  Nipisat | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Davis Strait |
| 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 has 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 a North American autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the larger of two autonomous territories within the Kingdom, the other being the Faroe Islands; the citizens of both territories are full citizens of Denmark. As Greenland is one of the Overseas Countries and Territories of the European Union, citizens of Greenland are European Union citizens. The capital and largest city of Greenland is Nuuk. Greenland lies between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It is the world's largest island, and is the location of the northernmost area of the world – Kaffeklubben Island off the northern coast is the world's northernmost undisputed point of land, and Cape Morris Jesup on the mainland was thought to be so until the 1960s.
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 first humans are thought to have arrived in Greenland around 2500 BCE. Their descendants apparently died out and were succeeded by several other groups migrating from continental North America. There has been no evidence discovered that Greenland was known to Norsemen until the ninth century CE, when Norse Icelandic explorers settled on its southwestern coast. The ancestors of the Greenlandic Inuit who live there today appear to have migrated there later, around the year 1200, from northwestern Greenland.
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 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.
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.
Nuussuaq, formerly Kraulshavn, is a settlement in Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. It is the only mainland settlement in the Upernavik Archipelago, located near the western tip of the Nuussuaq Peninsula, on the northern coast of Sugar Loaf Bay, an indentation of Baffin Bay. It is most famously known as the official halfway point between Saskatoon and Helsinki as decided in the 2023 Concorde Drive halfway challenge. The settlement was founded in 1923 as a trading station, growing in size during the post-war consolidation phase, when hunters from several small villages in the region of neighboring Inussulik Bay, Sugar Loaf Bay, and Tasiusaq Bay moved into the larger settlements such as Nuussuaq and Kullorsuaq further north in Melville Bay. Today Nuussuaq remains one of the most traditional hunting and fishing villages in Greenland, with a stable population. The settlement had 181 inhabitants in 2020.
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, and is 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".
Independence I was a culture of Paleo-Eskimos who lived in northern Greenland and the Canadian Arctic between 2400 and 1900 BC. There has been much debate among scholars on when Independence I culture disappeared, and, therefore, there is a margin of uncertainty with the dates.
The Inuit are an indigenous people of the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America. The ancestors of the present-day Inuit are culturally related to Iñupiat, and Yupik, and the Aleut who live in the Aleutian Islands of Siberia and Alaska. The term culture of the Inuit, therefore, refers primarily to these areas; however, parallels to other Eskimo groups can also be drawn.
The Greenlandic Inuit are the indigenous and most populous ethnic group in Greenland. Most speak Greenlandic and consider themselves ethnically Greenlandic. People of Greenland are citizens of Denmark.
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.
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.
The Arctic Circle Trail is a hiking trail in Greenland. The route covers 165 kilometres (103 mi) from the interior settlement of Kangerlussuaq to Sisimiut on the coast.
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