Kujataa
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Kujataa
Kujataa is a sub-arctic farming landscape in the southern region of Greenland. It is the first known example of agriculture in the Arctic, and the oldest evidence of the Old Norse culture spreading outside Europe. The unique juxtaposition of farming and hunting for marine mammals that occurred in the region from the 10th through 15th centuries and from the 18th century to today headlined the region's inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2017. Description Kujataa stretches from Nunap Isua in the south to Nunarsuit Island, roughly 250 kilometers to the north. The world heritage site includes 5 components, all located within this region: * Qassiarsuk: Contains Brattahlíð, the estate of Erik the Red and (possibly) the first church in the Americas. * Igaliku: Contains Garðar, which was the seat of the bishopric in Greenland, as well as the location of the first modern Inuit farm in Greenland. * Sissarluttoq: Contains a particularly large Norse manor house, with th ...
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Brattahlíð
Brattahlíð (), often anglicised as Brattahlid, was Erik the Red's estate in the Eastern Settlement Viking colony he established in south-western Greenland toward the end of the 10th century. The present settlement of Qassiarsuk, approximately southwest from the Narsarsuaq settlement, is now located in its place. The site is located about from the ocean, at the head of the Tunulliarfik Fjord, and hence sheltered from ocean storms. Erik and his descendants lived there until about the mid-15th century. The name ''Brattahlíð'' means "the steep slope". The estate, along with other archeological sites in southwestern Greenland, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2017 as Kujataa Greenland: Norse and Inuit Farming at the Edge of the Ice Cap. Church At Brattahlíð stood probably the first European church in the Americas: Þjóðhildarkirkja (Thjodhild's church, actually a small chapel). A recent reconstruction of this chapel now stands at a distance from the act ...
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Eastern Settlement
The Eastern Settlement ( non, Eystribygð ) was the first and by far the larger of the two main areas of Norse Greenland, settled by Norsemen from Iceland. At its peak, it contained approximately 4,000 inhabitants. The last written record from the Eastern Settlement is of a wedding in Hvalsey in 1408, placing it about 50–100 years later than the end of the more northerly Western Settlement. Despite its name, the Eastern Settlement was more south than east of its companion and, like the Western Settlement, was located on the southwestern tip of Greenland at the head of long fjords such as Tunulliarfik Fjord or Eiriksfjord, Igaliku or Einarsfjord, and Sermilik Fjord. Approximately 500 groups of ruins of Norse farms are found in the area, with 16 church ruins, including Brattahlíð, Dyrnæs, Garðar, Hvalsey and Herjolfsnes. The Vatnahverfi district to the southeast of Einarsfjord had some of the best pastoral land in the colony, and boasted 10% of all the known farm sites ...
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Igaliku
Igaliku is a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. The town was founded as Igaliko in 1783 by the trader and colonial administrator Anders Olsen and Greenlandic wife Tuperna. In 2020, Igaliku had 21 inhabitants. The nearby Norse ruins of Garðar and the farms surrounding the town were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2017 as part of the Kujataa Greenland: Norse and Inuit Farming at the Edge of the Ice Cap site. Geography Igaliku is located southeast of Narsarsuaq, on a peninsula jutting off the mainland of Greenland near the eastern shore of upper Tunulliarfik Fjord.Ivittuut/Narsarsuaq/Qaqortoq, Saga Map, Tage Schjøtt, 1992 Access to Igaliku from Narsarsauq is cheaper and easier by landing at the small harbor of Itilleq and then crossing the isthmus 4 km (2.5 mi). Landmarks and sights Igaliku is best known for the ruins of Garðar, once the religious heart of 12th-century Norse Greenland. The area was at the very he ...
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Vatnahverfi
Vatnahverfi was a district in the Norse Greenlanders’ Eastern Settlement (Eystribyggð) and is generally regarded by archaeologists and historians as having the best pastoral land in the colony. The Norse settled Vatnahverfi in the late 10th century and farmed there for nearly 500 years before mysteriously disappearing from the district and the entirety of Greenland, likely at some point in the latter 15th century. Its name is roughly translated as “Lake District." Placement Located on Greenland's southwest coast, Vatnahverfi can be broadly thought of as a peninsula stretching northeast from the Labrador Sea to the Jespersens Glacier some 60 km inland and covering approximately 500 km2. It lies between Einarsfjord (today the fjord and the settlement at the fjord's head are both called Igaliku) and Hrafnsfjord (today called Agdluitsoq). The heart of peninsula (60.732307, -45.458640) is approximately 140 km northwest of Greenland's southernmost tip at Cape Farewe ...
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Hvalsey
Hvalsey ("Whale Island"; Greenlandic ''Qaqortukulooq'') is located near Qaqortoq, Greenland and is the site of Greenland's largest, best-preserved Norse ruins in the area known as the Eastern Settlement (''Eystribyggð''). In 2017, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ... and part of the Kujataa, Kujataa Greenland site. History According to the Icelandic Book of Settlements (''Landnámabók''), the farmstead was established by Erik the Red's uncle, Þorkell Farserkur (Thorkell Farserk) in the late 10th century. The farmstead was known as ''Þjóðhildarstaðir'' (Thjódhildsstead) by the time of Ivar Bardarson's report of ca 1360/64. In the 14th century, it belonged to the King of Norway, Kings of Norway: ''Næst Ein ...
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Qassiarsuk
Qassiarsuk is a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality, in southern Greenland. Its population was 39 in 2020. Qassiarsuk is part of the Kujataa World Heritage Site, due to its historical importance as the homestead of Erik the Red and its unique testimony to Greenlandic farming. History Brattahlíð is located by Tunulliarfik Fjord (''Skovfjorden'' in Danish), and it was the site of Erik the Red's estate in the times of the Norse Eastern Settlement (''Østerbygden'' in Danish). Ruins of several of the buildings, including living quarters, outhouses, and a church, are still clearly visible. The current village was founded as Greenland's first sheep farm in 1924 and is located in the same place. Until December 31, 2008, the settlement was part of Narsaq Municipality in the Kitaa amt. On January 1, 2009, Qassiarsuk became part of Kujalleq municipality, when the Kitaa amt, as well as the municipalities of Narsaq, Qaqortoq, and Nanortalik ceased to exist as administrative entiti ...
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Kujalleq
Kujalleq ( Greenlandic: , da, Den Syden, lit=The South) is a municipality on the southern tip of Greenland, operational from 1 January 2009. The administrative center of the municipality is in Qaqortoq (formerly called Julianehåb). Creation The municipality consists of the former municipalities of southern Greenland, each named after the biggest settlement: * Nanortalik Municipality * Narsaq Municipality * Qaqortoq Municipality In addition to the area of these municipalities, uninhabited parts of the former municipalities of Paamiut and Ammassalik were added to the new administrative entity. In the case of Paamiut Municipality, it was exclusively a part of the ice sheet including a few nunataks, while in the case of Ammassalik Municipality, it included the coast from the fjord Kangerlussuatsiaq (in Danish ''Lindenow Fjord'') on the old border with Nanortalik Municipality in the south to north of Timmiarmiut. Coat of arms The coat of arms of the municipality depicts a ram's h ...
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Anders Olsen
Anders Olsen (1718-1786) was a Norwegian trader, explorer and colonial administrator, who founded several important towns in Greenland including Qaqortoq (Julianehåb) and Maniitsoq (Sukkertoppen) as well as the village of Igaliku. Anders Olsen was born on the island of Senja, Norway. In the autumn of 1741 they traveled to Copenhagen, and the next spring they went on to Greenland. Together with his brother Anders Olsen, he came to Godthåb, which was built by Hans Egede in 1721 There they were employed by Jacob Sørensen Severin (1691–1753), the Danish merchant who held a trade monopoly on Greenland from 1733 to 1749. General Trade Company, which was founded on 4 September 1747, and in 1750 received a full monopoly on trade in Greenland taking over the operation of the general trading company. In 1754, Olsen established a trading colony at Fiskenesset south of Godthåb. In 1755, he was given the task of establishing and managing a trading colony at Sukkertoppe whic ...
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Thule People
The Thule (, , ) or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by the year 1000 and expanded eastward across northern Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people of the earlier Dorset culture that had previously inhabited the region. The appellation "Thule" originates from the location of Thule (relocated and renamed Qaanaaq in 1953) in northwest Greenland, facing Canada, where the archaeological remains of the people were first found at Comer's Midden. The links between the Thule and the Inuit are biological, cultural, and linguistic. Evidence supports the idea that the Thule (and also the Dorset, but to a lesser degree) were in contact with the Vikings, who had reached the shores of Canada in the 11th century as part of Norse colonization of North America. In Viking sources, these peoples are called the ''Skrælingjar''. Some Thule migrated southward, in the "Second Expansion" or "Second Phase". ...
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Erik The Red
Erik Thorvaldsson (), known as Erik the Red, was a Norse explorer, described in medieval and Icelandic saga sources as having founded the first European settlement in Greenland. He most likely earned the epithet "the Red" due to the color of his hair and beard. According to Icelandic sagas, he was born in the Jæren district of Rogaland, Norway, as the son of Thorvald Asvaldsson. One of Erik's sons was the well-known Icelandic explorer Leif Erikson. Personal life Early life Erik Thorvaldsson was born in Rogaland, Norway in 950 CE. He was the son of Thorvald Asvaldson (also spelled Osvaldson). As a method of conflict resolution that subsequently became something of a family custom, Erik the Red's father, Thorvald Asvaldsson, was banished from Norway for manslaughter. He sailed west from Norway with his family, including 10-year-old Erik, and settled in Hornstrandir in northwestern Iceland, where he eventually died before 1000 CE. Marriage and family Erik married Þjà ...
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Norse People
The Norsemen (or Norse people) were a North Germanic peoples, North Germanic ethnolinguistic group of the Early Middle Ages, during which they spoke the Old Norse language. The language belongs to the North Germanic languages, North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages and is the predecessor of the modern Germanic languages of Scandinavia. During the late eighth century, Scandinavians embarked on a Viking expansion, large-scale expansion in all directions, giving rise to the Viking Age. In English-language scholarship since the 19th century, Norse seafaring traders, settlers and warriors have commonly been referred to as Vikings. Historians of Anglo-Saxon England distinguish between Norse Vikings (Norsemen) from Norway who mainly invaded and occupied the islands north and north-west of Britain, Ireland and western Britain, and Danish Vikings, who principally invaded and occupied eastern Britain. Modern descendants of Norsemen are the Danes, Icelanders, Faroe Islanders, ...
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Dorset Culture
The Dorset was a Paleo-Eskimo culture, lasting from to between and , that followed the Pre-Dorset and preceded the Thule people (proto-Inuit) in the North American Arctic. The culture and people are named after Cape Dorset (now Kinngait) in Nunavut, Canada, where the first evidence of its existence was found. The culture has been defined as having four phases due to the distinct differences in the technologies relating to hunting and tool making. Artifacts include distinctive triangular end-blades, oil lamps () made of soapstone, and burins. The Dorset were first identified as a separate culture in 1925. The Dorset appear to have been extinct by 1500 at the latest and perhaps as early as 1000. The Thule people, who began migrating east from Alaska in the 11th century, ended up spreading through the lands previously inhabited by the Dorset. There is no strong evidence that the Inuit and Dorset ever met. Modern genetic studies show the Dorset population were distinct from later ...
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