Ilulissat

Ilulissat / Kitaa

Ilulissat (Danish: Jakobshavn ) is the third largest town in Greenland. The municipality is located in West Greenland on the eastern shore of Disko Bay and has 4,621 inhabitants ( 2012).

Ilulissat is famous for the Ilulissat ice fjord, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

History

Jakobshavn was two kilometers north of Sermermiut, the 250 inhabitants was then the largest Inuit settlement in Greenland, founded. 1741 Jacob Severin built the first settlement. Famous resident Ilulissat was the polar explorer Knud Rasmussen, who explored the Arctic in many expeditions and entered for the cohesion and a new self- consciousness of the Inuit.

On 16 August 2007, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited together with the Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen the place to address the global warming and the melting of the Greenland ice sheet.

Until the formation of the Commune Qaasuitsup Press Office 2009 Ilulissat was an independent municipality with 4996 inhabitants ( as of 2007), of which 4512 were living in the city. The remaining inhabitants were distributed among the settlements Ilimanaq, Oqaatsut, Qeqertaq and Saqqaq.

Coat of arms

Description: Silver and blue cut with an iceberg in confused colors, the left side is the higher, accompanied by floating in each Obereck snowflake in confused colors.

Symbolism: Iceberg = Location of icebergs

Economy

Ilulissat has two fish factories where particular crab and halibut are processed. Tourism has developed in the last 30 years to another mainstay of the local economy. In winter, up to -30 ° C ( but which are well endure due to the dry climate ) exciting dog sledding. In the summer of Ilulissat deployed at up to 25 ° C, the splendor of the North with fantastic views over the Disko Bay ice fjord and the. In addition to exploring the local culture, such as the Knud Rasmussen Museum, located Ilulissat offers for hiking and boating. Ilulissat has an airport, a heliport and a harbor.

Geography

Ilulissat is located approximately 2 km north of the mouth of the Ilulissat ice fjord - ( Jakobshavn Longyearbyen ). At its origin is the Jakobshavn Isbræ, the fastest glaciers in the world. Every day he pushes up to 22 m to the west. This huge icebergs break off, which may be several kilometers long and up to 1000 meters high. They rise up to 150 m from the water. With the tidal current, they swim in the fjord back and forth until they are pushed over the Isfjeldsbanken, a shoal of less than 300 m. Larger icebergs run aground and break there. The fjord was declared in 2004 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

In the West Disko Bay with the Disko Island. By boat or helicopter to get good to get there or to other places of Disko Bay.

Sons and daughters of the town

  • Knud Johan Victor Rasmussen (1879-1933) Danish - Greenlandic polar explorer and anthropologist
  • Mathias Storch (1883-1957), Greenlandic theologian and author
  • Aviaaja Geisler ( b. 1982 ), badminton player
  • Ricky Jørgensen ( * 1989), Danish cyclist
Ilulissat Icefjord Atlantic halibut Aappilattoq, Kujalleq Aasiaat Akunnaaq Kangaatsiaq Kullorsuaq Maamorilik Moriusaq Niaqornaarsuk Qaanaaq Qaarsut Qeqertat Savissivik Siorapaluk Upernavik
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