Aasiaat

Aasiaat sits at the southern edge of Disko Bay on a low island in the middle of an archipelago of several hundred small islands and skerries, which is what the name refers to: the place of spiders, for the pattern the islands make. It is the fifth largest town in Greenland. Humpback and fin whales feed in the bay through summer and the archipelago is worked by boat and kayak; icebergs from the Ilulissat icefjord drift down into it.

History

Archaeology suggests people lived in the area as far back as the 5th millennium BC, and the earliest modern settlers, probably subsistence hunters, came around 1200, moving with the seasons between seal, capelin, reindeer, halibut and whale hunting. The settlement was founded in 1759 by Niels Egede, son of the missionary Hans Egede, as the colony of Egedesminde, 125 km south of the present site, to which the town moved in 1763; its Greenlandic name means "spiders" (Wikipedia, Aasiaat).

What you'll find

• The archipelago - several hundred islands and skerries around the town.
• The whales - humpback and fin whales feeding in the bay through summer.
• The drifting icebergs - ice carried down from the Ilulissat icefjord.
• The town museum - the collection in the old colonial buildings.

When to go

June to September is the season for boats and whales. Sea ice closes the bay in winter and spring. Flights are weather dependent.

Before you go

Sea ice closes the bay for much of the year. Flight connections are limited and cancelled often. The town is workaday with modest facilities.

Nearby

Qasigiannguit is east, and Ilulissat is northeast.

Key facts