Skjoldungen ( kl, Saqqisikuik) is a large uninhabited island in the

King Frederick VI Coast King Frederick VI Coast ( da, Kong Frederik VI Kyst) is a major geographic division of Greenland. It comprises the coastal area of Southeastern Greenland in Sermersooq and Kujalleq municipalities fronting the Irminger Sea of the North Atlantic Oce ...

, southeastern

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 ...

. Administratively it is part of the

Sermersooq Sermersooq (, da, sted med meget is, lit=place of much ice) is a municipality in Greenland, formed on 1 January 2009 from five earlier, smaller municipalities. Its administrative seat is the city of Nuuk (formerly called Godthåb), the capital ...

municipality. The weather of the island is characterized by

tundra climate The tundra climate is a polar climate sub-type located in high latitudes and high mountains. undra climate https://www.britannica.com/science/tundra-climateThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019 It is classified as ET according to Köppen ...

. The island was named by

Wilhelm August Graah Wilhelm August Graah (1793–1863) was a Danish naval officer and Arctic explorer. Graah had mapped areas of West Greenland when he, in 1828–30, was sent by King Frederick VI of Denmark on an expedition to the unmapped eastern coast with th ...

(1793–1863) after ''Skjoldungen'' or ''Skioldungen'', a honorific title for the successors (

Scylding Old English Scylding (plural Scyldingas) and Old Norse Skjǫldung (plural Skjǫldungar), meaning in both languages "children of Scyld/Skjǫldr" are the members of a legendary royal family of Danes, especially kings. The name is explained in many ...

s) of legendary

King Skjold King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

to the ancient

Danish throne The monarchy of Denmark is a constitutional institution and a historic office of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Kingdom includes Denmark proper and the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The Kingdom of Denmark was alre ...

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

Geography

Skjoldungen is a coastal island in the southeastern shores of Greenland. It is located between two fjords, the Southern Skjoldungen Fjord ( kl, Iittuarmiit), to the southwest, and the Northern Skjoldungen Fjord ( kl, Qimutuluittiip Kangertiva) to the northeast between Skjoldungen and one of the arms of the

Thorland Thorland ( da, Thors Land) is a peninsula in the King Frederick VI Coast, southeastern Greenland. It is a part of the Sermersooq municipality. History One of the coastal islands, Igdluluarssuk (Sattiaatteq) at the entrance of the fjord on its sou ...

Peninsula. The Morke Sound ( kl, Pulaqqaviip Ikaasaa) is a wide

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

that joins both fjords in the NW, separating the island from the mainland. The island stretches in a NE/SW direction. Its highest point is

Azimuthbjerg Azimuthbjerg ( kl, Miialeqaaq) is the highest mountain in Skjoldungen Island, SE Greenland. Geography This multi-peaked mountain rises steeply from the shore of the northern end of the Southern Skjoldungen Fjord ( kl, Iittuarmiit), at the NW corn ...

, a 1,738 m high

ultra-prominent peak An ultra-prominent peak, or Ultra for short, is a mountain summit with a topographic prominence of or more; it is also called a P1500. The prominence of a peak is the minimum height of climb to the summit on any route from a higher peak, or fro ...

at the NW end of the island. Skjoldungen's maximum width is . Skjoldungen Island has a rugged terrain, which includes the Skjoldmøen, Bjarje and Hjalte

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

s and the Gedebukken, Pandebrasken, Skuren and Sfinksen

nunatak A nunatak (from Inuit ''nunataq'') is the summit or ridge of a mountain that protrudes from an ice field or glacier that otherwise covers most of the mountain or ridge. They are also called glacial islands. Examples are natural pyramidal peaks. ...

s. The southern part divides into two peninsulas jutting southeastwards, the Roar Peninsula ( da, Roar Halvø) and the Helge Peninsula ( da, Helges Halvø). Skjoldungen's southernmost headland is

Cape Niels Juel A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

, a narrow cape of reddish-brown rock at the end of the Helge Peninsula. long Anarnitsoq island lies just to the west of the cape.

History

Since the eastern coast of Greenland was inhabited by

Paleo-Eskimo The Paleo-Eskimo (also pre-Thule or pre-Inuit) were the peoples who inhabited the Arctic region from Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Chukotka (e.g., Chertov Ovrag) in present-day Russia across North America to Greenland prior to the arrival of the mode ...

people around 4,000 years ago, the Skjoldungen Fjords were likely inhabited or visited by nomadic hunters. At the

Qoornoq Qoornoq (old spelling: ''Qôrnoq'') is an uninhabited fishing village in the Sermersooq municipality in southwestern Greenland. History The area was known to have been inhabited by the ancient pre-Inuit, Paleo-Eskimo people of the Saqqaq culture ...

site, located on a small headland by the shore of the Southern Skjoldungen Fjord, there are archaeological remains of later historical periods. These include

Thule culture The Thule (, , ) or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by the year 1000 and expanded eastward across northern Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people o ...

graves indicating that

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

lived on the island after the 13th century. There are remains of relatively recent abandoned Inuit dwellings inside the fjord on Skjoldungen's western shore. These date back to 1938 when one hundred and fifty

from

Ammassalik Ammassalik Island ( da, Ammassalik Ø) is an island in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland, with an area of .

were convinced by the Danish authorities to settle in this large island. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

weather station A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include tempera ...

was built and run by the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

on Skjoldungen, as well as another one on Cape Adelaer further south down the coast at . The inhabitants of the Inuit settlement were relocated in 1965 following a nationwide program to concentrate the population of Greenland in a few larger towns. Another reason was that fishing and hunting were not enough to keep the population even close to a state of self-sufficiency. Currently the island is a popular destination with tourists on

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "s ...

s to Greenland owing to its impressive landscapes.

Bibliography

Mette Felbo, ''Grønlandske sommertelte'', Grønland, Årg. 41, nr. 1 (1993), p. 19-29
*Hans Christian Gulløv, ''Thulekulturen i Sydøstgrønland - set fra Skjoldungen'', Forskning i Grønland, 1994, nr. 1/2, pp. 21–31

on the 1992 ethnographic/archaeological expedition 'Projekt Skjoldungen'; background to the fieldwork
Jette Lewinsky, ''Mosses of the Skjoldungen Area, Southeast Greenland,'' Lindbergia Vol. 1, No. 1/2 (1971), pp. 83-90
*Spencer Apollonio, ''Lands That Hold One Spellbound: A Story of East Greenland'', 2008
Hans Christian Gulløv, ''Archaeological Commentary on the Isotopic Study of the Greenland Thule Culture'', Journal of the North Atlantic, Special Volume 3 (2012): 65–76

References

External links

Skjoldungen picturesGeochemical Constraints on the Origin of the Late Archean Skjoldungen Alkaline Igneous Province, SE Greenland
{cbignore, bot=medic
New insights on the north-eastern part of the Ketilidian orogen in South-East Greenland
Former populated places in Greenland Sermersooq Uninhabited islands of Greenland World War II sites in Greenland

Geography

History

See also

Bibliography

References

External links