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Inuit Culture in Greenland

The Greenlandic roots are an exciting mix of various immigrating peoples and their ability to adapt to the Arctic challenges on the world’s largest island.

THE LAND OF THE PEOPLE WITHOUT ANY PEOPLE

In the Greenlandic language the name for Greenland is Kalaallit Nunaat. “The Land of the People”. But one day around 2000 years ago, Greenland was suddenly without any people and not a single human being could be found anywhere in the country.

For a period of nearly 2500 years, shifting waves of nomadic peoples, living off what the land and the sea could offer, had called this country home, but now the largest island in the world no longer had a human population.

Imagine a landmass greater than the combined areas of France, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium, just left to plants and animals, and you will get an inkling of how huge the landmass was that greeted the immigrating hunters from communities around the Bering Strait, when they arrived around 700 A.D. coming across at Smith Sound close to the present day town of Qaanaaq, in the most northern part of Greenland.

Around 2000 years ago, Greenland was suddenly without any people

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Blue Ice Explorer: Plan your own holiday in Greenland

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Greenland Tours: Hearts of the Inuit

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6 days during winter in Disko Bay with Inuit settlement visit

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Blue Ice Explorer: Traditional kayak experience – 1 day

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AN INUIT CULTURE SMELLING OF FORESTS

Today we know, that the group, now referred to as the Dorset Culture, were the ones who came here, to a land void of humans, 1300 years ago.

It seems they may already have been here during an earlier wave of immigration right before the country was depopulated, but in spite of the amount of time they spent in Greenland, the Dorset Culture is shrouded in mystery. Why did they not use kayaks like the groups who came before and after them? How come they did not have dogs and sleds and why are their tools, patterns of habitation and technology so different from other Inuit immigrant groups?

The probable answers have been widely discussed, but the prevailing theory explains them as a group of people arriving here from the Northeast American woodland areas, and that they differ from other groups by “smelling somewhat of forests” as one Danish archeologist put it.

Their origins in this climatic temperate region may explain why they disappeared at the same time with the onslaught of the Little Ice Age in 1300 A.D. which turned Greenland into a colder and more inhospitable region.

.

THE THULE PEOPLE BROUGHT THE SLED DOG WITH THEM TO GREENLAND

The harsher climate and the disappointing summers did not seem to bother the Thule people, a group of highly specialized and adaptable nomads, who quickly spread out all along the ice free coast line around 1300 A.D.

As with other immigrant groups of Inuit peoples, the Thule people had also gone east, this time crossing the Bering Strait into Greenland. According to legends and folklore they had heard about iron and its wonderful properties as a source for tools, and that the iron could be found in meteorites in Northern Greenland.

The Thule people were whale and seal hunters and were most likely the first people to bring dogs into Greenland thus inaugurating the cultural history of dog sledding in Greenland.

They would go on long journeys by dog sled in the areas they were hunting and thus they founded the cultural tradition which in later times has been popularized during the era of expeditions surrounding those by Knud Rasmussen’s travels in Northern Greenland and Arctic Canada, and which today has become an important part of the local culture as well as in adventure tourism.

CULTURAL TRADITIONS LIVE ON IN THE PRESENT

The people of the Thule Culture were using paths and hunting grounds already familiar to other earlier immigrant groups in Greenland, dating back to the very first immigrants 4.500 years ago.

Around the area of Sermermiut by Ilulissat, archeological digs have provided unique insights into the different groups use of the same area for hunting and fishing and from the traces that they have left behind, we know that they travelled along the shores of Greenland as early as 2500 B.C.

Although we have no written accounts from these earlier eras, an abundance of tools and settlements found throughout Greenland has confirmed that the Inuit cultures of the past were characterized by the same adaptability to the prevailing climate and geography as the modern day Greenlandic culture.

We are aware of, that the very first immigrants used vessels resembling kayaks in Greenland and that their clothing were the first glimmerings of a clothing tradition leading right up to today with our colorful national costumes and the winter clothing used by the hunters in Northern Greenland.

Today the kayak is a national symbol in Greenland and the vessel plays an important role as a living part of our cultural history, as well as, in the type of transportation available to adventure expeditions, wanting to explore along our rugged shoreline. Our national costumes are treasured and highly valued and used when we celebrate or commemorate certain events such as  national holy days, special family events or when the Queen comes to visit.

Local providers

Red view from livingroom, Photo by Ilulissat Guesthouse

Ilulissat Guesthouse

Ilulissat, Qupaloraasuk 56,
3952,
Phone: +299 27 89 80More information
Qeqertarsuaq Museum in the Disko Bay, North Greenland. Photo by Qeqertarsuaq Museum

Qeqertarsuaq Museum

Qeqertarsuaq, Postboks 70
3953,
Phone: +299 92 11 53More information
Sisimiut Museum

Sisimiut Museum

Sisimiut, Jukkorsuup Aqqutaa 6,
3911,
Phone: (+299) 862 550More information
Tasermiut 3

Tasermiut South Greenland Expeditions

Qassiarsuk, B-873 Qassiarsuk
3923,
Phone: (+299) 522 822More information
Handmade figure. Visit Greenland

Tupilak Travel

Nuuk, Imaneq 18,
3900,
Phone: (+299) 313 218More information
Upernavik Museum 1

Upernavik Museum

Upernavik, Niuertup Ottup Aqq B 12,
3962,
Phone: (+299) 964 852More information
Guests visiting Qasgiannguit Museum in Greenland. Photo by Mads Pihl - Visit Greenland

Qasigiannguit Museum

Qasigiannguit, Poul Egedesvej 24,
3951,
Phone: +299 91 14 77 / +299 52 31 14More information
Qaqortoq Museum in summer, South Greenland. Photo by Mads Pihl - Visit Greenland

Qaqortoq Museum

Qaqortoq, Torvevej B 29,
3920,
Phone: +299 64 10 80More information
Qaanaaq Accommodation in Winter, North Greenland. Photo by Qaanaaq Accommodation

Qaanaaq Accommodation

Qaanaaq, B-140A
3971,
Phone: +299 97 10 82More information
Nuuk Art Museum covered in snow in Winter. Photo by Nuuk Art Museum

Nuuk Art Museum

Nuuk, Vandsøvej 5,
3900,
Phone: +299 32 77 33More information
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The National Museum of Greenland

Nuuk, Hans Egedesvej 8,
3900,
Phone: (+299) 322 611More information
Narsarsuaq in South Greenland at sunset. Photo by Mads Pihl - Visit Greenland

Narsarsuaq Museum

Narsarsuaq, P.O. Box 46
3923,
Phone: +299 23 45 68 / +299 66 53 68More information
Entrance view of Narsaq Museum located in South Greenland in Winter. Photo by Narsaq Museum

Narsaq Museum

Narsaq, Louise Vej B-49,
3921,
Phone: +299 66 16 59More information
Evening light over the museum and old town parts of Nanortalik in South Greenland. Photo by Mads Pihl - Visit Greenland

Nanortalik Museum

Nanortalik, Kiffat Aqqutaa B 21,
3922,
Phone: +299 61 34 06More information
Old colonial buildings that serves as the local museum today. Photo by Maniitsoq Museum

Maniitsoq Museum

Maniitsoq, Illunnguit 11,
3912,
Phone: +299 81 31 00More information
The collection’s main room. Photo by Kulusuk Museum

Kulusuk Museum

Kulusuk, B 179
3915,
Phone: +299 53 12 45 / +299 27 68 49More information
Woman sewing flower patterns onto kamik - a part of the Greenlandic national costume. Photo by Kittat Economusee

Kittat Economusée

Nuuk, Hans Egedesvej 29 B-45,
3900,
Phone: +299 36 63 98More information
Office Desk in Kangerlussuaq Museum. Photo - Filip Gielda, Visit Greenland

Kangerlussuaq Museum

Kangerlussuaq, B 1714,
3910,
Phone: +299 53 28 97More information
View of Ittoqqortoormiit. Photo by Ittoqqortoormiit Museum

Ittoqqortoormiit Museum

Ittoqqortoormiit, B-186
3980,
Phone: +299 99 12 80More information
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Hotel Kulusuk

Kulusuk, B-1500
3915,
Phone: (+299) 986 993More information
Woman mask dancing on a sunny day in Aasiaat. Photo by Honest Greenland - Visit Greenland

Honest Greenland

Aasiaat, Qimmeqarfik 60,
3950,
Phone: +299 27 77 90More information
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Greenland Travel

Copenhagen, Wilders Plads 13 A,
1403,
Phone: +45 33 13 10 11More information
Guests at Hvalsey church ruin in South Greenland. Photo by Mads Pihl - Visit Greenland

Greenland Sagalands

Qaqortoq, Vatikanbakken 68,
3920,
Phone: +299 64 24 44 / +299 49 37 41More information
Hikers in Aasivissuit UNESCO area close to Kangerlussuaq Photo by Morten Christensen

Greenland Outdoors

Kangerlussuaq, P.O.Box 87, B466
3910,
Phone: +299 24 06 16More information
A tour boat in front of an iceberg wall near Ilulissat in Greenland. By Mads Pihl

Disko Line

Ilulissat, Kussangajaannguaq 13,
3952,
Phone: +299 94 53 01More information
Blue Iceberg. Photo by Blue Ice Explorer

Blue Ice Explorer

Narsarsuaq, Box 58
3923,
Phone: +299 66 54 99 / +299 49 73 71More information
Sarfaq Ittuk cruising in the Disko Bay outside Ilulissat ice fjord in Greenland. Visit Greenland

Arctic Umiaq Line

Nuuk, Aqqusinersuaq 48 A,
3900,
Phone: +299 34 91 90More information
A presentation for MS Fram guests at the Uummannaq museum in Greenland

Uummannaq Museum

Uummannaq, Alfred Berthelsenip Aqq. B 9,
3961,
Phone: (+299) 954556More information

World of Greenland

Ilulissat, Kussangajaannguaq 7,
3952,
Phone: (+299) 944 300More information
Testing kayaking skills at the museum in Tasiilaq in East Greenland. Photo by Mads Pihl – Visit Greenland

Ammassalik Museum

Tasiilaq, B41
3913,
Phone: +299 36 77 37 / +299 36 78 26More information
Aasiaat Museum

Aasiaat Museum

Aasiaat, Niels Egedesvej 2,
3950,
Phone: +299 89 25 97 / +299 89 47 61More information

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