Iluileq (named 'Ilivilik' in old maps) is an uninhabited island in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland.

Iluileq
Map
Location of Iluileq
Iluileq is located in Greenland
Iluileq
Iluileq
Location in Greenland
Geography
LocationNorth Atlantic Ocean
Southern Greenland
Coordinates60°52′N 42°48′W / 60.867°N 42.800°W / 60.867; -42.800
Highest elevation829 m (2720 ft)
Highest pointNûgâlik
Administration
Greenland
MunicipalityKujalleq
Demographics
Population0

History

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Wilhelm August Graah (1793–1863) met groups of Southeast-Greenland Inuit on the island during his 1828–30 expedition. He was impressed by some of the women, finding them more beautiful and cleaner compared with the West Greenlandic women he had known.[1]

In June 1870 Iluileq was the place where the crew of the Hansa, the supply ship of the Second German North Polar Expedition was finally able to land after their ship became separated from the Germania, drifted with the ice pack and sank.[2] The crew drifted on the sea ice southward and after nearly eleven months finally reached Iluileq by boat. They found no Inuit on the island. From there they followed the shore southwards until they reached the Moravian Herrnhut mission at Friedrichsthal (modern Narsaq Kujalleq) near Cape Farewell, from where they got back to Germany on a Danish ship.[3]

Geography

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Iluileq is a coastal island that lies off King Frederick VI Coast in southeastern Greenland. It is located at the head of Iluileq Fjord (Danell Fjord), on the northern side of it. A small narrow fjord branch or sound separates Iluileq from the mainland on its NW side and Kangerluk Fjord opens its mouth just north of the eastern end of the sound.[4] The island's length is 19 kilometres (12 miles) and its maximum width 5.8 kilometres (4 miles).

Iluileq has rugged cliffs, its highest point reaching 829 metres (2,720 feet). Off the eastern end of the island's coast lies Cape Discord (Kangeq) and off its southern shore lies the small cluster of islets named Ivingmiut.[5]

 
Map of Greenland section showing Iluileq Island.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Graah, W. A. (2014). Narrative of an Expedition to the East Coast of Greenland. weitsuechtig. ISBN 3943850528. p. 70
  2. ^ Carl Koldewey, The German Arctic Expedition of 1869-1870: Narrative of the Wreck of the Hansa in the Ice. p. 162
  3. ^ "Venzke, Jörg-Friedhelm (1990) The 1869–70 German North Polar Expedition. The Arctic 43(1): 83–85" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  4. ^ GoogleEarth
  5. ^ Iluileq Map
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