Godthåb to Nuuk
The Norwegian missionary Hans Egede founded a colony at the mouth of the Nuup Kangerlua fjord in 1721, moved it in 1728 and named it Godthåb. When Greenland won home rule in 1979, the capital and most other towns swapped their Danish names for Greenlandic ones: Godthåb became Nuuk, “the cape”.
Written from cited sourcesLast checked 28 September 2026Suggest a correction
- Godthåb1728–1979
- Nuuk1979–
Egede’s colony
Hans Egede sailed from Bergen on 2 May 1721 with his family and about 50 people to start a colony and a mission in Greenland, backed by King Frederik IV. They landed at a small archipelago at Kangeq, at the mouth of Nuup Kangerlua, the fjord the Danes called Godthåb Fjord, and built the Colony of Hope.[1]
In 1728 Egede left the Island of Hope (Håbets Ø) and moved the colony to present-day Nuuk, which he named Godthåb.[1] Britannica dates the modern town from 1721, counting his first colony nearby.[4]
Home rule and new names
Greenlandic stayed the everyday language through the colonial era: from Egede’s arrival until the Second World War almost everyone spoke it, missionaries included, and the catechist seminary founded in Godthåb in 1847 taught in Greenlandic.[5]
Greenland gained home rule on 1 May 1979. That day Queen Margrethe arrived by helicopter at Godthåb for the celebrations.[2] In the same year most Greenlandic towns dropped their Danish names. Godthåb became Nuuk, “the cape”; Holsteinsborg became Sisimiut, “the fox-den people”; and Jakobshavn became Ilulissat, “icebergs”.[3]
Nuuk is Greenland’s capital and main port, home to its parliament, supreme court and university.[4]
Timeline
17212 May 1721
Egede sails
Hans Egede leaves Bergen to found a colony and mission in Greenland.[1]
1728
Godthåb
Egede moves the colony to present-day Nuuk and names it Godthåb.[1]
19791 May 1979
Home rule
Greenland gains home rule; the Queen arrives at Godthåb.[2]
1979
Nuuk
Godthåb and most other towns take Greenlandic names.[3]
Sources
- [1]Hans Egede and the work for the mission service · Trap Greenland
- [2]Home Rule (1979–2008) · Trap Greenland
- [3]Reclaiming the Names: Decolonizing the Arctic, One Place Name at a Time · Adventure Canada
- [4]Nuuk · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- [5]Language · Trap Greenland
Map geometry from Natural Earth via world-atlas. See credits.