Anders Olsen (1718-1786) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

trader, explorer and colonial administrator, who founded several important towns in

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...

including

Qaqortoq Qaqortoq, formerly Julianehåb, is a city in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland, located near Cape Thorvaldsen. With a population of 3,050 in 2020, it is the most populous town and the municipal capital in southern Greenland and the ...

(Julianehåb) and

Maniitsoq Maniitsoq (), formerly Sukkertoppen, is a town in Maniitsoq Island, western Greenland located in the Qeqqata municipality. With 2,534 inhabitants , it is the sixth-largest town in Greenland. History Archaeological finds indicate that the are ...

(Sukkertoppen) as well as the village of

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 ...

. Anders Olsen was born on the island of Senja,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. In the autumn of 1741 they traveled to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, and the next spring they went on to Greenland. Together with his brother Anders Olsen, he came to

Godthåb Nuuk (; da, Nuuk, formerly ) is the capital and largest city of Greenland, a constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the country's largest cultural and economic centre. The major cities from other coun ...

, which was built by

Hans Egede Hans Poulsen Egede (31 January 1686 – 5 November 1758) was a Dano-Norwegian Lutheran missionary who launched mission efforts to Greenland, which led him to be styled the Apostle of Greenland. He established a successful mission among the Inui ...

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 which was north of Godthåb. Olsen remained at Sukkertoppen until 1773. Anders Olsen left Sukkertoppen to establish a colony in the south in 1773. He set off on a reconnaissance journey with a son and came to colonization Julianehåb where he stayed until 1780. In 1752 he married the Greenlandic woman Tupernat and eventually had six children with her. He died during 1786 at Igaliko,

References

Other Sources

* History of Greenland Norwegian businesspeople Danish businesspeople 1718 births 1786 deaths Greenlandic politicians People from Senja {{Greenland-politician-stub