Jørgen Brønlund (14 December 1877 – November 1907), was a Greenlandic polar explorer, educator, and

catechist Catechesis (; from Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of converts to Christianity, but as the ...

. He participated in two Danish expeditions to Greenland in the early 20th century.

Early years

Brønlund, an Greenlandic Inuk and the son of a hunter, was born in

Ilulissat Ilulissat, formerly Jakobshavn or Jacobshaven, is the municipal seat and largest town of the Avannaata municipality in western Greenland, located approximately north of the Arctic Circle. With the population of 4,670 as of 2020, it is the t ...

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 is t ...

Kingdom of Denmark The Danish Realm ( da, Danmarks Rige; fo, Danmarkar Ríki; kl, Danmarkip Naalagaaffik), officially the Kingdom of Denmark (; ; ), is a sovereign state located in Northern Europe and Northern North America. It consists of Denmark, metropolitan ...

, then known as Jakobshavn, on 14 December 1877. He was a childhood friend of

Knud Rasmussen Knud Johan Victor Rasmussen (; 7 June 1879 – 21 December 1933) was a Greenlandic–Danish polar explorer and anthropologist. He has been called the "father of Eskimology" (now often known as Inuit Studies or Greenlandic and Arctic Studies ...

whose father was a priest in Jakobshavn. Trained as a teacher, Brønlund graduated in 1901 from

Nuuk College 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 ...

and was employed as a catechist at a trading post near the

Nuup Kangerlua Nuup Kangerlua is a long fjord in the Sermersooq municipalities of Greenland, municipality in southwestern Greenland. It was formerly known by its colonial name as Godthaab Fjord ( da, Godthåbsfjorden), Gilbert Sound and Baal's River.Nicoll, Ja ...

estuary.

Career

Along with Rasmussen,

Harald Moltke Harald Viggo Moltke (14 December 1871 – 24 June 1960) was a Danish painter, author and explorer. Among his activities Moltke, participated as draftsman in four Arctic expeditions. Early life and education Harald Moltke was born in Helsingø ...

, and

Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen (15 January 1872 – 25 November 1907) was a Danish author, ethnologist, and explorer, from Ringkøbing. He was most notably an explorer of Greenland. Literary expedition With Count Harald Moltke and Knud Rasmussen Mylius-E ...

, Brønlund was a member of the 1902-1903 Danish Literary Greenland Expedition. At its conclusion, Brønlund went to Denmark. Here, he studied drawing with

Kristian Zahrtmann Peder Henrik Kristian Zahrtmann, known as Kristian Zahrtmann, (31 March 1843 – 22 June 1917) was a Denmark, Danish Painting, painter. He was a part of the Danish artistic generation in the late 19th century, along with Peder Severin Krøyer and ...

and taught in

Askov Askov is a city in Pine County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 364 at the 2010 census. Minnesota State Highway 23 serves as a main route in the community, and Interstate 35 is nearby. History The village was originally within ...

at Denmark's largest folk high school. An expert interpreter, one of Brønlund's responsibilities during the 1906 Danish Expedition to Northeast Greenland under Mylius-Erichsen was to keep a travel diary, and to drive the dogs. He died in November 1907 of hunger and freezing while travelling back from the

Independence Fjord Independence Fjord or Independence Sound is a large fjord or sound in the eastern part of northern Greenland. It is about long and up to wide. Its mouth, opening to the Wandel Sea of the Arctic Ocean is located at . In the area around Independe ...

and attempting to return to their base camp. He was found near the depot in

Lambert Land Lambert Land is a land area —possibly a peninsula or an island— in King Frederick VIII Land, northeastern Greenland. Administratively it belongs to the NE Greenland National Park area. Geography Lambert Land is bounded in the north by the ...

on 13 March 1908 along with his diary that recounted the fate of Mylius-Erichsen and the expedition's cartographer,

Niels Peter Høeg Hagen Niels Peter Høeg Hagen (15 October 1877 – 15 November 1907) was a Danish military officer, polar explorer and cartographer. He participated and perished in the ill-fated Denmark expedition to NE Greenland in 1906. The Denmark expedition ...

, both of whom died before Brønlund in Nioghalvfjerdsbrae at 79° latitude. He was buried where he was found, at Kap Bergendahl in southeast Lambert Land. The headland is also known today as Brønlunds Grave ( da, Brønlunds Grav). The last entry of his diary reads as follows:

Legacy

The 172-page diary is archived at the

Royal Danish Library The Royal Library ( da, Det Kongelige Bibliotek) in Copenhagen is the national library of Denmark and the university library of the University of Copenhagen. It is among the largest libraries in the world and the largest in the Nordic countries ...

. A memorial stone erected in

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 ...

's harbor quotes the diary's last lines.

Jørgen Brønlund Fjord Jørgen Brønlund Fjord or Bronlund Fjord is a fjord in southern Peary Land, northern Greenland. It was named after polar explorer Jørgen Brønlund by the Danmark expedition. Geography It runs roughly from NW to SE with its mouth located at t ...

Peary Land Peary Land is a peninsula in northern Greenland, extending into the Arctic Ocean. It reaches from Victoria Fjord in the west to Independence Fjord in the south and southeast, and to the Arctic Ocean in the north, with Cape Morris Jesup, the north ...

is named in his honor. The one hundred year anniversary of his birth was commemorated by the issue of a Greenlandic postal stamp. Also by a medallion of G (Eugene L. Daub), Sculptor, Pennsylvania: Jørgen Brønlund Medal 1977

References

External links

Memorial to Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen (1872-1907), Niels Peter Høeg Hagen (1877-1907) and Jørgen Brønlund (1877-1907)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bronlund, Jorgen 1877 births 1907 deaths Greenlandic polar explorers Greenlandic explorers People from Ilulissat Ilulissat Greenlandic Inuit people