Kangeq

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Kangeq (headland)
Kangeĸ
Kangeq around 1890
Kangeq around 1890
Commune Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq
District Nuuk
Geographical location 64 ° 7 '0 "  N , 52 ° 4' 0"  W Coordinates: 64 ° 7 '0 "  N , 52 ° 4' 0"  W.
Kangeq (Greenland)
Kangeq
Residents 0
(since 1980)
Time zone UTC-3

Kangeq [ kaˈŋɜq ] (according to the old spelling Kangeĸ ) is a Greenlandic deserted fallen settlement in the Nuuk district in the Sermersooq commune .

location

Kangeq is located on an island of the same name about 17 km west-southwest of Nuuk . The settlement is protected by the island of Qeqertarsuaq , which forms a strait just a few meters wide on the shore. Kangeq is located on the northern coast of Nuup Kangerlua, which is divided by the Kitsissut archipelago .

history

Before the colonial era

Numerous traces of the Saqqaq culture can be found in Kangeq . The area was inhabited thousands of years ago. After that, according to archaeological finds, the place was uninhabited for a long time. Only then can you find objects that had belonged to the Grænlendingar . However, since they did not settle here and, according to tradition, the area was also uninhabited around 1350, Greenlanders who settled here again a short time later must have collected them in the abandoned Vestribyggð and brought them here. From the 14th century, Kangeq was continuously inhabited. The long-lasting permanent settlement was made possible by the favorable location, as the sea at this point is always free of ice and rich in prey for the Inuit hunting there.

One of the Inuit kidnapped to Europe in 1654.

It is believed that John Davis saw Kangeq when he rediscovered Greenland in 1586. In 1612 James Hall probably visited the place. In 1653 and 1654 David Danell drove to Kangeq twice, presumably, and kidnapped four Inuit on the second trip to Europe, who died there after some time.

The colonization of Greenland began 3.5 km north in 1721 with the establishment of the mission station Håbets Ø on the island of Illuerunnerit, separated by the Sound of Sarfannguaq , by Hans Egede . At the beginning of the 18th century, Kangeq was used as a summer place by Inuit, who moved hundreds of kilometers from the south. A traditional story tells of the hunter Singajik who came from Arsuk at the end of the 17th century and spent the rest of his life in Kangeq. On an exact map from 1731, Kangeq was not marked as inhabited and it is unclear whether people lived there at that time. If the place of residence was actually vacant at that time, then this can only have been the case for a short time.

18th and 19th centuries

In 1754 Kangeq also became a mission station, albeit through the Moravian Church . However, the population migrated throughout the area to move to Neu-Herrnhut , the main missionary site of the Brethren. In the 1770s, the Danes also began missionary work in Kangeq, which at that time was described as the most profitable place in the area, but from 1777 Neu-Herrnhut was decentralized and the Moravians pushed the Danes out of Kangeq again. In 1801 all Greenlanders were baptized in Kangeq. In the same year, a 55-year-old woman was tortured and murdered by her son and daughter after losing her mind while being ill. Inspector Niels Rosing Bull had the siblings publicly denounced. At that time, the Greenlanders were afraid of being killed by insane relatives and so did so.

In 1805, fishing began in Kangeq, but the population suffered from disease. It was not until 1854 that Kangeq was officially named Udsted . In 1855 the place had 76 inhabitants. Kangeq is best known for its resident Aron von Kangeq , who from 1858 onwards, on behalf of Hinrich Johannes Rink, collected old legends and highlighted them with drawings.

20th century

Kangeq around 1900

In 1900 the Moravians left Greenland and Kangeq became part of the Danish Mission. Since 1911, Kangeq was a separate community in the colonial district of Godthaab with no associated living space. It was part of the 8th Provincial Council constituency of South Greenland.

In 1918 there were 118 inhabitants. Most of them were descended from Kujataamiut (South Greenlanders) and most of them had no European descent. They lived in fifteen very poorly built houses and were seen as problematic people who made life difficult for the colonial administration with their behavior and ensured that the Udsteds administrators had to be replaced excessively frequently. There was a house built in 1854 for the Udsteds administrator. It measured a good 30 square meters and had two rooms. The bacon house from 1889 is almost 50 m² in size. A provisions store with a shop on the upper floor from 1907 measured 42 m². All three buildings were made of gray stone. There was also a powder house in Kangeq. The school chapel from 1905 was almost 52 m² in size and had an almost 10 m² classroom on the top floor. The building was built from the materials of an old Moravian house in Uummannaq . In addition to the Udsteds administrator, a midwife and a catechist, there were 22 hunters and two fishermen. The population lived mainly from seal and whale hunting.

In 1928 a new apartment was built for the Udsteds administrator. In 1935 a school building was built and in the following year a new shop with warehouse. Later, a fish house with an area of ​​180 m² was built as the fishing industry in Kangeq flourished. The population rose to 155 people by 1960.

From 1950 Kangeq belonged to the new municipality of Nuuk . From the 1960s, the population began to migrate to Nuuk. On May 1, 1974, the place was finally officially abandoned and the residents relocated to Nuuk. Since 1980 Kangeq has been mentioned in the statistics as uninhabited. Today, Kangeq only functions as temporary accommodation for hunters and fishermen and as a tourist destination.

Sons and daughters

Web links

Commons : Kangeq  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Map with all official place names confirmed by Oqaasileriffik , provided by Asiaq
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Hans Christian Gulløv: Kangeq - Et uddrag af Grønlands historie in the Tidsskriftet Grønland (4/1976) (.pdf)
  3. ↑ Hans Christian Gulløv: From Middle Ages to Colonial Times . Museum Tusculanum Press, Copenhagen 1997, ISBN 978-87-635-1239-8 , p. 83 ff., 347 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  4. ↑ a b c Louis bobe : Beskrivelse af Distrikterne i Sydgrønland: Godthaab district. History. Grand localites . In: Georg Carl Amdrup , Louis Bobé , Adolf Severin Jensen , Hans Peder Steensby (eds.): Grønland i tohundredeaaret for Hans Egedes landing (=  Meddelelser om Grønland . Volume 60-61 ). tape 2 . C. A. Reitzel Boghandel, Copenhagen 1921, p. 283 f . ( Digitized in the Internet Archive ).
  5. ↑ a b Ole Bendixen : Beskrivelse af Distrikterne i Sydgrønland: Godthaab district. Bopladser i Godthaab district. Udstedet Kangeĸ . In: Georg Carl Amdrup , Louis Bobé , Adolf Severin Jensen , Hans Peder Steensby (eds.): Grønland i tohundredeaaret for Hans Egedes landing (=  Meddelelser om Grønland . Volume 60-61 ). tape 2 . C. A. Reitzel Boghandel, Copenhagen 1921, p. 238 ff . ( Digitized in the Internet Archive ).
  6. ↑ Jens Christian Madsen: Udsteder og bopladser i Grønland 1901-2000 . Atuagkat, 2009, ISBN 978-87-90133-76-4 , pp. 72 f .
  7. ↑ Kange K er nedlagt in the Atuagagdliutit of May 9, 1974
  8. ↑ inhabitants Kangeq 1977-2018 at bank.stat.gl
  9. ↑ Excursion to Kangeq and the Island of Hope at nuuk-tourism.gl (archived)