Kujataa

Kujataa is the southern tip of Greenland, the only part of the island where farming is possible, and it was farmed twice: by Norse settlers from around 985 until they vanished in the fifteenth century, and by Inuit and Danish farmers from the eighteenth century onwards, both raising sheep and cattle on the same ground. Five component areas were inscribed by UNESCO in 2017, including Qassiarsuk, Igaliku, Sissarluttoq, Vatnahverfi and Hvalsey.

Background

The area reaches roughly 250 kilometers from Nunap Isua in the south to Nunarsuit Island, and it is the first known example of farming in the Arctic. People lived here as early as the 3rd millennium BC, in the Arctic small tool tradition and later the Saqqaq and Dorset cultures. Norse settlers led by Erik the Red arrived in the 10th century, and by the 13th century Eystribyggð had its own bishop and 200-300 farms. Sissarluttoq holds a large Norse manor with remains of over 40 structures, and Hvalsey has the best preserved Norse ruin in Greenland, where Europeans were last recorded in 1408. Farming returned in the 1780s, when Tuperna and her Norwegian husband Anders Olsen started a farm at Igaliku.

Source: Wikipedia, "Kujataa"

What's there

• The five components - Qassiarsuk, Igaliku, Sissarluttoq, Tasikuluulik and Qaqortukulooq.
• The Norse ruins - farm and church remains from the settlement of 985 onwards.
• The modern sheep farms - the working farms on the same ground today.
• The dual farming history - Norse and later Inuit agriculture in the same landscape.

When to go

June to September is the season; boats run then and the ground is clear. Snow closes much of it the rest of the year. Midnight sun in June and July extends the days.

Good to know

There are almost no roads and movement between the components is by boat, which is expensive and weather dependent. Facilities are very limited. The Norse remains are low walls rather than standing buildings.

Nearby

Qassiarsuk and Igaliku are components, and Narsarsuaq is the air gateway.

Key facts