Jørgen Brønlund (14 December 1877 – November 1907) was a
Greenlandic polar explorer
This list is for recognised pioneering explorers of the polar regions. It does not include subsequent travelers and expeditions.
Polar explorers
* Jameson Adams
* Mark Agnew
* Stian Aker
* Valerian Albanov
* Roald Amundsen
* Salomon August ...
,
educator, and
catechist
Catechesis (; from Greek language, 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 Conversion to Christia ...
.
He participated in two Danish expeditions to Greenland in the early 20th century.
Early life and education
Brønlund, a
Greenlandic Inuk and the son of a hunter, was born in
Ilulissat
Ilulissat, also known as Jacobshavn or Jakobshav, is the municipal seat and largest town of the Avannaata municipality in western Greenland, located approximately north of the Arctic Circle. With a population of 4,670 as of 2020, it is the ...
,
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 ...
,
Kingdom of Denmark
The Danish Realm, officially the Kingdom of Denmark, or simply Denmark, is a sovereign state consisting of a collection of constituent territories united by the Constitution of Denmark, Constitutional Act, which applies to the entire territor ...
, then known as Jacobshavn, 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 Jacobshavn. Trained as a teacher,
Brønlund graduated in 1901 from
Nuuk College.
Career
After graduation, he was employed as a catechist at a trading post near the
Nuup Kangerlua
Nuup Kangerlua is a long fjord in the Sermersooq municipality in southwestern Greenland. It was formerly known by its colonial name as Godthaab Fjord (), Gilbert Sound and Baal's River.Nicoll, James. An Historical and Descriptive Account of Ice ...
estuary.
Along with Rasmussen,
Harald Moltke
Harald Viggo Moltke (14 December 1871 – 24 June 1960) was a Danish painter, author and explorer. As an explorer he acted as draftsman in four Arctic expeditions.
Early life and education
Harald Moltke was born in Helsingør, the son of Oskar P ...
, 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- ...
, 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 Danish painter. He was a part of the Danish artistic generation in the late 19th century, along with Peder Severin Krøyer and Theodor Philipsen, ...
and taught in
Askov 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 Indepen ...
and attempting to return to their base camp. He was found near the depot in
Lambert Land 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
H ...
, 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 ().
The last entry of his diary reads as follows:
Legacy
The 172-page diary is archived at the
Royal Danish Library
Royal Danish Library () is a merger of the two previous national libraries in Denmark: the State and University Library in Aarhus and the Royal Library in Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, wit ...
.
A memorial stone erected in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
's harbor quotes the diary's last lines.
Jørgen Brønlund Fjord
Jørgen Brønlund Fjord or Brønlund 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 ...
in
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 nor ...
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:
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
Greenlandic Inuit people
20th-century Inuit people
20th-century Greenlandic people
Kalaallit