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 ...

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