Uummannaq
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Uummannaq | |
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  Uummannaq
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| Coordinates: 70°40′39″N 52°07′19″W / 70.6775°N 52.12194°W | |
| Country | Kingdom of Denmark |
| Province |  Greenland |
| Municipality | Qaasuitsup |
| Population | |
| - Total | 1,500 |
| Time zone | UTC-3 (UTC-3) |
| Website | http://www.uummannaq.gl |
Uummannaq or Umanak is a town in the Qaasuitsup municipality, in northwestern Greenland. The town has a population of around 1,500 and is home to Greenland's most northerly ferry terminal. The town is a hunting and fishing base, with a canning factory and a marble quarry[1].
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[edit] Geography
Uummannaq is located 590 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, on Uummannaq Island in Uummannaq Fjord separating mainland Greenland from Nuussuaq Peninsula. Uummannaq is also the general name given to the series of inlets north of the promontory at Niaqornat on the Nuussuaq Peninsula. The island is also home to Uummannaq Mountain, rising very sharply to a height of 1170m. Climbing it requires technical skills. The mountain is heart-shaped. Indeed Uummannaq is Greenlandic for "heart-shaped".
The commune contains the villages of Saattut, Illorsuit, Ikerasak, Qaarsut, Ukkusissat, Niaqornat and Nuugaatsiaq.
[edit] Transport
Air Greenland operates air services to Qaarsut from Uummannaq Heliport. The neighboring villages in the Uummannaq area are served by district cargo helicopters.
[edit] In popular culture
Danish and Greenlandic children believe that Santa Claus lives in Spraglebugten bay in the west of the island. A turf hut (Santa's Castle) was built there for a Danish television programme and remains Santa's home in the popular imagination.[2][3]
[edit] Notable residents
- Ole Jørgen Hammeken, polar explorer
- Hans Grøndvold, discoverer of the Greenlandic mummies in Qilakitsoq
- Siissisoq, a Greenlandic rockband
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ ExploreNorth
- ^ O'Carroll, Etain (2005). Greenland and the Arctic. Lonely Planet. pp. 194. ISBN 1-74059-095-3.
- ^ greenland-guide.gl
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Media related to Uummannaq at Wikimedia Commons- (Danish) www.atuarfik-uum.gl Villages in the Uummannaq area
