Ivittuut

Ivittuut
The cryolite mine Ivigtut, Greenland, summer 1940
Ivittuut Location within Greenland
Coordinates: 61°11′37″N 48°09′23″W / 61.19361°N 48.15639°W / 61.19361; -48.15639
Country	Kingdom of Denmark
Province	Greenland
Municipality	Sermersooq
Area
- Total	100 km2 (38.6 sq mi)

Ivittuut is an abandoned town in Greenland in the Sermersooq municipality. It was founded as a mining town. In 1806, cryolite was found in the area, and mining started in 1865. The mineral deposits were exhausted by 1987, and the town lost its economic base. Now, the town of Ivittuut is abandoned.

Ivittuut holds the record for Greenland's highest recorded temperature of 30.1°C [1]. Its lowest recorded temperature is -28.9°C.

Ivittuut stands at the site of the Norse Middle Settlement, which is sometimes considered part of the Western Settlement. This was the smallest of the three settlements, including about 20 farms, and less is known about it than about either of the others, as no written records survive. Consequently, no names are known for any of the settlement's farmsteads. It was probably established latest, and abandoned soonest, of the three.

See also

• History of Greenland
• Western Settlement
• Eastern Settlement

Map of the "Middle settlement" of the Norse in medieval Greenland. No written documents of this settlement exist and the name Middle settlement is constructed by modern archaeologists. The red dots indicate known Norse farm ruins.