Qullissat

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Qullissat (the future top)
K'utdligssat
Qullissat on the Arrival of Lake (2008)
Qullissat on the Arrival of Lake (2008)
Commune Qeqertalik municipality
District Qeqertarsuaq
Geographical location 70 ° 5 '3 "  N , 53 ° 0' 2"  W Coordinates: 70 ° 5 '3 "  N , 53 ° 0' 2"  W.
Qullissat (Greenland)
Qullissat
Residents 0
(since 1972)
founding 1924
Time zone UTC-3

Qullissat [ ˈquˌɬːisːatˢʰ ] (according to the old spelling K'utdligssat ) is an abandoned Greenland town in the district of Qeqertarsuaq in the municipality of Qeqertalik .

location

Qullissa is located in a river delta on the northeast coast of Disko Island (Qeqertarsuaq) on Vaigat (Sullorsuaq), which separates the island from the opposite south coast of the Nuussuaq peninsula . The closest place is Saqqaq , which is 41 km east on the other side of the Sound, while the next inhabited place on Disko Island, Kangerluk , is 76 km southwest.

history

The city of Qullissat

An old mining facility in Qullissat (2008)

Before it was founded, Qullissat served the Greenlanders as a summer site. The place was officially founded in 1924 solely as a home for the miners for the coal found here. A second mine was opened in 1939. The mining operation was reserved for the Danish state, which made Qullissat the only state-operated coal mine in Greenland. In 1950 the closure of the mine and thus Qullissats was requested by the Greenland Commission for the first time. A total of 570,000 tons of coal were mined during the 48 years of mine operation. During its existence, Qullissat was one of the largest cities in the country with a record 1500 inhabitants and was the first industrial city in Greenland. From 1950 Qullissat was the capital of the municipality of Vaigat , which was incorporated into the municipality of Qeqertarsuaq with the abandonment of the city .

The closure of Qullissat

The church of Qullissat now in Ilulissat (2008)

In the spring of 1966, investigations began in Grønlandsråd to determine whether coal mining in Qullissat was still profitable. Even if a new layer of coal was discovered in autumn, the decision was made to give up the place within the next six years. It was viewed as problematic that in general the demand for coal continued to decline due to the advent of oil stoves in Greenland. The long transition phase was chosen in order to build enough housing for the 1400 residents of Qullissat in other cities in Greenland at the time. In 1967, the mining of the new coal layer began in Mine C, the third in the city. The city's abandonment was confirmed by Grønlandsråd in July 1968 after considering other solutions the previous year, such as reducing the population or restructuring the economy away from coal mining and towards fishing. Nevertheless, sitting in the Grønlandsråd Danish politicians asked in September Hans Jørgen Lembourn in a letter to Greenland Minister Arnold Christian Normann a postponement or abandonment of plans to Qullissat, as Knud Hertling criticized, while at the same time Grønlands Landsråd the Greenland Ministry the decision of the closure Mine submitted, which this finally approved in October 1968, whereby the residents were left open to stay in Qullissat even without an economic basis. In 1969, more than half of the families in Qullissat had asked to move. At the end of 1970, numerous local politicians in the country met to find solutions to the problems arising from the depopulation of Qullissat. In 1971 it was decided to compensate the residents of Qullissat. In December 1971, around 500 of the original 1,400 residents were still living in Qullissat. In August 1972 the coal mine was closed and in September the last residents left the place, which has been uninhabited since then. The Qullissat Church was moved to Ilulissat when the city was closed . Qullissat is the only place with urban status in Greenland that has been completely depopulated, and thus by far the largest abandoned Greenlandic place in the past.

After the closure

Building destroyed by the tsunami of 2000 in Qullissat (2008)

In 1977 and 2012, a summer camp was held in the abandoned city on the 5th and 40th anniversaries of the closure of Qullissat. On December 21, 2000, a tsunami broke out , triggered by a landslide on the opposite side of the strait, and destroyed most of the buildings in Qullissat. In the Knud Rasmussen Museum in Ilulissat, the history of Qullissat is discussed in detail.

Sons and daughters

literature

  • Astrid Andersen, Lars Jensen, Kirsten Hvenegård-Lassen: Qullissat: Historicizing and Localizing the Danish Scramble for the Arctic. In: Postcolonial Perspectives on the European High North. Unscrambling the Arctic . Ed .: Graham Huggan, Lars Jensen. Palgrave Macmillan , London 2016, ISBN 978-1-137-58816-6 , pp. 93-116 .
  • Søren Peder Sørensen: Qullissat. Byen der ikke vil dø . Frydenlund, 2013, ISBN 978-87-7118-283-5 .

Web links

Commons : Qullissat  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Søren Peder Sørensen's website on Qullissat

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Map with all official place names confirmed by Oqaasileriffik , provided by Asiaq
  2. ^ Qullissat in Den Store Danske
  3. ↑ a b c Timeline to Qullissat at qullissat.dk (.pdf)
  4. ↑ Om arch at qullissat.dk
  5. ↑ Tykt kullag af fint kvalitet fundet i K'utdligssat in the Atuagagdliutit of October 27, 1966
  6. ↑ K'utdligssat nedlægges formodenligt om seks år in the Atuagagdliutit of November 10, 1966
  7. ↑ Kulbrydningen mere økonomisk i mine C in the Atuagagdliutit of January 19, 1967
  8. ↑ K'utdligssat rømmes helt in the Atuagagdliutit of July 18, 1968
  9. ↑ Sidste ord om kulminen er endnu ikke says in the Atuagagdliutit of September 26, 1968
  10. ↑ Kulminen Skal nedlægges in the Atuagagdliutit of October 10, 1968
  11. ↑ K'utdligssat bliver nedlagt om tre år in the Atuagagdliutit of May 29, 1969
  12. ↑ Kommunerne vil prøve på at løse tilflytterproblemerne in the Atuagagdliutit of December 1, 1970
  13. ↑ Beboere i K'utdligssat får erstatning in the Atuagagdliutit of July 22, 1971
  14. ↑ K'utdligssat synger på sidste vers in the Atuagagdliutit of December 1, 1971
  15. ↑ Lukning af kulminen i K'utdligssat in the Atuagagdliutit of August 17, 1972
  16. ↑ Glem ikke K'utdligssat in the Atuagagdliutit of September 28, 1972
  17. ↑ Ilulissat at gorenlandkreuzfahrt.de