Anders Olsen (businessman)

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Anders Olsen (* around 1718 in Senja , Norway ; † December 11, 1786 in Igaliku , Greenland ) was a Norwegian - Danish merchant and colonial administrator.

Life

Anders Olsen worked in the colonial administration in Finnmark . In 1742 Jacob Severin , who once worked in Finnmark but now worked in Greenland, brought him to Godthåb ( Nuuk ) with his brother Hans . There he soon became an assistant. In 1750 he was employed by Det Kongelige Octroyerede Almindelige Handels-Compagnie . In 1752 he separated from the company and became a free trader with his brother, but returned in 1753.

In 1754 Anders recognized the need for a settlement between Godthåb (Nuuk) and Frederikshåb ( Paamiut ), as the long stretch between these cities , which was only populated by a few Inuit , was a major obstacle to trade. For this reason, he built the trading post Fiskenæsset ( Qeqertarsuatsiaat ). In 1755, Anders founded the Sukkertoppen settlement. It was later moved to what is now Maniitsoq , while Kangaamiut is located in its original location . He was colonial administrator there until 1765. He was then sent near what is now Itilleq , where he built an experimental fishing station, which he left in 1767. The Inussuttusup Tunua sound located there therefore bears the Danish name Anders Olsen Sund . From 1767 to 1773 he worked again as a merchant in Sukkertoppen. He proposed the establishment of a colony south of Frederikshåb and in 1774 went on a voyage of discovery to Cape Farvel , where he discovered the remains of Eystribyggð the Grænlendingar . In 1776 he founded Julianehåb ( Qaqortoq ), which he headed as colonial administrator until 1780.

He then began farming in South Greenland, but after a short time his farm in Upernaviarsuk burned down in 1783 . He then undertook a research trip to the previously undiscovered east coast, which he traveled 135 km to the north. He met Tunumiit there , but returned before the ice forced him to hibernate. He then built with his Greenlandic wife Tuperna (1726–1789), daughter of Sanak, whom he married in 1752, a farm in Igaliku on the site where the settlement Garðar of Grænlendingar had been. He became the first farmer in Greenland for hundreds of years. He was later followed by his son Johannes Andersen (1760-1825).

literature

  • Hother Ostermann : Nordmænd paa Grønland 1721–1814 . tape 2 . Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, Oslo 1940, p. 565-669 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johannes Hoops: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde . Ed .: Heinrich Beck, Dietrich Geuenich, Heiko Steuer, Dieter Timpe. tape 13 . de Gruyter, Berlin, New York 1999, ISBN 3-11-016315-2 , pp. 63 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ↑ Biography in Dansk biografisk leksikon
  3. ↑ KN Christensen: Anders Olsen og hans slægt. In the Tidsskriftet Grønland (1953/4)
personal data
SURNAME Olsen, Anders
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian-Danish merchant and colonial administrator
DATE OF BIRTH around 1718
PLACE OF BIRTH Senja
DATE OF DEATH December 11, 1786
Place of death Igaliku