Qeqertarsuatsiaat, formerly Fiskenæsset or Fiskernæs, is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in southwestern Greenland, located on an island off the shores of Labrador Sea. Its population was 169 in 2020.

History

Kikertarsocitsiak or Qeqertarsuatsiaat has long been the local name for the island (

Kalaallisut Kalaallisut may refer to: * Greenlandic language * West Greenlandic West Greenlandic ( da, vestgrønlandsk), also known as Kalaallisut, is the primary language of Greenland and constitutes the Greenlandic language, spoken by the vast majority of ...

: "Rather Large Islands"). It was first settled by the

Danes Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. Danes generally regard t ...

as Fiskernæs in 1754. The name was often anglicized as Fisher's Inlet. The trading post was founded by the merchant

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 ...

on behalf of the Danish

General Trade Company The General Trade Company ( da, Det almindelige Handelskompagni) was a Dano-Norwegian trading company charged with administering the realm's settlements and trade in Greenland. The company existed from 1747 to 1774 and managed the government of Gre ...

, which was granted a royal monopoly on trade in Greenland but only in and around its settlements. Like most Greenlandic trading posts, it was a location for the Danes to trade imported goods for seal skins and seal and whale blubber gathered by Kalaallit in the area. Unusually, the settlement became the early center of Greenland's salmon and

cod Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus '' Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not call ...

fisheries and it was as common to see the large "woman's boat" or umiak as the smaller hunting

kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word ''qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each se ...

s. In 1748,Lüdecke, Cornelia.
East Meets West: Meteorological observations of the Moravians in Greenland and Labrador since the 18th century
". ''History of Meteorology'' 2, 2005. 1754,Cranz, David & al.
The History of Greenland: including an account of the mission carried on by the United Brethren in that country
''. Longman, 1820. 1757,American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
Biography: Life of Matthew Stach
". ''The Missionary Herald'', #19. Samuel T. Armstrong, 1823. or 1758,Mission in Greenland
". ''The Christian Library: Comprising a Series of Standard Works in Religious Literature.'' Key & Biddle, 1833. the Moravian mission of Lichtenfels was established in another inlet of the same island by Matthias Stach and four families from New Herrnhut. The first conversions were not made until 1760 or 1761, but afterwards the population of the settlement rose to around 300 and was for a time the largest village in Greenland. All urbanization in Greenland was negatively affected by the Royal Greenland Trading Department (KGH)'s Instruction of 1782, aimed at protecting the company's income by maintaining the Inuit in their traditional roles as nomadic hunters. The mission was surrendered to the Lutheran Church of Denmark in 1900 and has since been abandoned. The last known

great auk The great auk (''Pinguinus impennis'') is a species of flightless alcid that became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus ''Pinguinus''. It is not closely related to the birds now known as penguins, wh ...

in Greenland was hunted near Fiskenæsset in 1815 by one of the villagers.

Transport and amenities

Qeqertarsuatsiaat is a port of call for the Arctic Umiaq Line ferry. There is a viewpoint at Telehuset. The Danish Crown Princely family visited the town as part of an official tour of Greenland in summer 2014.

Mining

a mine employing 30 people in the mining of

pink sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sa ...

and rubies from the Aappaluttoq deposit was under development by True North Gems Greenland, a Canadian firm, near Qeqertarsuatsiaat.

Population

Qeqertarsuatsiaat has lost population in the last two decades: more than a quarter since 1990 and almost 10 percent since 2000.Statistics Greenland
Qeqertarsuatsiaat-population-dynamics

References

{{Settlements in Greenland Populated places in Greenland Populated places established in 1754 1754 establishments in the Danish colonial empire