Nuuk in the context of "List of national capitals by population"

Play Trivia Questions online!

or

Skip to study material about Nuuk in the context of "List of national capitals by population"

Ad spacer

⭐ Core Definition: Nuuk

Nuuk (Greenlandic pronunciation: [nuːk] ; Danish: Nuuk, formerly Godthåb [ˈkʌtˌhɔˀp]) is the capital and most populous city of Greenland, an autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the territory's largest cultural and economic center. It is also the seat of government for the Sermersooq municipality. In January 2025, it had a population of 20,113—more than a third of the territory's population—making it one of the smallest capital cities in the world by population.

The city was founded in 1728 by the Danish-Norwegian missionary Hans Egede when he relocated from the earlier Hope Colony (Haabets Koloni), where he had arrived in 1721; the governor Claus Paarss was part of the relocation. The new colony was placed at the Inuit settlement of Nûk and named Godthaab ("Good Hope"). "Nuuk" is the Greenlandic word for "cape" and is commonly found in Greenlandic place names. It is so named because of its position at the end of the Nuup Kangerlua fjord on the Labrador Sea's eastern shore. Its latitude, at 64°11' N, makes it the world's northernmost capital, a few kilometres farther north than Reykjavík. When home rule was established in 1979, the authorization of place names was transferred to Greenlandic authorities, who preferred Greenlandic names to Danish ones. The name Godthåb mostly went out of use over the next two decades.

↓ Menu

>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
In this Dossier

Nuuk in the context of Self-government

Self-governance, self-government, self-sovereignty or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of institution, such as family units, social groups, affinity groups, legal bodies, industry bodies, religions, and political entities of various degrees. Self-governance is closely related to various philosophical and socio-political concepts such as autonomy, independence, self-control, self-discipline, and sovereignty.

In the context of nation states, self-governance is called national sovereignty which is an important concept in international law. In the context of administrative division, a self-governing territory is called an autonomous region. Self-governance is also associated with political contexts in which a population or demographic becomes independent from colonial rule, absolute government, absolute monarchy, or any government that they perceive does not adequately represent them. It is therefore a fundamental tenet of many democracies, republics and nationalist governments. Mahatma Gandhi's term "swaraj" is a branch of this self-rule ideology. Henry David Thoreau was a major proponent of self-rule in lieu of immoral governments.

↑ Return to Menu

Nuuk in the context of Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. It shares a small 1.2 km border with Canada on Hans Island. Citizens of Greenland are full citizens of Denmark and of the European Union. Greenland is one of the Overseas Countries and Territories of the European Union and is part of the Council of Europe. It is the world's largest island, and lies between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland's Kaffeklubben Island, off the northern coast, is the world's northernmost undisputed point of landCape Morris Jesup on the mainland was thought to be so until the 1960s. The capital and largest city is Nuuk. Economically, Greenland is heavily reliant on aid from Denmark, amounting to nearly half of the territory's total public revenue.

Though a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with the European kingdoms of Norway and Denmark for more than a millennium, beginning in 986. Greenland has been inhabited at intervals over at least the last 4,500 years by circumpolar peoples whose forebears migrated there from what is now Canada. Norsemen from Norway settled the uninhabited southern part of Greenland beginning in the 10th century (having previously settled Iceland), and their descendants lived in Greenland for 400 years until disappearing in the late 15th century. The 13th century saw the arrival of Inuit.

↑ Return to Menu

Nuuk in the context of List of cities and towns in Greenland

This is a list of cities and towns in Greenland as of 1 July 2025. In Greenland, two kinds of settled areas are distinguished: illoqarfik (Greenlandic for 'town'; by in Danish) and nunaqarfik (Greenlandic for 'settlement'; bygd in Danish). The difference between the two decreased since the new administrative units were introduced in 2009, with the influence of previous municipality centres decreasing. Traditionally, the seat of each municipality was considered a by, whereas every other settlement in a municipality was a bygd. A bygd could have anything from one to about five hundred inhabitants. Many places have Danish names in addition to the Greenlandic names. The Danish name, when applicable, is shown.

As of 1 July 2025 the resident population of Greenland was estimated at 56,831

↑ Return to Menu

Nuuk in the context of Sermersooq

Sermersooq (Greenlandic pronunciation: [sɜm.mɜs.sɔːq̚]) is a municipality in Greenland, formed on 1 January 2009 from five previous, smaller municipalities. Its administrative seat is the city of Nuuk (formerly called Godthåb), the capital of Greenland, and it is the most populous municipality in the country, with 23,123 inhabitants as of January 2020.

↑ Return to Menu

Nuuk in the context of Hans Egede

Hans Poulsen Egede (31 January 1686 – 5 November 1758) was a Norwegian Lutheran priest and missionary who launched mission efforts to Greenland, which led him to be styled the Apostle of Greenland. He established a successful mission among the Inuit and is credited with revitalizing Danish-Norwegian interest in the island after contact had been broken for about 300 years. He founded Greenland's capital Godthåb, now known as Nuuk.

↑ Return to Menu

Nuuk in the context of Claus Paarss

Major Claus Enevold Paarss (18 February 1683 – 26 May 1762) was a Danish military officer and official. Retired from service, he was appointed governor of Greenland by King Frederick IV between 1728 and 1730.

Paarss was born in Thy in then Denmark–Norway in 1683 and commanded a Danish man-of-war and three or four other ships to Hans Egede's "Haabets Koloni" on Kangeq, which he removed to the mainland opposite and fortified under the name "Godt-Haab", later known as Godthåb and then Nuuk. His contingent of colonists consisted of twenty soldiers, three sergeants, and two officers from the Danish artillery corps, along with twelve military convicts, ten unmarried mothers, and two female convicts who were to be wed to one another according to lots. He also carried a dozen horses.

↑ Return to Menu

Nuuk in the context of Nuup Kangerlua

Nuup Kangerlua is a 160 km (99.4 mi) long fjord in the Sermersooq municipality in southwestern Greenland. It was formerly known by its colonial name as Godthaab Fjord (Danish: Godthåbsfjorden), Gilbert Sound and Baal's River.

Located by the island's capital, Nuuk, it is the longest fjord on the Labrador Sea coast of Greenland, and one of the longest in the inhabited part of the country.

↑ Return to Menu