From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Location of the Nanortalik municipality in Greenland.

Nanortalik pronunciation (help·info) is the tenth biggest town of Greenland and is located at 60°08′31″N, 45°14′36″W on a small island (also called Nanortalik) roughly 100 km from the southern tip of Greenland.

Nanortalik is also the administrative center of Municipality of Nanortalik which encompasses about 15,000 km² (5,790 mi²) around the southern tip of Greenland. The town itself has 1564 inhabitants (January 2005), and the entire municipality has 2389 inhabitants with the rest living in the settlements of Narsarmijit (Frederiksdal), Alluitsup Paa (Sydprøven), Tasiusaq, Aappilattoq, Ammassivik as well as these settlements with no more than 20 inhabitants each: Saputit, Nalasut, Nuugaarsuk, Akuliaruseq, Qallimiut, Qorlortorsuaq, Alluitsoq, and the weather station Ikerasassuaq. The name Nanortalik means "place of polar bears".

Wintertime view to Nanortalik from nearby Ravnefjeldet.

A typical December scenery from Nanortalik, viewed from the top of Ravnefjeldet. In December, icebergs (see foreground) are scarce, but will in springtime dominate the fjords.

Because of its location, this area was one of the first parts of Greenland settled, both by Inuit and by the Norse. Nanortalik was founded in 1770. In 1797, a permanent trading depot was set up in Nanortalik by traders from Julianehåb. Due to poor harbour facilities, the town moved in 1830 to a different location where it remains today. Of the old town remains only the scattered ruins of Sissarissoq.

Nanortalik has little productive trade. There are no factories, and no large-scale fishing activities as sea ice prevents fishing for several months a year. Small-scale fishing, crab fishing, seal and seabird hunting and tourism provide most of the locally produced revenue. Recently, a gold mine opened in Kirkespirsdalen some 30 km north of Nanortalik town. Decades ago, a now abandoned graphite mine operated some 20 km from the town.

The church of Nanortalik.

Nanortalik Island is located near the mouth of the 70 km long Tasermiut Fjord. The island measures about 10 km across and features two minor mountains: Quaqqarsuasik ('Storfjeldet' in Danish) and Quassik ('Ravnefjeldet' in Danish or Raven Mountain in English) Quaqqarsuasik is 559 m and Quassik 308 m.

While Greenland is almost completely without trees, the Qinngua valley some 40 km from Nanortalik town has the only forest in Greenland. Here, Willow (Salix glauca) and Birch (Betula pubescens) trees grow up to a height of several meters. Most other places, trees grow up to a maximum of about half a meter height. The valley also has some 300 species of other plants, in addition to many lichens.

The wildlife of the Nanortalik island is rather poor due to native hunters. As a result, ravens, seagulls and snow buntings are some of the very few abundant larger bird species, and no mammal larger than a mouse is likely to be seen on the island. However, the surrounding areas counts numerous species.

Birdlife includes raven, ptarmigan, Glaucous Gull, Iceland Gull, snow bunting, guillemot, eider, king eider, gyrfalcon, white-tailed eagle, redpoll, red-necked phalarope, various sandpipers, red-breasted merganser, red-throated diver, great northern diver, cormorant, long-tailed duck, puffin, northern wheatear, little auk, various duck species, and more rarely, snowy owls.

Despite the allusion to polar bears in its name, they are rare sights in Nanortalik, but occasionally come drifting in on sea ice from East Greenland in the months of January to June.

Seals are common in surrounding fjords. The most common seal is ringed seal, followed by Hooded Seal and harp seal.

From August until October minke whales are common near the opening of the Tasermiut Fjord. Occasionally, humpback whales and orcas are spotted.

• Angissq LORAN-C transmitter
• Cape Farewell, Greenland, the Southermost point of Greenland

• "Greenland and the Arctic". By Etain O'Carroll and Mark Elliott. Lonely Planet 2005. ISBN 1-74059-095-3.
• "Befolkningsstatistik" [Danish for Population statistic]. Statistics Greenland, 2005. [1]

• www.nanortalik.gl Nanortalik official site (in Greenlandic and Danish).
• www.nanortaliktourism.gl Nanortalik Tourism office (English).
• www.greenland.com hiking information for the Nanortalik area.