Peder Olsen Walløe (1716 – 27 April 1793) was a

Dano-Norwegian Dano-Norwegian ( Danish and no, dansk-norsk) was a koiné/mixed language that evolved among the urban elite in Norwegian cities during the later years of the union between the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway (1536/1537–1814). It is from thi ...

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

explorer most noted for his historic exploration of the former Norse settlements on Greenland.

Biography

Peder Olsen Walloe was born on the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

island of Bornholm. In 1739, he came to

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 ...

as one of five colonists called by Lutheran missionary

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 ...

. He learned to speak the

Kalaallisut language 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 the inhabitants of Greenland, as well as by thousands of Greenland ...

and settled as a trader with permission to operate outside the

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 ...

colony. During 1751–53, Walløe explored the southern coasts of

on behalf of the

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

mission. The aim was to locate the lost

Eastern Norse 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 t ...

which was commonly believed to be located on the east coast of Greenland. In August 1751, Walloe left Godthaab in a native boat accompanied by two Danish sailors and two Eskimo rowers. The expedition used

umiak The umiak, umialak, umiaq, umiac, oomiac, oomiak, ongiuk, or anyak is a type of open skin boat, used by both Yupik and Inuit, and was originally found in all coastal areas from Siberia to Greenland. First arising in Thule times, it has tradition ...

s able to navigate in the shallow waters between the coast and the sea ice. The first year he reached what became Julianehåb District where he made certain explorations and spent the winter. On their way southwards he investigated the area of

Tunulliarfik Fjord Tunulliarfik Fjord (old spelling: ''Tunugdliarfik'') is a fjord near Qaqortoq in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. It is the inner section of Skovfjord (Skovfjorden). In times of the Norse settlement in southern Greenland, it was kn ...

and

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 inscri ...

, which contained the remains of earlier Norse settlements. The next year he passed Cape Farewell and worked a little way up the unmapped east coast to an island which he called Nenese ( Nanuuseq). Walløe constantly struggled with drift-ice and bad weather while navigating along the coast. Walloe is the first European in modern times who is known with certainty to have landed on the southern part of the east coast. Walløe then settled in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

and never returned to

. He subsequently wrote down reliable and authentic records of the natural and ice conditions on the East Coast. Walløe was the first European who has given a description of the nature and climate of southern Greenland, of the great ice occurrence and the great difficulties ice present in the way of movement of goods in these districts. His diaries contain information about the country's population and threw light on the conditions under which colonists in Greenland lived during his time. Peder Olsen Walløe never received any recognition for his achievement and reaped little profit from his enterprise and perseverance. Afterwards he lived in most miserable circumstances, dying at the age of seventy-seven in the workhouse of the Vartov Church Hospital at

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 ...

.''The first crossing of Greenland'' (by Fridtjof Nansen, translated by Hubert Majendie Gepp. Longmans, Green, and Co; 1890)
/ref> Peder Olsen Walløe's diaries were published during 1927 in the abstracts by noted Danish archivist and historian Louis Theodor Alfred Bobé (1867-1951). Dr. Louis Bobé was a professor at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

, chairman of the Greenlandic Society (''Grønlandske selskabs'') (1921-1924) and was appointed Royal Danish historian in 1921. Cape Walløe in Southeast Greenland was named after him.

Biography

See also

References

Further reading