Сисимиут: Гренландияның Арктикалық астанасының тарихы мен қазіргі жағдайы

Sisimiut , formerly known as Holsteinsborg, is the capital and largest city of the Qeqqata municipality, the second largest city in Greenland, and the largest Arctic city in North America. It is located in central western Greenland, on the coast of Davis Strait, approximately north of Nuuk. Sisimiut literally means "the residents at the foxholes" (Beboerne ved rævehulerne). The site has been inhabited for the last 4,500 years, first by peoples of the Saqqaq culture, then Dorset culture, and then the Thule people, whose Inuit descendants form the majority of the current population. Artifacts from the early settlement era can be found throughout the region, favored in the past for its plentiful fauna, particularly the marine mammals providing subsistence for the early hunting societies. The population of modern Greenlanders in Sisimiut is a mix of the Inuit and Danish peoples, who first settled in the area in the 1720s, under the leadership of the Danish missionary, Hans Egede. Today, Sisimiut is the largest business centre north of the national capital of Nuuk and is one of the fastest growing cities in Greenland. Fishing is the principal industry in Sisimiut, although the town has a growing industrial base. KNI and its subsidiary Pilersuisoq, a state owned chain of all purpose general stores in Greenland, have their base in Sisimiut. Architecturally, Sisimiut is a mix of traditional, single family houses, and communal housing, with apartment blocks raised in the 1960s during a period of town expansion in Greenland. Sisimiut is still expanding, with the area north of the port, on the shore of the small Kangerluarsunnguaq Bay reserved for a modern suburb style housing slated for construction in the 2010s. Several professional and general schools are based in Sisimiut, providing education to the inhabitants of the city and to those from smaller settlements in the region. The new Taseralik Culture Centre is the second cultural centre to be established in Greenland, after Katuaq in Nuuk. The city has its own bus line, and is the northernmost year round ice free port in the country, a shipping base for western and northwestern Greenland. Supply ships head from the commercial port towards smaller settlements in more remote regions of Uummannaq Fjord, Upernavik Archipelago, and as far as Qaanaaq in northern Greenland. Sisimiut Airport, the town airport is served by Air Greenland, providing connections to other towns on the western coast of Greenland, and through Kangerlussuaq Airport, to Europe.

Sisimiut has been a settlement site for around 4,500 years, with the people of the Saqqaq culture arriving from Arctic Canada during the first wave of immigration, occupying numerous sites on the coast of western Greenland. At that time, the shoreline was up to several dozen meters above the present line, gradually decreasing in time due to post glacial rebound. Unlike the following waves of migrants in the millennium following their disappearance, the Saqqaq left behind a substantial number of artifacts, with plentiful archeological finds on the coast of Davis Strait, from Disko Bay in the north—to the coast of Labrador Sea near Nuuk in the south. has uncovered the changing settlement pattern, exhibiting transition from the single family dwellings to tiny villages of several families. The types of dwelling varied from tent rings made of the hides of hunted mammals, to stone hearths, with no evidence of communal living in larger structures.

After several hundred years of no permanent habitation, the second wave of migration arrived from Canada, bringing the Dorset people to western Greenland. The largest number of Dorset culture artifacts can be found further north in the Disko Bay region, while the further to the south, the poorer the finds, disappearing completely on the coast of Labrador Sea in southwestern Greenland. The shoreline was still at a higher altitude than today, with the Sisimiut valley east of the Kangerluarsunnguaq Bay, partially under sea. Many artifacts and graves from the several centuries of permanent settlement remain scattered in the region. Rich in fauna, the coastal region from Sisimiut to Kangaamiut was particularly attractive for migrants, and due to a large number of historical artifacts it is currently listed as a candidate for the UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the application received in 2003.

There are no signs of Norse settlement in the region. At the time of Hans Egede's establishment of the first Danish colonies, Dutch whalers dominated the area and swiftly burnt down his Bergen Company whaling station on Nipisat Island, approximately to the north of the present day town. It was not until Jacob Severin was granted a full monopoly on the Greenlandic trade and permitted to act as an agent of the Danish navy that the Dutch were finally removed in a series of battles in 1738 and 1739. The present town was established in 1764 by the General Trade Company as the trading post of Holsteinsborg ("Fort Holstein"), named for the first chairman of the Danish College of Missions in Copenhagen which underwrote and directed the missionary work in the colony. At the time of its founding, the Kalaallisut name of the place was Amerlok, after its fjord. Under the Royal Greenland Trading Department, Holsteinsborg was a centre of the trade in reindeer skins. Several 18th century buildings still stand in Sisimiut, among them the 1725 Gammelhuset ("Old House") and the 1775 Bethel kirken ("Bethel Church") or Blå Kirke ("Blue Church"), Fishing remains the primary occupation of Sisimiut inhabitants, with the town becoming the leading centre of shrimping and shrimp processing. The municipal council, seated in the town hall and headed by Mayor Hermann Berthelsen, consists of 13 members, including the mayor and his deputies, and representatives of the four primary political parties of Greenland: Siumut, Atassut, Democrats and Inuit Ataqatigiit.

Sisimiut is located approximately north of Nuuk, and north of the Arctic Circle, road to the airport passes through the bridge over the Kangerluarsunnguaq Bay. Halfway between the town and the airport there is a small beach of dark sand. The beach, as well as the skerries off the coast, are very popular in the summer.

To the east, a wide valley extends into the interior of the peninsula, bounded from the north by the conjoint massif of Palasip Qaqqaa and Majoriaq, dissected by the Qerrortusup Majoriaa valley Depending on variants, the route is between and long. In the middle of the valley towers a standalone Alanngorsuaq mountain , surrounded by several lakes, one of which serves Sisimiut town as a water reservoir. The entire area of the valley is another popular picnic destination, with easy access to the water reservoirs by a gravel road in the middle part of the valley. The reservoirs in the valley provide the town waterworks with of water, with the potential for annually.

To the southeast, the valley is bounded by the Nasaasaaq massif with several distinct summits, the highest of which is An alternative route to the top of interest to mountaineers leads through the hard to find low pass to the east of the main summit, and from there directly on the summit cone ridge. The coldest months on average are February and March which have average highs of 10.2 °C (14 °F) and 10.1 °C (14 °F) respectively.

With 5,582 inhabitants in 2020, Sisimiut is one of the fastest growing towns in Greenland, with migrants from the smaller settlements reinforcing the trend. Apart from Kangerlussuaq, it is the only settlement in the Qeqqata municipality exhibiting stable growth patterns over the last two decades. The gender imbalance is evident in Sisimiut, with men consistently outnumbering women during the last two decades, running from 20% in 1991, to 13% in 2000 and 2010. Nearly 10% of the town's inhabitants in 2010 were born outside Greenland, a decline from 16.5% in 1990 and 11.8% in 2000.

wide image|Sisimiut population dynamics. png|1000px|alt=Sisimiut population dynamics|Sisimiut population growth dynamics, 1991–2010. Source: Statistics Greenland The new neighborhood will bear the name Akia.

Fishing is the principal industry in Sisimiut, with harvested stocks of shrimps, salmon, halibut and cod. This was roughly constant throughout the year, although when fish catches were larger the fish was frozen. The plant eventually sold around 6,019 tonnes of shrimp.]] KNI and its subsidiary Pilersuisoq, a state owned chain of all purpose general stores in Greenland, are based in Sisimiut. The Pilersuisoq chain operates in all small settlements in the country, as well as smaller towns which are not covered by supermarket chains. A range of shops operate in Sisimiut, from chain supermarkets of Pisiffik and Brugsen to independent outlets, also serving supplies to the smaller settlements in the region. Polaroil, a liquid fuel distribution company, is headquartered in Sisimiut. It employs 70 staff and operates 70 stations in Greenland. Other facilities include two banks, a library, a Post Greenland office and a small hospital/health centre with 19 beds. There are advanced plans for the Alcoa aluminium smelting plant. Maniitsoq, the second largest town in the municipality, is another proposed location alongside Sisimiut. The plant would provide employment for 600–700 people, or more than 10% of the population. As it is a vital decision for the town, wide public consultations were carried out in 2008–2010 by both the town authorities and the Government of Greenland in order to address potential environmental and social concerns. The Sisimiut Hydro Power Plant is located north of the town. The plant has two turbines providing 15 megawatts of power and the electricity from the plant is transferred to Sisimiut by a long high voltage line. Although rainfall is low, Sismiut has abundant natural supplies of fresh, drinkable surface water, collected from a reservoir under Alanngorsuaq. and Seaman's Home, and a conference centre. The other restaurant of note is the Misigisaq Restaurant, located at the harbor. It is the only Chinese restaurant in the country and it uses Greenlandic ingredients cooked in the Chinese style. The town has a heated open air swimming pool, which is supported on stilts so that the heat does not melt the permafrost. Several camping sites are located in Sisimiut valley and near the Kangerluarsunnguaq bay. During winter, a ski lift operates at the foot of the Alanngorsuaq mountain, at the base of the northern slopes of Nasaasaaq. The tough, long Arctic Circle Race takes place each winter, with the trail partially overlapping with the Polar Route from Sisimiut to Kangerlussuaq. The race was inaugurated in 1998, since then becoming an international competition.

The Knud Rasmussen High School (Knud Rasmussenip Højskolia), founded in 1962, During summer, the school building is used as a hostel. In autumn 2002, the school was responsible for erecting a series of stone sculptures around Sisimiut: near the airport, in the municipal building, at the Gertrud Rask Minde children's home, at Arnat Ilinniarfiat and around the school itself. The other educational centres in Sisimiut are: Sanaartornermik Ilinniarfik, the construction engineering school with capacity for 200 students, the Arctic Technology Centre; Piareersarfik, the vocational institution for the service industry professionals, and Oqaatsinik Pikkorissarfik, a foreign language school.

Located in a historical building near the harbor, the Sisimiut Museum specializes in Greenlandic trade, industry and shipping, with artifacts based on ten years of archaeological research and excavations of the ancient Saqqaq culture settlements near the town, offering an insight into the culture of the region of 4,000 years ago. The museum also hosts a collection of tools and domestic items collected during 1902–22, an inventory from the Old Church with the original altarpiece dated to approximately 1650, and paintings from the 1790s. The peat house reconstruction of an early 20th century Greenlandic residence with domestic furniture is part of an outdoor exhibition. as well as concerts, from classical to folk music. The Sisimiut Culture Day on 21 November is also celebrated at Taseralik. Greenlandic handicrafts, created in a workshop located in an old warehouse on the old harbor, are sold in the Greenland Travel Incoming's Arts n' Craft, and in several small shops along the main street. Greenland stones and sealskin products are created in the Natseq and Panigiit workshops. Sisimiut had been served by the now closed heliport, located on the eastern outskirts of the town, in the Sisimiut valley. The airport has a short, runway Taxis as well as an infrequent town bus service connect the airport with the centre of Sisimiut.

For most of the year, Sisimiut is served twice weekly by coastal ferries of Arctic Umiaq Line which link the communities of the western coast. There is also a weekly Royal Arctic Line ferry to Itilleq and Sarfannguit. The port in Sisimiut is the northernmost year round ice free port in Greenland, M/S Akamalik, one of the largest ships in the fleet of Royal Greenland, is based in Sisimiut. Home to the first shipyard of Greenland dating from 1931, In winter dog sled routes are used to link to settlements further north. Snowmobiles are, as a more modern approach, also used. Transport within a town is usually done by foot, although both private cars and the city bus – which drives loops through town – are popular. In the 2000s construction of the road to Kangerlussuaq has been discussed for several years. The road would be the first of its kind in Greenland, connecting two far away settlements, and reducing the need for passenger and freight exchange at Kangerlussuaq Airport, the Air Greenland hub. The cost of around €40M (million) for a proper paved road prevented construction, but instead a decision was made to build a very simple gravel road for terrain adapted vehicles. The road was in construction along the route during 2021 and was finished all the way during 2022, at a cost of 25 million DKK (€3M (million)).