Narsarmijit, Greenland

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Narsarmijit
Frederiksthal [1]
Greenland edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Narsarmijit
Location within Greenland
Coordinates: 60°00′17″N44°39′55″W / 60.00472°N 44.66528°W / 60.00472; -44.66528
StateFlag of Denmark (state).svg  Kingdom of Denmark
Constituent country Flag of Greenland.svg  Greenland
Municipality Kujalleq-coat-of-arms.svg Kujalleq
Government
[2]
  MayorAugo Simonsen
Population
 (2020)
  Total66
Time zone UTC−02:00 (Western Greenland Time)
  Summer (DST) UTC−01:00 (Western Greenland Summer Time)
Postal code
3922 Nanortalik

Narsarmijit, [3] [4] formerly Narsaq Kujalleq and Frederiksdal (Anglicised: Frederiksthal), is a settlement in southern Greenland. It is located in the Kujalleq municipality near Cape Thorvaldsen. Its population was 66 in 2020. [5] There has been a slow but steady pattern of emigration since the late 1950s.

Contents

Geography

Narsarmijit is the southernmost settlement in the country, located approximately 50 kilometers (31 mi) north of Cape Farewell, the southern cape of Greenland. [6]

History

The city is located in the area of the easternmost of the Norse settlements during their colonization of Greenland. [7] The former village of Ikigait is roughly 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) away and was the site of Herjólfr Bárðarson's farm Herjolfsnes ("Herjolf's Point" [8] ).

The Moravian missionary Conrad Kleinschmidt (17681832) [9] founded the station of Friedrichsthal (Danish : Frederiksdal, lit. "Frederick's Valley") in 1824. The name honored Frederick VI of Denmark. The station was the Moravian's fourth, after Neu-Herrnhut (1733), Lichtenfels (1748), and Lichtenau (1774) and before Umanak (1861) and Idlorpait (1864). All the Greenland missions were surrendered to the Lutheran church in 1900. [10] In the 19th century, the area served as a prime territory for sealing. [11] Members of the settlement rescued the survivors of the ill-fated German polar expedition's Hansa in 1870. [12] In 1906, pastor Jens Chemnitz founded Greenland's first sheep farm in Narsarmijit; the industry has since moved north to the larger pastures around Narsaq.

Until 31 December 2008 the settlement belonged to the Nanortalik municipality. Since the administrative reform enacted on 1 January 2009 the settlement has been part of Kujalleq.

Transport

The village is served by the Narsarmijit Heliport. Air Greenland district helicopters link the settlement with Nanortalik, and further to Qaqortoq and Narsarsuaq. [13]

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 Narsarmijit has decreased nearly a half relative to the 1990 levels, by nearly a quarter relative to the 2000 levels. [14]

Narsarmijit-population-dynamics.png
Narsarmijit population growth dynamics in the last two decades. Source: Statistics Greenland [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Greenland</span>

Greenland is located between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Canada and northwest of Iceland. The territory comprises the island of Greenland—the largest island in the world—and more than a hundred other smaller islands. Greenland has a 1.2-kilometer-long (0.75 mi) border with Canada on Hans Island. A sparse population is confined to small settlements along certain sectors of the coast. Greenland possesses the world's second-largest ice sheet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Narsaq</span> Place in Greenland, Kingdom of Denmark

Narsaq 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nanortalik</span> Place in Greenland, Kingdom of Denmark

Nanortalik, formerly Nennortalik, is a town in Nanortalik Island, Kujalleq municipality, southern Greenland. With 1,185 inhabitants as of 2020, it is the eleventh-largest town in the country. The name Nanortalik means "Place of Polar Bears" or "Place Where the Polar Bears Go". It is the southernmost town in Greenland with a population of over 1,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alluitsup Paa</span> Place in Greenland, Kingdom of Denmark

Alluitsup Paa is a village in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. Alluitsup Paa had 202 residents in 2020. Presently, the community's religious activities take place in Qaqortoq.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aappilattoq, Kujalleq</span> Place in Greenland, Kingdom of Denmark

Aappilattoq is a village in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. The name means "red", after the red mountain rising above the settlement in the Greenlandic language. The settlement had 100 inhabitants in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qassiarsuk</span> Place in Greenland, Kingdom of Denmark

Qassiarsuk is a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality, in southern Greenland. Its population was 39 in 2020. Qassiarsuk is part of the Kujataa World Heritage Site, due to its historical importance as the homestead of Erik the Red and its unique testimony to Greenlandic farming.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tasiusaq, Kujalleq</span> Place in Greenland, Kingdom of Denmark

Tasiusaq is a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland, founded in 1933. It is located at the Tasermiut Fjord, east of Nanortalik. Its population was 53 in 2020. In the Greenlandic language, the name of the settlement means "like a lake", referring to the lake-looking bay it's situated on. The inhabitants call it "Tasiisaq", which is the local dialect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ammassivik</span> Place in Greenland, Kingdom of Denmark

Ammassivik is a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. The modern name is the Kalaallisut for "where you catch ammassaat (capelin)". Its population was 74 in 2010 and 32 in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saarloq</span> Place in Greenland, Kingdom of Denmark

Saarloq is a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. Its population was 21 in 2020. It is located on a small island with the same name off the Labrador Sea coast, at the mouth of the Qaqortoq Fjord, west of Alluitsup Paa and 20 km south of Qaqortoq.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qassimiut</span> Place in Greenland, Kingdom of Denmark

Qassimiut is a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. The settlement was founded in 1835 as a trading station. With a population of 20 in 2020, it is the smallest organized, permanent settlement in Greenland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kujalleq</span> Municipality of Greenland

Kujalleq is a municipality on the southern tip of Greenland, operational from 1 January 2009. The administrative center of the municipality is in Qaqortoq.

Narsaq Kujalleq Heliport or Narsarmijit Heliport is a heliport in Narsaq Kujalleq, a village in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. The heliport is considered a helistop, and is served by Air Greenland as part of a government contract.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tunulliarfik Fjord</span> Fjord in Greenland

Tunulliarfik Fjord is a fjord near Qaqortoq in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. It is the inner section of Skovfjord (Skovfjorden). In times of the Norse settlement in southern Greenland, it was known as Eiriksfjord.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alluitsoq</span> Former settlement in southern Greenland

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 same fjord.

Herjolfsfjord was the Norse name of a fjord in Greenland where one of their major homesteads was located. The fjord is approximately 50 km northwest of Cape Farewell and is now called Narssap Sarqa.

Cape Thorvaldsen is a headland in southwest Greenland in the Kujalleq municipality.

Iluileq is an uninhabited island in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nanortalik Municipality</span> Municipality in Greenland, Kingdom of Denmark

Nanortalik Municipality was a municipality in south Greenland, a sub-division of the Kujalleq municipality.

References

  1. Sabine, Edward (1872). "Contributions to Terrestrial Magnetism. No. XIII". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 162: 353–433. ISSN   0261-0523.
  2. Kujalleq Municipality Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine (in Danish)
  3. The name is from the local dialect of Greenlandic. The standard Kalaallisut name Narsaq Kujalleq was used briefly. Their pre-1973 spellings were Narsamiit and Narssak Kujatdlek or Narsak. In both dialects, the name means "Dwellers from the Plains".
  4. Jensen, Einar Lund & al. Monographs on Greenland: Man & Society: Cultural Encounters at Cape Farewell: The East Greenland Immigrants and the German Moravian Mission in the 19th Century . Museum Tusculanum Press, 2011. ISBN   87-635-3165-8.
  5. "Population by Localities". Statistical Greenland. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  6. O'Carroll, Etain & al. Greenland and the Arctic. Lonely Planet, 2005. ISBN   1-74059-095-3.
  7. Fiske, John. The Discovery of America , Vol. 1. Echo Library, 2009. ISBN   1-4068-2929-3.
  8. Scott, Brian M. Place-Names in the Landnámabók Archived 2012-03-24 at the Wayback Machine ". Accessed 28 Apr 2012.
  9. Del, Anden. "Grønland som del af den bibelske fortælling – en 1700-tals studie Archived 2012-07-15 at the Wayback Machine " ["Greenland as Part of the Biblical Narrative a Study of the 18th-Century"]. (in Danish)
  10. Lüdecke, Cornelia. "East Meets West: Meteorological observations of the Moravians in Greenland and Labrador since the 18th century Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine ". History of Meteorology 2 (2005). Accessed 27 Apr 2012.
  11. Kent, Kane Elisha. Arctic Explorations .
  12. "The 1869/70 German North Polar Expedition".
  13. "Booking system". Air Greenland. Archived from the original on 22 April 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  14. 1 2 Statistics Greenland Archived 2011-08-12 at the Wayback Machine