Sisimiut

Sisimiut
Sisimiut around 1980
Sisimiut Location within Greenland
Coordinates: 66°55′N 53°40′W / 66.917°N 53.667°W / 66.917; -53.667
Country	Kingdom of Denmark
Province	Greenland
Municipality	Qeqqata
Population (2007)
- Total	5,965
Time zone	UTC-3 (UTC-3)
Website	http://www.sisimiut.gl/Home.aspx

Sisimiut (Danish: Holsteinsborg) is a town in central-western Greenland. It is the administrative center of the Qeqqata municipality. With 5965 inhabitants (as of 2007), it is the second largest town in Greenland. It is located approximately 66°55′N 53°40′W / 66.917°N 53.667°W / 66.917; -53.667. It lies 75 km north of the Arctic Circle and is Greenland's northernmost year-round ice-free port.

History

Sisimiut has been a settlement site for around 4,500 years, with the Inuit - the majority of the present population - arriving around a thousand years ago. Hans Egede, the missionary to Greenland, arrived in 1721 and established his church in the vicinity. Several eighteenth century buildings still stand in Sisimiut. The twentieth century saw industrialisation, through the construction of a fish processing factory and a commercial harbour.

Sisimiut today

Facilities in Sisimiut include a range of shops, bank, high school, youth hostel, hotels, conference centre, several churches, library, post office and a hospital. The town has a heated open-air swimming pool, which is supported on stilts so that the heat does not melt the permafrost. Roads in the town and to the airport are surfaced, but there is no road linking Sisimiut to any other settlement. Tourism is increasingly important.

Transport

The airport at Sisimiut has a short runway suitable only for smaller planes, and travel outside of Greenland is routed with a change of planes at nearby Kangerlussuaq Airport. There are regular air links to destinations including Nuuk. Additionally Sisimiut is served several times weekly in summer by Arctic Umiaq Line coastal ferries which link the communities of the west coast. There is also a weekly ferry to Itilleq and Sarfannguit. In winter dog sled routes are a key transport link to settlements further north. There is no road to places outside the Sisimut area, but there has been discussions for several years about building an about 170 km long road to Kangerlussuaq.