Human History:

Archeological:

The oldest signs of human occupancy in the Nuuk area date back to the pre-inuit Saqqaq-culture. The finds date back to 2200 BC in the area around the now abandoned settlement of Qoornoq. The Saqqaq-culture lived in Greenland until app. 1000 BC.

The second immigration into Nuuk area has been called the Dorset-culture. There have been found some traces from this culture in the area around the former settlement of Kangeq. The Dorset-people disappeared from Nuuk district before 1000 AD.

Historical:

The third immigration came from the east. This was the Norse settlement of Greenland. The Norse led by Erik the Red settled in two areas in Greenland, of which Nuuk area was named the Western Settlement. This settlement has been dated to be from approximately between 1000 AD and 1350 AD.
The core area of the western settlement was the inner part of the Ameralik Fjord, especially along the two smaller fjords - Itilleq and Ameralla. According to the sagas and Icelandic medieval documents, the Western Settlement consisted of almost 90 farms and had a population at its highest (possibly around 1200 AD) of more than 1000 people.

Greenland, as the land was named by Erik the Red, became dependent on the Norwegian king by a decision taken by the Greenlandic parliament in 1261 AD, and later part of the Danish realm following the Kalmar-union in 1397 AD. So through odd ways, the Norse settlement became the judicial background for all later Danish commitment in Greenland.
Today the remains of around 70 farms and 3 churches have been found. The recent excavations done at Nipaatsoq (ruin V54) has produced many interesting new finds.
The Western Settlement was reported abandoned by the caretaker at the episcopal farm Gardar in South Greenland, Ivar Bardarsson, app. 1350 AD with these words:
" …There are only wild horses, goats, cattle and sheep and no people, neither Christian nor Heathen…" Thus ended the norse era in Nuuk district…
 
The fourth immigration into Nuuk area was by the Thule-culture, Inuit forefathers of the present day Greenlanders. This culture gradually adapted to the Greenlandic conditions to such an extent that during its migration southward along the westcoast it transformed a number of cultural traits and actually became a new Greenlandic Inuit culture, the Inussuk-culture.

The Inuit or neo-eskimos were propably the most specialized hunting community ever, which in fact enabled them to survive drastic climatic changes, like the one which made life for the Norse in Greenland very difficult after 1350 AD. The reason for this extraordinary ability to survive in this harsh Arctic climate was first of all the specialisation of hunting-methods practised on sea-mammals, resulting in the perfection of the kayak and the development of a culture so fully integrated with the land, that everything which could be used was being used.
In all of Nuuk Municipality innumerable remains of summer and winter camps have been found, dating back to around 1480 AD.
 
In the period following the Norse disappearance, the Inuit had the area to themselves, journeying from summer to winter camps, following their semi-nomadic hunting patterns. But soon other Europeans began to visit Greenland.
In the 16th century Dutch, Basque and Scottish whalers began to appear in the area as whale-blubber became an increasingly valuable commodity. The whalers in turn did also interact with the Inuit through trading, which gradually made the Inuit learn and appreciate European goods.
In this century the European great powers also initiated a race, following Colombus' rediscovery (almost 500 years after Leif the Lucky) of America in 1492. The aim was to find the legendary North-west passage to Asia. In 1585 John Davis visited Nuuk area. Davis Strait is named after him. Most of the explorers only described the area, but others acted with dramatic consequences for the Inuit, like David Darnell, who in 1654 kidnapped 4 hunters in the Godthaabfjord.
 
The modern history of Greenland and Nuuk has its beginning in 1721, when Hans Egede, a Norwegian missionary founded the first European all-year colony and trading post. Hans Egede actually came to Greenland to convert the Catholic Norse into Lutherans and to re-establish contact, but soon realized that the Norse were no more. Instead he became the apostle of Greenland.
Initially Egede's colony was situated on 'Haabets Ø' (Island of Hope), but it soon became obvious that the island wasn't suitable, so on the 29thAaugust 1728 the town of Nuuk/Godthaab was founded, and the Danish colonization initiated.

Life in the early colony was not easy. In the years 1733-34 a small pox epidemic killed most of the native population and Hans Egede's wife. Hans Egede went back to Norway shortly after, but his sons continued the mission in Greenland. In the old harbour in Nuuk Hans Egedes house still stands.
By 1733 the Danish king issued a permit to the German mission, the Herrnhuts, to go to Greenland and assist Hans Egede in the conversion of the greenlanders. However it soon came to a conflict due to different theological principles, and the Herrnhuts and the official protestant church became actual religious rivals until 1899, when the Herrnhuts finally gave up their commitment in Greenland.
The most visible remnant of the Herrnhuts in Nuuk is the building now housing the University of Greenland, Ilisimatusarfik. Built in 1747 the beautiful wooden building constitutes an erudite atmosphere for the University….and in the dark winternights the footsteps of the old herrnhut missionaries can still be heard!
 
Nuuk/Godthaab became an educational centre in 1847 when the Greenland Teachers College was placed here. The former hospital, built in 1903, is today the dominant building of the college, as well as the main symbol in the coat of arms of Nuuk Municipality.
In 1908 a new administrational regulation initiated the parliamentary system in Greenland by opening two regional assemblies, of which the South Greenland Assembly was situated in Nuuk. Following the Second World War, the two regional assemblies were joined into one single Greenlandic Assembly, which also became situated in Nuuk. By the Greenland Home Rule act of 1979, the new greenlandic parliament, the Landsting, was naturally placed in Nuuk, thus making the town the de facto capital of Greenland. Today most of the large industries have headquarters in Nuuk along with the two national papers, Atuagagdliutit/Grønlandsposten and Sermitsiak and a number of administrative and educational facilities. Nuuk is also the home of the Greenland Cultural Centre, the award-winning Katuaq and the new Greenland Institute of Natural Resources.

Demographics:

The population of Nuuk has boomed within this century. From a total population of only 927 people in 1890, the number rose to 2,383 in 1951 and 4,305 in 1960, following the intensified development programme called G-50 and G-60 initiated by the Danish Government. By 1999 Nuuk had a population of 13,500 and is now more than twice as large as the second largest town in Greenland. So within only 100 years Nuuk/Godthaab has moved from being a widespread community based on hunting, through the rise of fishing as the single most important occupation from the 1920's, via the intense centralization and modernization in the 1960's to being the administrational and educational centre of Greenland. Today it is one of the absolutely most fascinating towns to visit!

Nuuk - a town with a lot of history, an intense present and a lot of future!!!

Last changed 21-07-2007