On the border with the National Park in Northeast Greenland and at the mouth of the world’s largest fjord system, Kangertittivaq (Scoresby Sound), lies the northernmost town on the east coast, Ittoqqortoormiit. The East Greenlandic name means ‘the place with the big houses’ and refers somewhat unusually to buildings and not nature. The name suggests that the town is isolated from the outside world – an isolation enhanced by the fact that for most of the year, the fjord is closed by winter ice, and that the entry to the fjord for much of the year is closed by the broad belt of storis (great ice) from the Arctic Ocean in the north.
History of Ittoqqortoormiit
The town’s location provides good hunting opportunities with seal, narwhal, walrus, polar bear and muskox being the main ones. The hunting opportunities and a political need to mark Danish sovereignty in Northeast Greenland were the reason why the Scoresby Sound Committee, on the initiative of the polar explorer Ejnar Mikkelsen, among others, founded the town as the colony of Scoresby Sound. In 1925, 70 people from hunting families in Ammassalik as well as 15 people from the west coast and Denmark, to be included in the administration and operation of the colony, moved to the present-day Ittoqqortoormiit. Initially the plan was for the town to be located elsewhere, but drift ice that destroyed the ship’s rudder determined the location.
The first houses were established on the west side of the river mouth, and since then the town has grown to the opposite side of the river. The terrain is gently rising and rocky with very little natural stand.
Like in Ammassalik district, the population speaks the East Greenlandic dialect which differs significantly from West Greenlandic.
Climate change has caused the land-fast ice on the fjord to settle about two months later than just a few years ago, and it breaks up earlier in the summer. The period allowing transport across the ice by dog sled or motorised vehicle is thus noticeably shortened, and it has, among other things, the unfortunate consequence that polar bears come near the town more often because their hunting opportunities on the ice are limited. Citizens and guests of the town need to pay extra attention and make sure to have a hunting rifle nearby and be able to use it if a polar bear with threatening behaviour shows up.
With 361 inhabitants, Ittoqqortoormiit is the country’s smallest town. The population peaked at 539 residents in 2006, but has since stabilised just below the 400.
At the abandoned settlement of Uunarteq (Cape Tobin) about 8 km south of Ittoqqortoormiit are Greenland’s warmest springs at just under 62°C, and within a 14 km radius of the town are three to five other sources with the potential for sustainable building heating and geothermal power generation.
Infrastructure of Ittoqqortoormiit
The district airport, Nerlerit Inaat (Constable Point), about 37 km northwest of Ittoqqortoormiit, was established in connection with oil exploration on Jameson Land in the early 1980s. In winter, it is often not possible to operate the helicopter service to the town due to drifting snow and darkness. Therefore, there has long been a local desire to establish an airport at Ittoqqortoormiit.
Air Greenland no longer serves Nerlerit Inaat, and Icelandair’s former connection between Kulusuk and Nerlerit Inaat has also stopped. At the Self-Government’s latest bidding round, the licence went to Icelandic Nordlandair, which has a weekly flight to Reykjavik and a weekly flight to Akureyri. This means that a trip to the rest of Greenland will be more expensive and that the traveller needs an overnight stay in Iceland – each way.
Royal Arctic Line is calling Ittoqqortoormiit with container ship twice annually, in July and September.
Communication with the outside world is via satellite and connections are substandard in terms of uptimes and bandwidth. For citizens and for business, it is a basic condition which means that connections via the Internet are slow and unreliable and, moreover, a costly affair for Tussas (formerly Tele Post Greenland).
The town is supplied with electricity from a diesel plant. As the first step towards greener energy, Nukissiorfiit established solar cells on one of their buildings in 2021, and they are expected to reduce diesel consumption by up to 22,000 litres per year. The town is supplied with water from a nearby lake as well as tank for storing winter water. The water network is modest, but supplies essential municipal buildings and the hospital, as well as individual dwellings. The same buildings have water closet and septic tank. The other citizens get water from one of the two tapping houses or have it delivered. Grey water is discharged to the ground, and the town has no sewer system, so most people use toilet buckets and collection of latrines.
Most of the road network is gravelled, but as of 2017, a project began with gradual establishment of concrete paving on primary roads.
The town has all the most basic functions sized to the needs of the town – that is, small. The fire and police station as well as the municipal office are all about the size of a single-family house, and the sports hall is effectively a gym hall. The health centre has four to five employees, including two nurses who report to the regional management. There is no permanent doctor in town.
There is a very popular artificial turf football field, a small ski lift and a cross-country ski run close to the town.
There is a road to Qinngaajiva (Walrus Bay) to the northwest of the town, where the wide sandy beach with mountain and fjord views is frequently used. During World War II, the US Air Force had a weather station here.
Trade and industry in Ittoqqortoormiit
The local population has traditionally lived off hunting of marine and terrestrial mammals, as well as birds supplemented by fishing. Game and fish are directly included in the maintenance of hunting families, and there is a significant degree of subsistence economy. Trading options are limited, just as the ice cover limits the potential for commercial exploitation of the large amounts of shrimp and Greenland halibut in the sea outside the town. Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq is working to reopen a muskox slaughterhouse with purchase and sales to the rest of the country.
Tourism is a developing industry and the district is open to nature and hunting tourism. The harsh and pristine nature just outside the town and in the vast hinterland holds potentials, but tourism development is challenged by flying conditions.
Further reading
- Hunting and subsistence economy
- Industry and labour market
- Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq
- Nuuk
- Tasiilaq
- Paamiut
- Population and demographics
- The sea and the fjords
- Towns and settlements
Read more about the Municipalities and towns in Greenland