Siorapaluk

Summary

Siorapaluk (West Greenlandic) or Hiurapaluk (Polar Inuit) is a settlement in the Qaanaaq area of the Avannaata municipality in northern Greenland. The settlement is located in the northern shore of the Siorapaluup Kangerlua (Robertson Fjord).[1] It has a population of 43[2] who speak the Inuktun language of the Polar Inuit as well as the Kalaallisut dialect of Greenlandic. Many of the inhabitants are direct descendants of the last migration of Inuit from Canada in the 20th century.[citation needed]

Siorapaluk
Hiurapaluk
Siorapaluk
Siorapaluk
Siorapaluk is located in Greenland
Siorapaluk
Siorapaluk
Location within Greenland
Coordinates: 77°47′08″N 70°38′00″W / 77.78556°N 70.63333°W / 77.78556; -70.63333
State Kingdom of Denmark
Constituent country Greenland
MunicipalityAvannaata
Population
 (2020)
 • Total43
Time zoneUTC-04
Postal code
3971 Qaanaaq

Siorapaluk is the northernmost unabandoned public settlement in Greenland, and one of the northernmost such settlements in the world, surpassed only by a few villages in Svalbard. It is also the world's northernmost place inhabited by natives.

Hunting edit

There is good hunting in the area of the settlement, and the cliffs around it function as breeding grounds for dovekie (UK English: little auk) (Alle alle) and the thick-billed murre (UK English: Brünnich's guillemot) (Uria lomvia). There are many Arctic foxes and Arctic hares in the area and an abundance of seals and walruses which are hunted.

Infrastructure edit

Siorapaluk has an electrical power plant, direct satellite radio and TV-broadcasting, a well stocked store and telephone service. The settlement's school is combined with its church and a small public library. Although there are no resident medical facilities, the settlement is visited regularly by a physician and a dentist.

Transport edit

Air Greenland operates settlement flights to Qaanaaq Airport and to Savissivik Heliport via Pituffik Space Base.[3] The distance to Qaanaaq is 45 km. The twice-weekly flights are subsidized by the Government of Greenland. Transfers at the airbase are subject to access restrictions by the Danish Foreign Ministry.[4]

Population edit

 
Siorapaluk population growth dynamics in the last two decades. Source: Statistics Greenland[5]

References edit

  1. ^ "Siorapaluk". Mapcarta. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Population by Localities". Statistical Greenland.
  3. ^ "Booking system". Air Greenland. Archived from the original on 22 April 2010. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
  4. ^ "Air Greenland". airgreenland.com. Archived from the original on 17 June 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  5. ^ Statistics Greenland Archived 2011-08-12 at the Wayback Machine