Sermersooq (, da, sted med meget is, lit=place of much ice) is a municipality 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 is t ...

, formed on 1 January 2009 from five earlier, smaller municipalities. Its administrative seat is the city of

Nuuk 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 co ...

(formerly called Godthåb), the capital of Greenland, and it is the most populous municipality in the country, with 23,123 inhabitants as of January 2020.

Creation

The municipality consists of former municipalities of eastern and southwestern Greenland, each named after the largest settlement at the time of formation: *

Ammassalik Municipality Ammassalik was one of two municipalities in Tunu, the former county of East Greenland − the other one being Illoqqortoormiut (further north). It was located in southeastern Greenland, and with an area of 232,100 km2, most of it on the Greenland ic ...

Ittoqqortoormiit Municipality Ittoqqortoormiit Municipality () was one of the two municipalities of East Greenland. Since 1 January 2009 it has been incorporated into the Sermersooq municipality. It encompassed an area of 235,000 km2 (91,000 sq mi) along the Den ...

* Ivittuut Municipality *

Nuuk Municipality Nuuk Municipality was one of the municipalities of Greenland until 31 December 2008. On 1 January 2009, it was merged with four other former municipalities into the new Sermersooq municipality. The central town was Nuuk. Other settlements within it ...

* Paamiut Municipality

Administrative divisions

Ammassalik area

Tasiilaq Tasiilaq, formerly Ammassalik and Angmagssalik, is a town in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland. With 1,985 inhabitants as of 2020, it is the most populous community on the eastern coast, and the seventh-largest town in Green ...

(Ammassalik) *

Kuummiit Kuummiit ( Kalaallisut: ''Kuummiut'') is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland. Founded in 1915, it had 248 inhabitants in 2020. Geography The settlement is located on the eastern shore of the Ammassalik Fjord, a ...

Kulusuk Kulusuk (old spelling: ''Qulusuk''Eastgreenland.com.Kulusuk".), formerly Kap Dan, is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland, located on an island of the same name. The settlement population of 241 includes many Dane ...

(Kap Dan) *

Tiniteqilaaq Tiilerilaaq (formerly ''Tiniteqilaaq'') is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality, in southeastern Greenland. Its population was 96 in 2020. Population The population of Tiilerilaaq has decreased by 30 percent relative to the 1990 levels, ...

Sermiligaaq Sermiligaaq (old spelling: ''Sermiligâk´'') is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland. It is located near the Sermilik Fjord. Its population was 209 in 2020. In Kalaallisut, its name means "Beautiful Glacierfjord". ...

Isortoq Isertoq (West Greenlandic: ''Isortoq'') is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality, in southeastern Greenland. Its population was 64 in 2020. Population The population of Isertoq has decreased by nearly half relative to the 1990 levels, and ...

Ittoqqortoormiit area

Ittoqqortoormiit Ittoqqortoormiit (East Greenlandic: ; West Greenlandic: ''Illoqqortoormiut'' ), formerly known as Scoresbysund, is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in eastern Greenland. Its population was 345 as of 2020 and has been described as one o ...

(Scoresbysund) *

Itterajivit Itterajivit (also ''Ittaajimmiut'' or ''Igterajivit''), formerly Kap Hope, was a small village in the Sermersooq municipality in eastern Greenland. It was abandoned in late 2005.Kangilinnguit (Grønnedal)

Nuuk area

(Godthåb) *

Kapisillit Kapisillit is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in southwestern Greenland. In 2020, the settlement had 52 inhabitants. ''Kapisillit'' means ''the salmon'' in the Greenlandic language ( da, laksen). The name refers to the belief that the ...

Qeqertarsuatsiaat 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 o ...

(Fiskenæsset)

Paamiut area

Paamiut Paamiut, formerly Frederikshåb, is a town in southwestern Greenland in the Sermersooq municipality. Geography Paamiut is located on the coast of Labrador Sea in the southern end of a small estuary called Kuannersooq ("Inlet"). History Pe ...

(Frederikshåb) *

Arsuk Arsuk is a village in the Sermersooq municipality in southwestern Greenland. It had 73 inhabitants in 2020. The name of the settlement means ''the beloved place'' in the Greenlandic language.

Geography

The municipality is located in south-central and eastern Greenland, with an area of . As of 2018, it is the largest municipality in the world by area, following the split of the former

Qaasuitsup 400px, Clockwise from top left: Ukkusissat, Upernavik, Ilulissat Icefjord">Upernavik.html" ;"title="Ukkusissat, Upernavik">Ukkusissat, Upernavik, Ilulissat Icefjord, Uummannaq Qaasuitsup (, ''Place of Polar Darkness'') was a Municipalities of ...

. As of January 2013 its population was 17,498. In the south, it is flanked by the

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 ...

municipality, with the border running alongside

Alanngorsuaq Fjord Alanngorsuaq Fjord, also known as Coppermine Bay ( da, Kobberminebugt), is a fjord in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. At the mouth of the fjord the coastline of southwestern Greenland turns to the east towards Qaqortoq. Geograp ...

. The waters flowing around the western coastline of the municipality are that of

Labrador Sea The Labrador Sea (French: ''mer du Labrador'', Danish: ''Labradorhavet'') is an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean between the Labrador Peninsula and Greenland. The sea is flanked by continental shelf, continental shelves to the southwest, northwest, ...

, which to the north narrows down to form

Davis Strait Davis Strait is a northern arm of the Atlantic Ocean that lies north of the Labrador Sea. It lies between mid-western Greenland and Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. To the north is Baffin Bay. The strait was named for the English explorer John ...

separating the island of Greenland from Baffin Island. In the northwest, the municipality is bordered by the

Qeqqata Qeqqata (, da, Centrum, lit=Centre) is a municipality in western Greenland, operational from 1 January 2009. The municipality was named after its location in the central-western part of the country. Its population is 9,378 as of January 2020. Th ...

municipality, and further north by the

Qeqertalik Qeqertalik (, da, Den Ene med Øerne, lit=The One with Islands) is a municipality of Greenland created in 2018 from four southern regions of the former Qaasuitsup Municipality. Geography Qeqertalik Municipality is flanked in the south by the ...

and Avannaata municipalities. The latter two borders however run north–south through the center ( 45° West

meridian Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to Science * Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon * ...

) of the Greenland ice sheet ( kl, Sermersuaq) − and as such are free of traffic. In the north the municipality is bordered by the Northeast Greenland National Park beyond

Cape Biot Cape Biot ( da, Kap Biot) is a headland in the Greenland Sea, Northeast Greenland, Sermersooq municipality. History This headland was named "Cape Biot" by William Scoresby (1789 – 1857) in 1822 to honour physicist, astronomer and mathematician ...

, at the northern end of

Fleming Fjord Fleming Fjord is a fjord in King Christian X Land, eastern Greenland. Administratively it lies in the Sermersooq Municipality. History This fjord was named "Fleming Inlet" by British explorer William Scoresby (1789 – 1857) after Scottish scholar ...

. In the east, near the settlement of

, the municipal shores straddle the Kangertittivaq fjord, which opens to the cold Greenland Sea. The southeastern shores are bordered by the Anorituup Kangerlua fjord of the

Irminger Sea The Irminger Sea is a marginal sea of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered to the west by southern Greenland, to the north by Iceland and the Denmark Strait, to the east by the Reykjanes Ridge (a northern part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge), ...

in the

North Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

Politics

Sermersooq's municipal council consists of 19 members, elected every four years.

Municipal council

Transport

Sermersooq is one of two municipalities straddling the western and eastern sides of the island, but is the only municipality where settlements on both coasts are connected via scheduled flights from

Nuuk Airport Nuuk Airport ( kl, Mittarfik Nuuk; da, Godthåb Lufthavn; is an airport serving Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. The airport is a technical base and focus city for Air Greenland, the flag carrier airline of Greenland, linking the capital with s ...

Kulusuk Airport Kulusuk Airport ( kl, Mittarfik Kulusuk) is an airport in Kulusuk, a settlement on an island of the same name off the shore of the North Atlantic in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland. History The airstrip was built by US d ...

and

Nerlerit Inaat Airport Nerlerit Inaat Airport ( kl, Mittarfik Nerlerit Inaat, da, Constable Pynt Lufthavn) is an airport in the Sermersooq municipality in eastern Greenland. It is located on Jameson Land and serves the town of Ittoqqortoormiit, approximately to the ...

and reverse, operated year-round by

Air Greenland Air Greenland A/S (formerly named Grønlandsfly), also known as Greenlandair, is the flag carrier airline of Greenland, owned by the Greenlandic Government. It operates a fleet of 32 aircraft, including 1 airliner used for transatlantic and ch ...

. There are also local flights between Nuuk and

Paamiut Airport Paamiut Airport ( kl, Mittarfik Paamiut) is an airport located northeast of Paamiut, a town in the Sermersooq municipality in southwestern Greenland. It was built in 2007, replacing the old heliport. It is the only airport between Nuuk and Narsar ...

on the west coast.

Language

''Kalaallisut'', the West Greenlandic dialect is spoken in the towns and settlements of the western coast.

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 ...

is also in use in the bigger towns. Tunumiit oraasiat, the East Greenlandic dialect, is spoken on the eastern coast.

References

{{Regions of Denmark Municipalities of Greenland Populated places established in 2009