  Nipisat | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Davis Strait |
| Coordinates | 66°48′50″N53°30′30″W / 66.81389°N 53.50833°W Coordinates: 66°48′50″N53°30′30″W / 66.81389°N 53.50833°W |
| Area | 1.03 km2 (0.40 sq mi) |
| Administration | |
Greenland | |
| Municipality | Qeqqata |
Nipisat Island (Kalaallisut: "Lumpfish", referring to the island's shape) [1] is a small, uninhabited island in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland.
Nipisat Island is situated 15 km (9.3 mi) south of Sisimiut, on the shores of Davis Strait. It belongs to the group of small islands and skerries located at the mouth of Ikertooq Fjord, immediately to the west of Sarfannguit Island. [2] Dwarf scrub heath, dwarf birch, Arctic willow, well-drained lichens, and herb vegetation dominate the flora. [3]
In the 18th century, the Danes and Norwegians came to Nipisat. In 1723, Hans Egede found native people actively engaged in hunting large whalebone whales in Nipisat and the Danes established the first settlement, a trading station here. [4] Two years later, a small mission was established on the island, but it was abandoned the following year, and then burnt down by Dutch whalers. [5] In 1727, the Norwegians Ditlev Vibe and Bishop Deichmann of Christiania recommended to the King of Denmark the re-establishment of a trade station at Nipisat and the establishment of a whaling station. [6] In 1728, Frederick IV of Denmark ordered a fortress be constructed at Nipisat, [7] but two years later, he ordered its abandonment and evacuation. [8]
The island is notable for its well preserved Saqqaq culture archaeological site, containing some stone artifacts that were previously unknown from the Saqqaq culture. [9] The Saqqaq people are not the ancestors of modern Kalaallit people, rather they are related to modern Chukchi and Koryak peoples. [10] The site, named after the island, was discovered in 1989 by Finn Kramer, curator of the Sisimiut Museum. [11] It lies approximately 50 m (160 ft) from the present coastline, situated on raised beaches with a southeastern slope. The area elevation ranges between 9 m (30 ft)and 13 m (43 ft) above mean sea level. This part of the island that contains the archaeological site, did not show signs of later occupation by Dorset culture or Thule culture. [11] However, it does show signs of pre-Dorset, and of Arctic small tool tradition. [12] During the five year evacuation period of 1989–1994, over 70,000 bone fragments and approximately 1,000 artifacts were recovered, [13] including 314 tools. [14]
On 30 June 2018, it was inscribed as part of Aasivissuit – Nipisat: Inuit Hunting Ground between Ice and Sea, a UNESCO World Heritage site that stretches inland to the Greenland Ice Sheet. The world heritage site includes six other archaeological sites that each display different aspects of hunter-gatherer societies through 4000 years of occupation in Greenland. [15]
Greenland is the world's largest island, located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for more than a millennium, beginning in 986. The majority of its residents are Inuit, whose ancestors migrated from Alaska through Northern Canada, gradually settling across the island by the 13th century.
The history of Greenland is a history of life under extreme Arctic conditions: currently, an ice sheet covers about eighty percent of the island, restricting human activity largely to the coasts.
The Thule or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by the year 1000 and expanded eastward across northern Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people of the earlier Dorset culture that had previously inhabited the region. The appellation "Thule" originates from the location of Thule in northwest Greenland, facing Canada, where the archaeological remains of the people were first found at Comer's Midden. The links between the Thule and the Inuit are biological, cultural, and linguistic.
The Paleo-Eskimo were the peoples who inhabited the Arctic region from Chukotka in present-day Russia across North America to Greenland prior to the arrival of the modern Inuit (Eskimo) and related cultures. The first known Paleo-Eskimo cultures developed by 2500 BCE, but were gradually displaced in most of the region, with the last one, the Dorset culture, disappearing around 1500 CE.
The Dorset was a Paleo-Eskimo culture, lasting from 500 BCE to between 1000 CE and 1500 CE, that followed the Pre-Dorset and preceded the Thule people (proto-Inuit) in the North American Arctic. The culture and people are named after Cape Dorset in Nunavut, Canada, where the first evidence of its existence was found. The culture has been defined as having four phases due to the distinct differences in the technologies relating to hunting and tool making. Artifacts include distinctive triangular end-blades, oil lamps made of soapstone, and burins.
The Saqqaq culture was a Paleo-Eskimo culture in southern Greenland. Up to this day, no other people seem to have lived in Greenland continually for as long as the Saqqaq.
The culture of Greenland has much in common with Greenlandic Inuit tradition, as the majority of people are descended from Inuit. Many people still go ice fishing and there are annual dog-sled races in which everyone with a team participates.
Qaqortoq, formerly Julianehåb, is a town in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland, located near Cape Thorvaldsen. With a population of 3,050 in 2020, it is the most populous town and the municipal capital in southern Greenland and the fourth or fifth-largest town on the island.
Sisimiut, formerly known as Holsteinsborg, is the capital and largest city of the Qeqqata municipality, the second-largest city in Greenland, and the largest arctic city in North America. It is located in central-western Greenland, on the coast of Davis Strait, approximately 320 km (200 mi) north of Nuuk.
Kullorsuaq is a settlement in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. It is the northernmost settlement in the Upernavik Archipelago, located on Kullorsuaq Island at the southern end of Melville Bay, itself part of the larger Baffin Bay.
Sarfannguit is a settlement in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland. Its population was 96 in 2020. The settlement was founded in 1843. The town is located within the Aasivissuit – Nipisat UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2018 for its outstanding archeological sites representing the human occupation of Greenland for over 4000 years.
Saqqaq is a settlement in the Avannaata municipality in western Greenland. Founded in 1755 as Solsiden, Saqqaq had 132 inhabitants in 2020. The village's Kalaallisut name is a translation of the Danish meaning "Sunny Side", in reference to its position relative to Livets Top.
Kulusuk, formerly Kap Dan, is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland, located on an island of the same name. The settlement population of 241 includes many Danes choosing to live there due to the airport. In the Kalaallisut language, the name of the village means "Chest of a Black Guillemot".
Based on archeological finds, Brooman Point Village is an abandoned village in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located in the central High Arctic on a point of the Gregory Peninsula, part of the eastern coast of Bathurst Island. Brooman was both a Late Dorset culture Paleo-Eskimo village as well as an Early Thule culture village. Both the artifacts and the architecture, specifically longhouses, are considered important historical remains of the two cultures. The site shows traces of Palaeo-Eskimo occupations between about 2000 BC and 1 AD, but the major prehistoric settlement occurred from about 900 to 1200 AD.
Greenlanders are people identified with Greenland or the indigenous people, the Greenlandic Inuit. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Greenlanders, many of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Greenlandic. However, the term can in different contexts be delimited more precisely in different ways: as the inhabitants of Greenland, as nationals of Greenland or more broadly as persons who feel a cultural affiliation in a broad sense to Greenland. More controversial is a more recent use of the word in the sense persons of Greenlandic origin, i.e. persons whose parents were born in Greenland.
Upernavik Archipelago is a vast coastal archipelago in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland, off the shores of northeastern Baffin Bay. The archipelago extends from the northwestern coast of Sigguup Nunaa peninsula in the south at approximately 71°50′N56°00′W to the southern end of Melville Bay in the north at approximately 74°50′N57°30′W.
Sisimiut Museum is a museum in Sisimiut, Greenland. Located in a historical building near the harbour, specialises in Greenlandic trade, industry and shipping, with artifacts based on ten years of archaeological research and excavations of the ancient Saqqaq culture settlements near the town, offering an insight into the culture of the region of 4,000 years ago.
The Royal Greenland Trading Department 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 Managers in Copenhagen and a series of Royal Inspectors and Governors in Godthaab and Godhavn on Greenland. The company was headquartered at Grønlandske Handels Plads at Christianshavn.
Kujataa is a sub-arctic farming landscape in the southern region of Greenland. It is the first known example of agriculture in the Arctic, and the oldest evidence of the Old Norse culture spreading outside Europe. The unique juxtaposition of farming and hunting for marine mammals that occurred in the region from the 10th through 15th centuries and from the 18th century to today headlined the region's inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2017.
Aasivissuit – Nipisat: Inuit Hunting Ground between Ice and Sea is a cultural landscape and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the central part of Western Greenland. Added to the World Heritage List in 2018, the site preserves the archeological remains of over 4000 years of occupation and contains well-preserved evidence of seasonal hunting and gathering. Remains from the Saqqaq, Dorset, and Thule cultures and sites from the later Inuit and colonial era are protected within the site.
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