History

	Historie of the town
	The museum

History of the town

Traces of settling 5-6000 years back have been found at Qeqertarsuaq. The settlers were paleo-eskimos wandering south.
Later, around the year 0, the Dorset people arrived, leaving weapons and hunting tackle.

But only a few traces of these, the first settlers, are found.
The first true traces of the settlement are from the 17th and the 18th centuries.

During these centuries, the first whalers came to Qeqertarsuaq; here they found a suitable anchoring place which became the basis of the colony.

In 1773, the colony of Godhavn (the Good Port) was established, serving as the most northern point in the enforcement of the Danish rights to the whaling in the region. During the previous years, the activities of Dutch, German and English whalers in the region had been getting out of hand.

Prior to the establishment there was, in 1738, a population of almost 200 people on the island. They lived in tents, so they were most probably not settlers.

With the establishment of the colony, with a blubber house and other buildings, there were good opportunities for trade, and Greenlanders started to settle down.

In the same time, the number of foreign sailors, artisans and other colonists grew.

The communication with the colony Godhavn happened in this way: the ships from Denmark arrived during fall, they spent the winter in Godhavn or in Fortuna Bay so that they could participate in the hunting during spring, as soon as the ice broke.

Around midsummer they would return to Denmark with the fruit of their efforts only to go back with fresh supplies in the fall.

Thus, six ships were working at Godhavn in 1776, catching only six whales. The following year the result was four whales.

Though the outcome was unstable, the colony was preserved. In 1801, the trade had reached a considerable volume: 247 barrels of whale blubber, 78 barrels of seal blubber, 30 barrels of shark liver, 14000 baleens and various fur skins. The trade this year led to the introduction of an economy based on money instead of the old one based on barter and credit.

The Napoleon Wars in Europe led to the cutting off of the contact between Godhavn and Denmark in 1807. But supplies were sent from Russia and England. As time went by, the supplies became scant and it was necessary to ration them. Scarce supplies arrived on vessels sailing with a document allowing them to carry supplies to, but not from, Greenland. When the communication was reestablished in 1813, the shortage was so marked that no gun powder was left in the colony.

After the war and the national bankruptcy, there were hardly any means to run the colony and as the population of whales went down at the same time, Godhavn fell into decay. The Department of Trade in Copenhagen came to the conclusion that the maintenance of the colony was doubtful.

The crucial problem was that no ships were stationed in Godhavn and consequently, the whaling had to be done from land. Though great efforts were made to get means for a change of methods, Inspector C. M. Olrik had to give orders for the suspension of whaling at Godhavn.

After the suspension, the administration was maintained but it was obvious that the financial means were a lot smaller, and the population of hunters that had become intensely concentrated had to pull through as best they could.

In 1862, a new law on municipalities was passed and the socalled Directions were introduced in Greenland.

In the North, the introduction was carried through in 1863 and the first meeting was held in Godhavn on the 18th of October.

The members of the Direction were the Inspector, the Volunteer, the Catechist and three elected Greenlandic members. The latter were appointed for a period of three years and they represented Godhavn, Diskofjord and Hunde Ejland.

The primary task of the Direction was the administration of the means set apart for social purposes: support for widows, children unprovided for and others in need. The Direction also functioned as an inferior court in case of, for instance, theft.

The Direction also took active part in the fight against the spreading of distemper, in the founding of a kayak school for boys and a sewing school for girls.

On the whole, it seems that the Direction in Godhavn has set out an active and independant course and that the elected members have had a great deal of influence on the decisions, contrary to other places in Greenland.

The accessible files of the Direction cover the period from 1863 till 1897.

In 1926, new Councils were established in both Godhavn, Diskofjord and Hunde Ejland.
One of the first decisions was that some of the hunters were allowed to borrow the Chief Administative Officer’s modern motor boat to go on a pilot cruise. The cruise was a success and new times for the hunting trade were in sight.

On the whole, this was the time of new techniques and their introduction to Disko. In 1925, the first medium wave transmitter was built at Godhavn and Holten Møller became the first manager of the station. When the transmitter was established in Kalundborg in the year 1927, there was an immediate connection between Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark.

When Germany occupied Denmark in 1940, Greenland was immediately cut off from Denmark. The Councils of Northern and Southern Greenland were summoned to a meeting in Godhavn on the 3rd of May 1940. One of the results of the meeting was the socalled Godhavn Declaration in which the elected members of the Councils decided, for the first time ever, to conduct an independant foreign policy. The Councils confirm the interdependance between Greenland and Denmark but, at the same time, they forge a strong link to the USA which secures the conditions of Greenland throughout the war. The price was, as we know, the establishment of American bases in Greenland and accordingly, it can be said that Godhavn has played a role in the formation of the global policy of security after World War II.

A further consequence of the meeting is the fact that all the administration of Greenland, until then divided between Godhavn and Godthåb, now was concentrated in Godthåb so that the era of Godhavn being the governmental seat of Northern Greenland was over. The Chief Administrative Office was abolished in 1950 at the establishment of the National Council of Greenland.

This also was the beginning of the development of Qeqertarsuaq into a ’normal’ society based on hunting and fishing and into the modern town of today.