Savissivik

In the northernmost part of Melville Bay on the northwest coast the settlement of Savissivik lies on an island that's surrounded by enormous glaciers that end out in the sea. We're in the part of Greenland where you can't help wondering what's the longest: the coastline or the glacier front?

Experiences in Savissivik

Savissivik means 'the place where you find iron/material for knives'. The Cape York meteorite exploded over the area many thousands of years ago and has given the local people material from which to make ulu, the Greenlandic knife, for centuries.

 

It's also a historic area which Robert Peary frequented during his 10-year long polar exploration. In 1909 he became the first person to reach the North Pole. He would ever have achieved this feat without the help of the local Inuit and their dogsleds.

 

The area has magnificent fauna and flora and the settlement itself has a Pilersuisoq grocery store, a service building and a church from 1962. There are thus plenty of hings to see in the area, which is very remote.

FACTS


Means 'the place where you find iron'

A meteorite has ensured that there's been a plentiful supply of metal for making Greenlandic knives, ulu, for millennia

Locally goes by the name of 'Havighivik'

Located in the northern part of Melville Bay

Approx. 60 inhabitants

Local Drying Cod. Photo Aningaaq Rosing Carlsen Visit Greenland

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