Aasiaat District

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Aasiaat Communiate
Aasiaat District
location
Symbols
coat of arms
coat of arms
Basic data
Country Greenland
Commune Qeqertalik municipality
Seat Aasiaat
surface 4000 km²
Residents 3338 (January 1, 2019)
density 0.8 inhabitants per km²

Aasiaat has been a district in western Greenland since 2009 . It is congruent with the previous community Aasiaat, which was incorporated into the Qaasuitsup Kommunia in 2009 . The Aasiaat district has been part of the Qeqertalik municipality since 2018 .

location

The Aasiaat district is located on the south coast of Disko Bay . It is bordered by the Kangaatsiaq district to the south, the Qasigiannguit district to the east and the Qeqertarsuaq district to the north on the other side of the bay .

history

Until colonization

The current district area was first settled by the Inuit . House ruins, pagan graves and stone tools bear witness to this.

In addition to the settlement of Inuit, today's district area was visited by the Grænlendingar during the time of Erik the Red and was part of the Norðrsetur area . The Northmen hunted seals and whales and collected driftwood, which was particularly abundant here.

On June 27, 1605, the British explorer James Hall reached the island of Saqqarliit , where he turned around at Kangaarsutsiaq and drove back south. The Aasiaat district is the northernmost point of his journey of discovery.

The oldest living places in the district were Kangaarsutsiaq , Tupertalik , Illutalik , Killiit , Maniitsoq , Aasiaat and Nuuk .

The Dutch Lourens Feykes Haan described the area at the beginning of the 18th century. At that time the Dutch were whaling intensively in Disko Bay.

18th century

In 1759 Niels Egede founded the Egedesminde colony. Originally he wanted to build it in a place he called Mannuk ; but nobody knew this place. He probably meant Mannik ("egg") or Maneq ("peat") and was referring to Manermiut in what is now the district area. Instead, the colony was created about a hundred kilometers south in the extreme south of today's Kangaatsiaq district. At first the colony seemed to be thriving, but very soon the fishing conditions deteriorated and in 1763 the colony later called Gamle Egedesminde was relocated .

The old residential area Aasiaat , located almost 120 km to the north, was chosen as the new location . The colony was now a little more economically successful than before, but the establishment of Godhavn (Qeqertarsuaq) on Disco Island created competition. In addition, surreptitious trading inhibited economic success. From 1776 things went uphill and Marcus Nissen Myhlenphort mentioned that the large number of living spaces contributed to this. At that time Akunnaaq , Anaarsuit , Equut , Maniitsoq , Killiit , Tupertalik , Illutalik and Nivaaq were inhabited in what is now the district area. In addition, there were the residential areas in today's Kangaatsiaq district, which also belonged to the colonial district.

At first trade and mission were not strictly separated. Both Niels Egede and Johannes Pedersen Dorf worked as missionaries and catechists, respectively. Officially, the colony was part of the Holsteinsborg (Sisimiut) missionary office . It was not until 1769 that a dedicated missionary was deployed in Egedesminde.

The Dutch whalers were active in Disko Bay until the 1770s and it was not until the middle of the decade that the Danish side took action. In 1777 a man named Pihl hijacked three Dutch ships that he brought to the port of Aasiaat, and the Dutch gave up. A little later, the English who whaled in Disko Bay and traded with the Greenlanders came to the economic disadvantage of the Danes.

In 1785/86 there was a major epidemic that had been brought in from South Greenland . It bears the name Nungunersuaq , translated "the great disappearance". People fled their homes, many of which became extinct, and the economy came to a complete standstill. Whole Umiaq crews died on the hunting trips, which is reminiscent of boat remains and skeletons on the coast. Because until then there were no catechists who evangelized in the living quarters, those to be baptized were always gathered in the colony, which led to the fact that especially the baptized died.

Immediately after the epidemic, the hunting grounds lay fallow and the colonial district found itself in a serious crisis. In 1789 the entire colonial district had only 298 inhabitants (72 of whom were baptized) and many of them lived in Kitsissuarsuit , which was so remote that the epidemic spared it. To help the economy on its feet, a whaling attempt was started in Kitsissuarsuit in 1786 and in Maniitsoq in 1788. In 1791 Maniitsoq was abandoned after catching a single whale in three years. Instead, a whaling attempt was founded in Rifkol in what is now the Kangaatsiaq district, which was transferred to the island of Nunarsuaq a year later . In 1793, in addition to Kitsissuarsuit, only the colony itself and Tupertalik as well as a few places in today's Kangaatsiaq district were inhabited. In 1794 a whaling and trading attempt was started in Killiit, which from 1797 also replaced Rifkol. In 1795 the colonial district again had 465 inhabitants, of which just under 200 lived in Kitsissuarsuit and Killiit. In 1796 the remote kitsissuarsuit was spun off from the colonial district and could no longer contribute to economic success. In 1799 the colony, Killiit and Nivaaq were inhabited in addition to the residential areas in today's Kangaatsiaq district.

Colonial administrator Marcus Nissen Myhlenphort made a major contribution to saving the colony. He had introduced the yarn trap and by the late 1790s the colony was doing better than ever.

In June 1800 a smallpox epidemic, presumably brought in by the English, broke out in the Southeast Bugten between Aasiaat and Qasigiannguit , and it spread rapidly. Around a third of the population was killed: the epidemic claimed 150 lives. Only one boy survived in Nivaaq and the colony only had 21 residents. The twine catch had to be stopped. Colonial administrator Myhlenphort left the district in 1801 to rebuild the Holsteinsborg colony, which had been hit even harder by the epidemic. In 1802 Nivaaq was rebuilt and Akunnaaq was founded in the same year. Maniitsoq followed in 1804, but there were too few residents to keep all Udsted up and running. Around 1805 the colony could only be kept alive because whaling was successful in Killiit. In 1805 the colonial district had 218 inhabitants, almost all of whom lived in what is now the Aasiaat district. Only the colony, Maniitsoq, Nivaaq and Killiit were inhabited there. In 1807 the Nuuk residential area came to Egedesminde through a border shift.

After catechists were hired from the 1790s, the number of baptized rose sharply. In 1805 249 were baptized, in 1808 there were only 34 pagans left, in 1821 there were six and in 1831 only one.

19th century

From 1807 to 1814 the gunboat war raged between Denmark and England, which severely hindered the supply of Greenland and almost completely lost economic and ecclesiastical control over the colony. Whaling was stopped and the yarn catching stations were abandoned. In 1812 and 1815 the hunting grounds were also extremely bad.

The colonial district recovered quickly, however. In 1818 whaling was resumed in Killiit and the Attu facility was founded. In 1823 Killiit was given up. Iginniarfik was founded in 1825 . Attu and Iginniarfik are now in the Kangaatsiaq district. In the same year there was another epidemic brought in by English whalers. In 1827 Kitsissuarsuit and Kitsissut were ceded to the Egedesminde colony. In 1830, Kitsissut was lost again to Godhavn. In 1831 the following places were inhabited in today's district: Aasiaat, Kitsissuarsuit, Tasiusaq , Itillermiut and Nivaaq. Together with the residential areas in today's Kangaatsiaq district, the colonial district again had 489 inhabitants in 1831. Subsequently, the economic success increased again strongly and several places received the Udstedsstatus . A fourth epidemic was introduced in 1852.

After Egedesminde received its own missionary in 1769, the colony was returned to the missionary from Holsteinsborg in 1792, but fell to the missionary from Jakobshavn (Ilulissat) just a year later . In 1799 the colony received its own missionary again. Because of the war, no missionaries were employed between 1813 and 1818. Most of the time the missionary from Egedesminde was also responsible for Godhavn, from 1831 to 1845 also for Jakobshavn and Christianshaab. The western part of the latter remained with Egedesminde until 1870. From 1872 to 1875 the missionary was split up. The southern part including the colony belonged to Holsteinsborg, the northern part with Godhavn to Jakobshavn. The entire colonial district then fell to Jakobshavn, became an independent missionary again in 1879, before being again part of Jakobshavn from 1887 to 1893.

20th century

In 1911 the colonial district was divided into seven (later eight) parishes , four of which were Egedesminde , Akúnâĸ , Dogs Ejland and Manermiut in the area of ​​today's Aasiaat district. In 1918, five residential places were subordinate to these communities.

In 1916, a new medical district was set up based in Aasiaat, which included the colonial district of Egedesminde and the colonial district of Godhavn and Ikamiut .

In 1918 the parish consisted of four chief catechetical districts, two of which were Aasiaat and Akunnaaq in what is now the district area.

In 1921, Hother Ostermann and Morten P. Porsild described the colonial district. About the population, they said that a small part of the inhabitants are Danish-Greenlandic descendants of the survivors of the four epidemics, but a large part originally immigrated from the south of Greenland, which is why a large number of the inhabitants had no European ancestors. This is also evidenced by the fact that Ugpernángitsoĸ , Inûsugtoĸ , Mikisuluk or the Greenlandized Alauphesen and Barbarusiusen are the only cases of Greenlandic surnames in western Greenland in the Kangaatsiaq district . The way of life of the population at that time was even more archaic than in other areas of West Greenland.

During the administrative reform in 1950, the colony district was divided. The small northern part became the municipality of Aasiaat, while the much larger southern part formed the municipality of Kangaatsiaq . During the administrative reform in 2009, the community Aasiaat was incorporated into the Qaasuitsup Kommunia and became a district. The Aasiaat district has been part of the Qeqertalik municipality since 2018 .

places

In addition to the city of Aasiaat , the following villages are located in the Aasiaat district:

In addition, the following recently abandoned settlements are located in today's district area:

coat of arms

Blazon : Divided into silver and blue, a spider web in mixed up colors .

The spider web stands for the Greenlandic name Aasiaat (lit. "spiders"), although Aasiat ("meeting place") is more likely to be the origin of the name.

literature

Coordinates: 68 ° 24 ′  N , 52 ° 27 ′  W