Narsarsuaq
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Narsarsuaq | |
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  Narsarsuaq
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| Coordinates: 61°10′N 45°26′W / 61.167°N 45.433°W | |
| Country | Kingdom of Denmark |
| Province |  Greenland |
| Municipality | Kujalleq |
| Population (2007) | |
| - Total | 160 |
Narsarsuaq (variously spelled, the name is Greenlandic for Great Plain) is a town in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. Today there is a thriving tourism industry in and around Narsarsuaq, whose attractions include a great diversity of wildlife, gemstones, tours to glaciers, and an airfield museum. Across the fjord in Brattahlíð are the traces of the early Norse settlement and a replica of the first Christian church on the American continent.
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[edit] History
It was the principal city of Greenland in the times of Erik the Red whose farm Brattahlíð was nearby. In 1941, the United States built an air base at Narsarsuaq called Bluie West One, an important link in the North Atlantic Ferry Route. Thousands of planes used BW1 as a stepping stone on their way from the aircraft factories in North America to the battlegrounds of Europe. After the end of the war, BW1 continued to be developed, but it was rendered surplus by the advent of mid-air refueling and the construction of the larger Thule Air Base in northern Greenland. In 1951, it was agreed that Denmark and the U.S. would jointly oversee the airbase; in 1958, the U.S. abandoned it, but it was reopened the following year by the Danish government after the loss of the vessel Hans Hedtoft with all souls south of Uummannarsuaq.
[edit] Transport
Narsarsuaq is a port of call for the Arctic Umiaq Line coastal ship in the summer season[1]. Narsarsuaq Airport serves as the principal airfield in southwestern Greenland, with international flights from Iceland and Denmark, as well as commuter flights from other Greenlandic communities operated by Air Greenland. Small planes crossing the Atlantic sometimes replicate the North Atlantic Ferry Route, stopping at Narsarsuaq Airport and other WWII airfields, including Goose Bay, Newfoundland in Canada and Reykjavík in Iceland.
[edit] In popular culture
A short walk west of Narsarsuaq leads to Hospital Valley, with the traces of the former military hospital. There is a legend that, following the Korean War, this facility was used to house badly maimed veterans whose next of kin believed them dead. First appearing in a 1990 travel book, this story gained traction in a 1994 play by the Danish writer Sven Holm, in the 2001 novel No One Thinks Of Greenland by John Griesemer, and in the 2005 film Guy X, starring Jason Biggs as a hapless GI who is ordered to Hawaii but stumbles into the "secret Arctic base" instead.
