Theme Week Greenland – Sisimiut

23 September 2022 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  < 1 minute

Sisimiut and Nasaasaaq mountain © Algkalv/cc-by-sa-3.0

Sisimiut and Nasaasaaq mountain © Algkalv/cc-by-sa-3.0

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 NuukSisimiut literally means “the residents at the foxholes” (Danish: Beboerne ved rævehulerne). The site has been inhabited for the last 4,500 years, first by peoples of the Saqqaq culture, then Dorset culture, and then the Thule people, whose Inuit descendants form the majority of the current population. Artifacts from the early settlement era can be found throughout the region, favored in the past for its plentiful fauna, particularly the marine mammals providing subsistence for the early hunting societies. The population of modern Greenlanders in Sisimiut is a mix of the Inuit and Danish peoples, who first settled in the area in the 1720s, under the leadership of the Danish missionary, Hans Egede.   read more…

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