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Ivittuut (formerly, Ivigtût) ( Kalaallisut: "Grassy Place") is an abandoned mining town near
Cape Desolation Cape Desolation (, ), also known as 'Cape Brill', is a headland in southwest Greenland in the Kujalleq municipality. Geography The cape is located 16.66 km to the west-north-west of Cape Thorvaldsen near the modern settlements of Arsuk and Ivit ...
in southwestern
Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...
, in the modern
Sermersooq Sermersooq () is a municipality in Greenland, formed on 1 January 2009 from five previous, smaller municipalities. Its administrative seat is the city of Nuuk (formerly called Godthåb), the capital of Greenland, and it is the most populous ...
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...
on the ruins of the former Norse Middle Settlement. Ivittuut is one of the few places in the world so far discovered to have naturally occurring
cryolite Cryolite ( Na3 Al F6, sodium hexafluoroaluminate) is a rare mineral identified with the once-large deposit at Ivittuut on the west coast of Greenland, mined commercially until 1987. It is used in the reduction ("smelting") of aluminium, in pest ...
(Na3AlF6, sodium aluminum fluoride), an important agent in modern aluminum extraction.


History

The area was settled by about twenty farms of
Norsemen The Norsemen (or Northmen) were a cultural group in the Early Middle Ages, originating among speakers of Old Norse in Scandinavia. During the late eighth century, Scandinavians embarked on a Viking expansion, large-scale expansion in all direc ...
, a district called the "Middle Settlement" by modern archaeologists from its placement between the larger
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
and
Eastern Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...
Settlements. It is the smallest and least well known of the three, and no written records of its residents survive, for which reasons it is believed to have been established last (and abandoned first) of the three. Investigations show a presence after 985 and with occupation continuing up to at least the 14th century. The town's
cryolite Cryolite ( Na3 Al F6, sodium hexafluoroaluminate) is a rare mineral identified with the once-large deposit at Ivittuut on the west coast of Greenland, mined commercially until 1987. It is used in the reduction ("smelting") of aluminium, in pest ...
deposit was discovered in 1799, and the veins of silver-bearing lead surrounding it were mined by the British engineer J.W. Tayler before the silver content was found to be too low to make the operation viable. Danish engineers began mining the cryolite itself in 1859, and in 1864 the Danish
Kriolit Mine og Handels Selskabet Ivittuut (formerly, Ivigtût) ( Kalaallisut: "Grassy Place") is an abandoned mining town near Cape Desolation in southwestern Greenland, in the modern Sermersooq municipality on the ruins of the former Norse Middle Settlement. Ivittuut is one ...
was granted a monopoly on its extraction.Doody, Richard. ''The World at War''.
GREENLAND 1721 - 1953
. Accessed 28 Apr 2012.
These early mines simply processed the cryolite for its direct aluminum content and for sale to the
Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company Arkema S.A. is a publicly listed, multi-national manufacturer of specialty materials, headquartered in La Défense, near Paris, France. It has three specialty materials segments (or divisions); adhesives, advanced materials and coatings. A furt ...
, which used it to create
caustic soda Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye and caustic soda, is an inorganic compound with the formula . It is a white solid ionic compound consisting of sodium cations and hydroxide anions . Sodium hydroxide is a highly corrosive base and alkali t ...
. The 1884 establishment of the Hall-Heroult process, which depends on the rare cryolite but dramatically improved the extraction of aluminum from
bauxite Bauxite () is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)), and diaspore (α-AlO(OH) ...
ore, increased the deposit's importance. The Ivittuut mining operations were a major factor in the
American occupation of Greenland The fall of Denmark in April 1940 left the Danish colony of Greenland an unoccupied territory of an occupied nation, under the possibility of seizure by the United Kingdom, United States or Canada. To forestall this, the United States acted to ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. After World War II, the cryolite was mined by the Danish firm Kryolitselskabet Øresund, which helped fund the establishment of ''Grønlandsfly'', today's
Air Greenland Air Greenland Aktieselskab, A/S (formerly named Grønlandsfly and Greenlandair) is the flag carrier of Greenland, owned by the Naalakkersuisut, Greenlandic Government. It operates a fleet of 28 aircraft, including a single Airbus A330-800 airli ...
. Cryolite was eventually synthesized, reducing the importance of the mine. The mine ran empty, but production was proceeded using earlier 'waste rock'. The mine was finally shut down in 1987.arsukfjorden.gl
.
The community was abandoned soon after. In 1924, it was a stopping place for the
first aerial circumnavigation The first aerial circumnavigation of the world was completed in 1924 by four aviators from an eight-man team of the United States Army Air Service, the precursor of the United States Air Force. The 175-day journey from April to September covered ...
, during which new engines were installed in two American
biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
aircraft.


Climate

Ivittuut holds the record for Greenland's highest recorded temperature of , recorded on 23 June 1915. The lowest recorded temperature was in February. Ivittuut has a
tundra climate The tundra climate is a polar climate sub-type located in high latitudes and high mountains. It is classified as ET according to the Köppen climate classification. It is a climate which at least one month has an average temperature high enough ...
( ET) bordering on a
subarctic The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of hemiboreal regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Fennoscandia, Northwestern Russia, Siberia, and the Cair ...
climate (Dfc), with July having an average of . Summertime temperatures are cool with chilly nights, and wintertime temperatures are very cold with frigid nights.


Transport

Ivittuut and
Kangilinnguit Kangilinnguit ( Danish: Grønnedal), is a settlement and location of a former naval base in Greenland's Sermersooq municipality, located at the mouth of Arsuk Fjord in southwestern Greenland. The settlement had 160 inhabitants in 2010, most of w ...
are connected by a road, which is roughly 5 km (3 mi) long.


See also

*
History of Greenland The history of Greenland is a history of life under extreme Arctic conditions: currently, an ice sheet covers about eighty percent of the island, restricting human activity largely to the coasts. The first humans are thought to have arrived i ...


References

{{Authority control Ghost towns in Greenland Former populated places in Greenland Norse settlements in Greenland Populated places established in the 10th century Mines in Greenland Geological type localities Sermersooq