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]
Kangilinnguit
Grønnedal | |
|---|---|
 Fjord icefloes, view from Kangilinnguit | |
  Kangilinnguit Location within Greenland | |
| Coordinates: 61°14′00″N 48°05′55″W / 61.23333°N 48.09861°W | |
| State |  Kingdom of Denmark |
| Constituent country |  Greenland |
| Municipality |  Sermersooq |
| Population (2010) | |
• Total | 160 |
| Time zone | UTC-03 |
| Postal Code | 3905 Nuussuaq |
Kangilinnguit Heliport | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Military | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 95 ft / 29 m | ||||||||||
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| Helipads | |||||||||||
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For the former U.S. Naval Operating Facility there, see Bluie West Seven.
History
editKangilinnguit 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
edit
References
edit
- ^ "Greenland and the Arctic". By Etain O'Carroll and Mark Elliott. Lonely Planet 2005. ISBN 1-74059-095-3.
- ^ Statistics Greenland Archived 2011-08-12 at the Wayback Machine (in Danish)
- ^ Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation Archived 2007-06-06 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Statistics Greenland Archived 2011-08-12 at the Wayback Machine
External links
edit- Website of the Greenland Command at Kangilinnguit (in Danish)
- arsukfjorden.gl Archived 2016-04-30 at the Wayback Machine − local web site with maps (in Danish)