Qeqertarsuatsiaat, also known by its Danish name Fiskernæs (alternatively Fiskenæsset), is a settlement 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 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 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 ...

, located on an island off the shores 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 ...

. Its population was 169 in 2020.

History

Kikertarsocitsiak or Qeqertarsuatsiaat has long been the local name for the island ( Kalaallisut: "Rather Large Islands"). It was first settled by 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 ...

as Fiskernæs in 1754. The name was often

anglicized Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

as Fisher's Inlet. The trading post was founded by the merchant Anders Olsen on behalf of the Danish

General Trade Company The General Trade Company () was a Dano-Norwegian trading company charged with administering the realm's settlements and trade in Greenland. The company existed from 1747 to 1774 and managed the government of Greenland from 1749. History The Gener ...

, which was granted a royal monopoly on trade in Greenland but only in and around its settlements. Like most Greenlandic trading posts, it was a location for the Danes to trade imported goods for seal skins and seal and whale blubber gathered by

Kalaallit Kalaallit are a Greenlandic Inuit ethnic group, being the largest group in Greenland, concentrated in the west. It is also a contemporary term in the Greenlandic language for the Indigenous of Greenland ().Hessel, 8 The Kalaallit (singular: ) a ...

in the area. Unusually, the settlement became the early center of Greenland's

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

and

cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...

fisheries and it was as common to see the large "woman's boat" or

umiak The umiak, umialak, umiaq, umiac, oomiac, oomiak, ongiuk, or anyak is a type of open skin boat, used by the Yupik peoples, Yupik and Inuit, and was originally found in all coastal areas from Siberia to Greenland. First used in Thule people, Thule ...

as the smaller hunting

kayak ] A kayak is a small, narrow human-powered watercraft typically propelled by means of a long, double-bladed paddle. The word ''kayak'' originates from the Inuktitut word '' qajaq'' (). In British English, the kayak is also considered to be ...

s. In 1748, Cornelia Lüdecke, Lüdecke, Cornelia.
East Meets West: Meteorological observations of the Moravians in Greenland and Labrador since the 18th century
". ''History of Meteorology'' 2, 2005. 1754,Cranz, David & al.
The History of Greenland: including an account of the mission carried on by the United Brethren in that country
''. Longman, 1820. 1757,American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
Biography: Life of Matthew Stach
". ''The Missionary Herald'', #19. Samuel T. Armstrong, 1823. or 1758,Mission in Greenland
". ''The Christian Library: Comprising a Series of Standard Works in Religious Literature.'' Key & Biddle, 1833. the Moravian mission of Lichtenfels was established in another inlet of the same island by

Matthias Stach Matthias is a name derived from the Greek Ματθαίος, in origin similar to Matthew. Notable people Notable people named Matthias include the following: Religion * Saint Matthias, chosen as an apostle in Acts 1:21–26 to replace Judas Isca ...

and four families from New Herrnhut. The first conversions were not made until 1760 or 1761, but afterwards the population of the settlement rose to around 300 and was for a time the largest village in Greenland. All urbanization in Greenland was negatively affected by the

Royal Greenland Trading Department The Royal Greenland Trading Department (, KGH) was a Danish state enterprise charged with administering the realm's settlements and trade in Greenland. The company managed the government of Greenland from 1774 to 1908 through its Board of Manag ...

(KGH)'s Instruction of 1782, aimed at protecting the company's income by maintaining the Inuit in their traditional roles as nomadic hunters. The mission was surrendered to the Lutheran

Church of Denmark The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark or National Church ( , or unofficially ; ), sometimes called the Church of Denmark, is the established, state-supported church in Denmark. The supreme secular authority of the church is composed of ...

in 1900 and has since been abandoned. The last known

great auk The great auk (''Pinguinus impennis''), also known as the penguin or garefowl, is an Extinction, extinct species of flightless bird, flightless auk, alcid that first appeared around 400,000 years ago and Bird extinction, became extinct in the ...

in Greenland was hunted near Fiskernæs in 1815 by one of the villagers.

Transport and amenities

Qeqertarsuatsiaat is a port of call for the

Arctic Umiaq Line Arctic Umiaq Line A/S (AUL) or Arctic Umiaq is a passenger and freight shipping line in Greenland. Its name derives from the Kalaallisut word for the traditional Inuit passenger boat, the umiak, distinguished from the kayak, used for hunting. Th ...

ferry. There is a viewpoint at Telehuset. The Danish Crown Princely family visited the town as part of an official tour of Greenland in summer 2014.

Mining

a mine employing 30 people in the mining of pink sapphire and

rubies Ruby is a pinkish-red-to-blood-red-colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum (aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphi ...

from the Aappaluttoq deposit was under development by True North Gems Greenland, a Canadian firm, near Qeqertarsuatsiaat.

Population

Qeqertarsuatsiaat has lost population in the last two decades: more than a quarter since 1990 and almost 10 percent since 2000.Statistics Greenland
Qeqertarsuatsiaat-population-dynamics

References

{{Settlements in Greenland Populated places in Greenland Populated places established in 1754 1754 establishments in the Danish colonial empire