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Narsarmijit, Greenland

Coordinates: 60°00′17″N 44°39′55″W / 60.00472°N 44.66528°W / 60.00472; -44.66528
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Narsarmijit
Frederiksthal[1]
Narsarmijit is located in Greenland
Narsarmijit
Narsarmijit
Location within Greenland
Coordinates: 60°00′17″N 44°39′55″W / 60.00472°N 44.66528°W / 60.00472; -44.66528
State Kingdom of Denmark
Constituent country Greenland
Municipality Kujalleq
Government
 • MayorAugo Simonsen
Population
 (2020)
 • Total66
Time zoneUTC−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.

Geography

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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

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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 (1768–1832)[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

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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

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

References

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  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. ^ a b Statistics Greenland Archived 2011-08-12 at the Wayback Machine