Etah, Greenland
Etah (pronounced Iita ) is a today only temporarily inhabited place in North-West Greenland in the north- west of the Hayes Peninsula. The name " Etah " has no known meaning. With its location Etah was up to its task as a permanent settlement in 1953, the northernmost settlement in the world natural. However, of even about 24 miles to the north lay the today also abandoned Inuit settlement Annoatok and Inuarfiussaq, and a little further north, the former permanent settlement Qaqaitsut is ( 79.2 ° N ) and the settlement Nunatami ( 80.0 ° N).
Today Etah belongs politically to Qaasuitsup Press Office, prior to 2009 to Qaanaaq.
Discovery and development of the town
The site was discovered from a European perspective only in 1818 by the British polar explorer John Ross. The discovery Etahs was documented on a famous picture of a later expedition member of Ross called Sachausen; it shows Ross in contact with the Inuit of Etah.
The original location of the settlement, on the in recent decades repeatedly excavations were carried out, is approximately in the middle of the 8 km long Foulke Fiord on its south side. The Etah of the 20th century was, however, about 4 km further east at the end of this fjord. In Danish, the two places as Gamle Etah ( "Alt - Etah " ) and Ny Etah ( " New Etah " ) are referred to.
In 1900 Etah was the starting point of several Arctic expeditions. The Arctic explorer Donald Baxter MacMillan, who had already taken part in the Pole expedition of Robert E. Peary of the year 1908/ 09, made as head of the country Crocker Expedition of the years 1913 to 1917 Etah to the base for exploring the coast of Greenland, Ellesmere island and Axel Heiberg Island. In 1927 he wrote the book Etah and Beyond. From Etah from further Humphrey began the expedition ( 1934-35 ), the Arctic expedition of MacGregor 1937/38, and the Haig -Thomas expedition of 1938.
The population Etahs later decreased significantly. Prior to his appointment in 1953 it only had about 20 permanent inhabitants, the place had a business but no church or school. As in 1960 wintered a family of nine in Etah, the place was already no longer permanently inhabited. An attempt in 1984, the town again continuously to colonize, failed. Today, the three or four remaining, somewhat dilapidated dwellings of Etah be used only in the summer as a base for hunting and as a target of Polar tourists. The nearest inhabited all year round place - to the southeast of Etah - is Siorapaluk with about 80 inhabitants. On the way to Siorapaluk are Pitorarfik and Neqe, which are also not permanently inhabited.
Location and ecosystem of Etah
Etah is oriented to the south at the end of Foulke Fiord. This is several kilometers long and about two miles wide in east-west direction, the cliffs on both sides reach 700 meters in height. A few hundred meters after the village begins a gently rising glacier ( " Brother John's Glacier " ), at the end of the nearly year-round frozen Alida Lake is located. The polar night lasts in Etah four months, from October 22 until February 21. In the area of Etah are rich hunting grounds, including large walrus - occurrence. The nutrient-rich waters of Foulke Fiord is the food source for many small creatures, so large colonies of birds breed on the cliffs of the fjord, which were hunted by the Inuit have always been with nets. The comparatively large food supply of the area around Etah is the reason why the place was inhabited, despite its extreme northern location and its extremely inhospitable climate at all. As a result of global warming (650 inhabitants) is today sometimes on the recolonization Etahs in the nearest large town Qaanaaq - or even centuries ago also populated northern tip of Greenland - quipped. However, serious plans for it does not exist so far ( 2007).
The area of Etah
From Etah from it are to the west across the sea just 50 kilometers to the Canadian Ellesmere Island. About this until a few years until June / July frozen most of October strait, the Smith Sound, took place around the year 1000 AD, the colonization of Greenland by the Inuit culture ( Eskimo ). When crossing the Sound on dog sled, the so-called North Water polynya, north bypassed an earlier often ice-free from April to November the area of Baffin Bay. In recent years archaeological excavations took place at Etah and elsewhere in the northeast bordering Inglefield Land.
Not far from Etah was in the second half of the 20th century, the Arctic geomagnetic pole, the calculated pole of irregular geomagnetic field. It was in 1951 at about 77 ° 29 'N, 68 ° 54' W77.483333333333 - 68.9, but is now on the Smith Sound to the west migrated to the Canadian Ellesmere Island (2010: 80 ° 1 ' N, 72 ° 13' W80 .02-72.21 ). Only a few auroras to be seen - Due to the proximity to this pole are in the region - unlike in the rest of the Arctic.
Literature on Etah
- Donald Baxter MacMillan: Etah and beyond. Or Life within Twelve Degrees of the poles. Boston 1927 ( in July 1928 also published as articles in The Geographical Journal. Vol. 72, No. 1, pp. 79-80 ).
- Robert Inglis: A Scout Goes North. 1938
- Clifford J. MacGregor: Monthly Weather Review. October 1939
- David L. Sallach: NJ Historical Commission Newsletter. February 1977
- Hal Vogel: Ice Cap News. November-December 1977
- Hal Vogel: They Brought Their Own Storms. 1977