Sisimiut

Sisimiut / Kitaa

Sisimiut ( Danish Holsteinsborg ) with a population of 5571 (2012 ) is the second largest town in Greenland.

Geography

Spring Hill is located on the west coast of Greenland, about 100 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle and halfway between the populous and wealthy areas around Nuuk and Disko Bay. Overall, lives more than half the people of Greenland in Nuuk region, Disko Bay, Sisimiut and Upernavik.

The city is like most cities of Greenland on the ice upstream of a peninsula. Behind it sits the mountain town of Nasaasaaq, which forms a barrier between the city and the rest of the peninsula, with 784 meters height.

The town is the end point ( frequent walking direction ) or the starting point of the famous scene in the trekking Arctic Circle Trail. This traverses in an east-west direction at 180 km ice-free Greenland coast at the point of its greatest width between Sisimiut and Kangerlussuaq, with its international airport.

History

The oldest traces of settlement go back to the year 2500 BC and come from the Inuit of the Saqqaq culture. The settlement area was ideal for them because there were whales, caribou and seals and still are. Musk ox, however, were only introduced in the 1980s. Although the area offers a perfect habitat for these animals, prevented the insurmountable glacier between Qaanaaq and Upernavik that the immigrant from arctic Canada Animals and the West Coast ( including Sisimiut ) could colonize.

All that and the ice-free even in winter sea around Sisimiut attracted since the 15th century whalers from Scotland, Germany, Holland and Denmark to Sisimiut. The Europeans in Sisimiut operated by trading with the Inuit and European exchanged items such as knives, beads, needles and thread to those of Inuit, such as seal meat, fat, or skins.

1724 Danes came to Sisimiut and attempted to establish a trading post there, what they did not succeed due to the applied Dutch whalers. These were afraid to lose money, and burned even twice the whole trading post from.

It was only in 1764 succeeded the Danes to establish Sisimiut under the Danish name Holsteinsborg which was in use until the late 1970s. Spring Hill was a whaling town and the population grew rapidly until 1801 broke out smallpox. The epidemic killed 400 people.

But the city quickly recovered and the entire 19th century, grew rapidly through. Beginning of the 20th century began with the conversion of whaling on fishing and fish processing.

When they began in the 1960s to resettle Greenlanders from the small villages to the cities, Sisimiut grew to its current size ( 5200 inhabitants). In the course of this development, the cityscape was increasingly dominated by large prefabricated buildings. Today we tried to get this slab in good condition, and remove them again and again colorful.

For a long time Sisimiut chief town of the same name, to the settlements nor the Itilleq, Kangerlussuaq (Danish: Sondre Strømfjord, International Airport) and were Sarfannguit. By merging with the community Maniitsoq the metropoloitan Qeqqata was established on 1 January 2009.

Coat of arms

Description: In blue with a silver Walrosskopf.

Climate

In Sisimiut, there is a warmer climate than in the Disko Bay region, which is also only slightly cooler than the Nuuker climate. In winter, temperatures rarely drop below -15 degrees Celsius and in the summer they rise barely above 20 ° Celsius. One must expect sudden weather changes, however, at any time. The proximity of the sea has a decisive influence on the climate closer to the ice in comparison to areas, the climate is more on the coast clear maritime, with small temperature variations and also the minima and maxima are much less pronounced than about 100 km inland. Simultaneously, the amount of precipitation, however, are significantly higher than inland.

As in all of West Greenland have to expect in Spring Hill with strong storms. It is foehn winds that sweep across the ice of the ice sheet as a case winds and can reach up to 200 kilometers per hour on the way westward to the sea speeds.

Rainfall is rare in Spring Hill, in the summer it rains about one day a month, and in the winter it snows more than twice a month. However, this snow often remains lie for weeks, and so Sisimiut is almost always in the winter covered with snow. Only in spring and autumn (May or September ) it can rain frequently. The first snow usually falls early / mid-October, and thaw sets in mid / end of April.

Economy

Spring Hill is one of the wealthiest and most economically developed cities of Greenland and in the country itself is famous for its good quality of life. Sisimiut mainly exported cod and crab, and particularly after Denmark ( most important trading partner ), but also in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia.

The average gross national product per capita is 193 952 crowns a year, so 16,163 crowns per month ( 26,093 euros / year, 2,175 € / month). Spring Hill has the most advanced crab processing factory of Europe (even if you count Greenland geographically mostly to North America).

Spring Hill has a small airport, go from where connections to Kangerlussuaq Airport.

Attractions

The city lies at the foot of the 784 meter high Nasaasaaq. Its name (in German: " woman hood " ) he has because of his strange, but not so unusual for Greenland form.

The Zimmermann island that is not an island, but a peninsula, is the district in which relics and houses from the heyday of whaling are. Above all, one finds simple but maintained in good condition building as the old bacon house and cooperage. On the carpenter island is also the shipyard Sisimiut, the first shipyard of Greenland.

The old colonial center is the city center, but also the old town. Here Sisimiut was founded in 1764, and here is also the oldest church in Greenland (stone churches already existed among the Northmen under Erik the Red in the year 1000 ), which was built in 1775, and was paid by the population itself. Outside the church a kind of arc from the jawbone of a 1902 stranded in Greenland fjord Wales was established.

Behind the old church is the " Old House ". It was originally erected in 1755 in Bergen, Norway, but was degraded by emigrants and re-erected in Ukivik ( Ukivik was formerly a neighboring town Sisimiut ). Since 1764 it stands at its present location, and has a checkered history. There was a police station, bakery, post office and residential building. Today, it serves as a museum of finds from the Saqqaq culture.

The southern Sisimiut is a typical Greenlandic district, with small and colorful houses. As the houses are reminiscent of Lego blocks, carrying the southern part of Sisimiut the nickname Legoland.

Culture and Community Services

In Sisimiut, there is a hospital with 30 beds and 5 doctors, mostly general practitioners, but also for smaller operations or acute injuries. In addition, Sisimiut has as one of three cities across Greenland a high school. Like most other cities, Greenland, Sisimiut has primary schools and kindergartens. A special feature of the city is that Sisimiut, which after all is 100 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, the only town in Greenland has an outdoor pool. This is open between mid-June and mid-August.

Spring Hill is also famous for the handicrafts of the local Inuit, which can be bought in many small shops along the main road.

The Sisimiut Museum is a cultural and historical museum with special museum for local trade, shipping and industry.

The House of Culture Taseralik opened in 2008 and presents contemporary Greenlandic and international art. Here also theater and cinema performances will take place.