...
. His contingent of colonists consisted of twenty soldiers, three sergeants, and two officers from the Danish artillery corps, along with twelve military convicts, ten unmarried mothers, and two female convicts who were to be wed to one another according to lots. He also carried a dozen horses.
After putting down a general mutiny,
Paarss tried and failed twice to cross the island from the
Ameralik Fjord in search of resources and a connection to the supposed location of the old
Norse Eastern Settlement
The Eastern Settlement ( ) was the first and by far the larger of the two main areas of Norse Greenland, settled by Norsemen from Iceland. At its peak, it contained approximately 4,000 inhabitants. The last written record from the Eastern Settl ...
. He also proposed a scheme to populate Greenland with fallen Danish aristocrats and their households on the model of the
French colonies in Canada.
Meanwhile, forty of his colonists died of scurvy and other complaints, leading to the abandonment of the colony even by the
native Greenlanders.
Paarss died in
Korsør
Korsør is a town in Zealand (Denmark), Zealand, Denmark. It is located in Slagelse Municipality. Until 2007 Korsør was the seat of Korsør Municipality. The town is located west of Slagelse, north-west of Skælskør and connects to Nyborg thr ...
in 1762.
See also
*
Danish colonization of Greenland
*
List of governors of Greenland
*
Hans Egede
Hans Poulsen Egede (31 January 1686 – 5 November 1758) was a Denmark–Norway, Danish-Norwegian Lutheran missionary priest who launched mission efforts to Greenland, which led him to be styled the Apostle of Greenland. He established a succes ...
, a Lutheran missionary active at Paarss's settlement
References
1683 births
1762 deaths
Danish emigrants to Greenland
Governors of Greenland
Norwegian emigrants to Greenland
18th-century Danish politicians
{{Greenland-politician-stub