Avanersuaq
Avanersuaq (also Avannaa , Danish: Nordgrønland , Kalaallisut : Avanersuaq "the place in the most remote north", the emphasis is on the third syllable, German: North Greenland ) was from November 18, 1950 to December 31, 2008 the northernmost of the three administrative districts (office) Greenland . Other names are also "Thule district" or "Thule region", since the Thule Air Base is in the area. The district stretched from the 70th to the 80th northern latitude and bordered on the south by the districts Tunu and Kitaa . The largest town in the region is Qaanaaq ( Thule ) with 650 inhabitants .
The Inuit who live there today descend from the Thule culture , which reached Avannaarsua around the year 1000 . However, there are archaeological finds that suggest that the region was settled 5000 years ago. In the 13th century, the Grænlendingar, who settled in southern Greenland, probably traded with the inhabitants of the Avanersuaq region on their forays into the northern waters. With William Baffin and Robert Bylot , the Europeans advanced into the area in 1616. They wanted to learn more about the large ice-free bodies of water (see Polynjas ) north of central Baffin Bay .
It was the most sparsely populated local authority in the world (if one disregards generally uninhabited entities) with 843 people living on 106,700 km² of ice-free land with a density of 0.0079 people per square kilometer. The total land area including the area covered by the ice cap is over 500,000 km². North Greenland has a higher proportion of ice-free area than most other parts of the country because large parts of the far north, such as Pearyland , are largely ice-free due to the low rainfall .
The Inuit in Avanersuaq traditionally live mainly from hunting . In recent years, however, the region has become an increasingly popular destination for extreme tourists. The highest temperatures that can be expected in summer are around 12 ° C, with an average of −40 ° C in winter.
With the Thule Air Base , the area is used militarily by the Americans .
North Greenland is divided into one municipality and two unincorporated areas :
- Qaanaaq parish
- Thule Air Base ( Pituffik ) ( Unparished Area), an enclave in the Qaanaaq parish
- Northeast Greenland National Park (northern part) (unregulated area - until 1988 part of the municipality of Qaanaaq)
Effective January 1, 2009, the previous municipalities and districts of Greenland were replaced by the four large municipalities Qeqqata Kommunia , Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq , Qaasuitsup Kommunia and Kujalleq Municipality as part of a comprehensive administrative reform .
literature
- North America Native Museum : Inuit Life on the Edge of the World. Inuit - Life at the Edge of the World. Contrast Verlag, Zurich 2007. With 141 photographs and 7 panorama pictures by Markus Bühler-Rasom. Incl. Booklet «Travel Diary». ISBN 978-3-906729-55-8 (German text), ISBN 978-3-906729-59-6 (English text).
See also
Web links
- North Water ( Memento from August 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) - Interesting facts about the "Thule region" (English)
- North Greenland on Greenland's official tourism website greenland.com/de (German)