Kangilinnguit

Kangilinnguit or Kangilínguit, formerly Grønnedal Greenlandic pronunciation: [kaŋiliŋːuit], is a settlement and location of a former naval base in Greenland's Sermersooq municipality, located at the mouth of Arsuk Fjord[1] in southwestern Greenland. The settlement had 160 inhabitants in 2010,[2] most of whom are Danish Navy personnel, attached to Island Command Greenland headquarters.[3] A road – roughly 5 kilometres (3 miles) long – between Kangilinnguit and Ivittuut make them the only towns in Greenland connected by roads. It was the only populous settlement within the former Ivittuut Municipality.

Kangilinnguit Grønnedal
Fjord icefloes, view from Kangilinnguit
Kangilinnguit Location within Greenland
Coordinates: 61°14′00″N 48°05′55″W
State	Kingdom of Denmark
Constituent country	Greenland
Municipality	Sermersooq
Population  (2010)
• Total	160
Time zone	UTC-03
Postal Code	3905 Nuussuaq

Kangilinnguit Heliport
IATA: JGR ICAO: BGGD
Summary
Airport type	Military
Elevation AMSL	95 ft / 29 m
Helipads
Number Length Surface m ft 1 45 × 40 147 × 131 Asphalt

Kangilinnguit, 1977.

For the former U.S. Naval Operating Facility there, see Bluie West Seven.

History

Kangilinnguit was founded as "Green Valley" by the United States Navy during the Second World War to protect the highly strategic cryolite quarry in the former settlement of Ivittuut. The U.S. Navy turned the base over to the Danish Navy in August 1951. During the early years of the Cold War, the base was used by anti-submarine warfare ships of NATO, which tracked Soviet Navy submarines in the North Atlantic.

Since at least the mid-1990s, the Danish Navy has proposed saving money on the headquarters staff of Island Command Greenland out of isolated Grønnedal by relocating most of the 65 members either to the Greenlandic capital at Nuuk or bringing them back to Aarhus in Jutland. However, the Greenlandic government has successfully lobbied to keep the command intact in order to boost the local economy.

Under the terms of the "2010-2014 Danish Defense Agreement" approved by the Danish parliament on 24 June 2009, the Greenland Command absorbed the (nearly defunct) Faroe Island Command. The combined command was placed in Nuuk under the name of "Arctic Command". As a result, in 2012, Kangilinnguit was closed and residual military functions moved to Nuuk (Godthaab), the capital of Greenland.

Population

Kangilinnguit population growth dynamics in the last two decades. Source: Statistics Greenland[4]

References

1. "Greenland and the Arctic". By Etain O'Carroll and Mark Elliott. Lonely Planet 2005. ISBN 1-74059-095-3.
2. Statistics Greenland Archived 2011-08-12 at the Wayback Machine (in Danish)
3. Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation Archived 2007-06-06 at the Wayback Machine
4. Statistics Greenland Archived 2011-08-12 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Website of the Greenland Command at Kangilinnguit (in Danish)
• arsukfjorden.gl − local web site with maps (in Danish)