Aasiaat

Aasiaat is located on a roughly 7-km long and 3-km wide and relatively low archipelago island with very modest vegetation. The town shares the place as the country’s fourth largest town with Qaqortoq. The district’s two settlements have 124 residents and the town has 3,035 residents.

Aasiaat island is located in a large archipelago called ‘the land of the thousand islands’. There are two different interpretations of the name: either ‘the place with spiders’ or the ‘meeting place’ where people gathered for a short period of time during the nomadic journeys in summer.

The town’s founders included Niels Egede, who named the place after his father, Hans Egede.

Aasiaat’s history

The Egedesminde trading post was established in 1759 by Hans Egede’s son Niels Egede at Eqalussuit north of Nordre Strømfjord, located south of Kangaatsiaq. In 1763, the colony was moved to its present location because there were many Inuit summer and winter settlements in the vast archipelago and thus great trading opportunities.

The large archipelago with the many straits provided ample opportunities for hunting from kayak and seal hunting from the sea ice in winter, and there are archaeological finds from the first immigrations and since around the year 1150 from the present Inuit.

The waters also provided a vantage point for European whalers, which had several permanent anchor and flensing sites in the district, which led to interaction and tusk trade between the Inuit and the whalers. The relocation of the Egedesminde trading post was thus part of the effort to get the whaling trade into Danish hands, and the good natural harbour, which the Dutch often used and called ‘Jesse Bay‘, was chosen for the relocation. In the following years, this led to minor clashes between the Danish colonists and the Dutch whalers.

In 1774, the Royal Greenland Trading Department (KGH) took over the trading post. The catchment area, which by the standards of those days was densely populated, and the location at the entry to Qeqertarsuup Tunua (Disko Bay), made Aasiaat one of the most important trading posts which contributed positively to the economy of the KGH. Aasiaat therefore became the trade and administration centre for the southern part of Qeqertarsuup Tunua.

Aasiaat gradually became an educational centre where, in addition to the local children, the school received students from the colonial district’s settlements, and in 1928, Greenland’s first continuation school for boys was established, followed by a continuation school for girls in 1932.

A cod fishing industry gradually developed during the 1930s and contributed with increased income for the population. During World War II, Aasiaat served as transit port for the American provision of supplies to Northwest Greenland, and in 1942, the Americans established the Bluie West 5 weather station. This created jobs and led to interaction between locals and American soldiers.

The transit function continued after the war and became extremely important for employment. 1948 saw the establishment of a publicly owned boat builder’s yard with slipway capacity for cutters and trawlers as well as the vessels that undertook transit operations for Qeqertarsuup Tunua’s other towns and settlements. Aasiaat built one of the first ports in Greenland in 1951 with capacity for the Atlantic ships of the time.

The transition from hunting to fishing gained momentum during the post-war years, and in 1949, KGH established a fish facility for the production of dried cod on Transit Island off the town, which was expanded in 1966 to a fillet factory. At that time, it was common for the sled dogs to walk freely, so the factory was placed on the island to keep the dogs away from the production during the summer fishing season.

Shrimp fishing gradually became more important. The private frozen shrimp factory, established in 1951, was acquired by KGH in 1953.

At the same time as the power station and other service facilities, Aasiaat Radio was established in the early 1950s as a sea rescue service and aircraft communication centre for all of northwest Greenland. In 2017, the telecommunications submarine cable was led to Aasiaat, and since then, Aasiaat Radio has expanded to also serve as a relay station for telephony and Internet for towns and settlements that have yet to be connected to a submarine cable. Finally, Aasiaat Radio issues weather forecasts for air and ship traffic in cooperation with the Joint Arctic Command.

Post-war modernisation led to a massive boom in construction where Aasiaat, with the vast district that also included Kangaatsiaq and the settlements, became home to Danish contractors who took on assignments across much of the country. In 1969, the town had 27 contractors which employed both skilled workers and apprentices.

A secondary school was established in 1964, and the town’s status as an educational centre was strengthened.

Aasiaat developed into one of Greenland’s cultural centres, and from the late 1960s, the town, inspired by the youth rebellion in Europe, became central to the budding rebellion against Danish domination. In 1976, the left wing group Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), which in 1978 turned into an actual party, was founded in Aasiaat.

In 1974, the port was deepened and expanded to allow Royal Arctic Line’s new Atlantic ships to dock, and facilities were established for container transit. Since then, Aasiaat has continued to serve as a transit port for most of North Greenland.

Avannaani Ilinniarnertuunngorniarfik (North Greenland High School) was established in 1987. This meant jobs and an increased influx of young people from all over North Greenland. The high school has approximately 400 students and 28 staff and has 350 dorm rooms at its disposal. This means a small demographic over-representation of young people, who contribute to the town’s active cultural life. Furthermore, the nationwide special school for children and young people with mild intellectual disabilities and learning disabilities, Ado Lyngep Atuarfia, was established in 1982.

Large-scale shrimp processing was challenged by the fact that there is relatively little water on Aasiaat Island, so most of the landing of shrimp and the processing took place in Qasigiannguit. Despite the challenge to get water, a larger shrimp factory was built in 2000 where attempts were made to secure the water supply by connecting virtually all the lakes to the supply – however, this was not an optimum solution. In 2008, the factory started using purified, but not desalinated, seawater in the production. The factory is currently owned by Polar Seafood.

In connection with the 2009 municipal amalgamation, Aasiaat Municipality became part of Qaasuitsup Kommunia, covering a geographical area from Kangaatsiaq to Qaanaaq. Later, in 2018, Qaasuitsup Kommunia was split into Avannaata Kommunia and Kommune Qeqertalik, and Aasiaat became the main town.

Since 2011, Aasiaat has been home to the Qeqertarsuup Tunua regional hospital which, besides Aasiaat, covers the districts of Kangaatsiaq, Qasigiannguit and Qeqertarsuaq.

Demography and infrastructure of Aasiaat

434 people lived in Aasiaat in 1938, and the population increased to 701 in 1947. Modernisation accelerated population growth, meaning that in 1977, 3,347 people lived in Aasiaat, later followed by a gradual decline, so that the population was down to 2,853 at the time of the municipal amalgamation (as of 1 January 2008). Since then, there has been small population growth to today’s level.

Aasiaat has approximately 1,250 dwellings spread over 43 % singlefamily homes, 12 % semi-detached terraced houses and 45 % blocks of flats. Approx. 80 % of the town is connected to a sewer system, while the remaining citizens use toilet buckets with biobag and collection of latrines or private sludge tanks.

Electricity supply in Aasiaat comes from a diesel-powered power station at Aasiaat Port. Surplus heat supplies two district heating networks in the central parts of the town. In addition, one area also gets heat from a waste incineration plant. The latter is replaced with waste oil incineration as waste incineration is shut down. Homes without district heating are heated with oil-fired boilers.

The town has an incineration plant for domestic waste and other combustible waste that provides district heating to a small residential area. From 2024, all waste must be packed and shipped for incineration in Sisimiut, after which the incineration of waste in Aasiaat will stop and waste oil will be incinerated instead. Noncombustible waste is deposited at the town dump (waste landfill) and hazardous waste is shipped for treatment outside Greenland.

The plan is to construct a hydropower plant at Qasigiannguit in 2027 to take over the electricity supply in Aasiaat. Most of the town’s roads are paved and it has a drinking water network that covers about 80 % of homes.

In 1998, an airport was established in Aasiaat to replace the former heliport, and the town has more or less daily flight routes to Ilulissat, Kangerlussuaq, Sisimiut and Nuuk. Since it functions as a transit port, Royal Arctic Lines’ ships call into the port several times a week throughout the year to the extent allowed by the sea ice. During the summer months, Disko Line provides passenger service to Aasiaat with small ships several times a week, and Arctic Umiaq Line’s coastal passenger ship calls twice a week going north and south, respectively.

Trade and industry in Aasiaat

Public administration and services, including education and health care, account for 44 % of the town’s jobs. Besides that, the town’s main industries are trawler fishing, primarily shrimp, and to a lesser extent fishing of crab and other species as well as fish and shellfish processing, which, along with hunting, account for about 17 % of jobs. Trade etc. accounts for 8 %, the transport sector 8 %, construction 8 % and other service industries 6 %.

Over the past few years, tourism has gained increasing importance and there are currently five official providers of overnight accommodation, including a hotel and a seamen’s hostel as well as restaurants and cafes, etc.

Further reading

• Education
• Hans Egede and the work for the mission service
• Health and care
• Industry and labour market
• Infrastructure
• Kommune Qeqertalik
• Kangaatsiaq
• Population and demographics
• Qasigiannguit
• Qeqertarsuaq
• Towns and settlements

Read more about the Municipalities and towns in Greenland