Qaanaaq

Also known as Thule

Qaanaaq (), formerly known as New Thule, is the main town in the northern part of the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. The town has a population of 646 as of 2020. The population was forcibly relocated from its former, traditional home, which was expropriated for the construction of a United States Air Force base (Thule Air Base, now Pituffik Space Base) in 1953. The inhabitants of Qaanaaq speak the local Inuktun language and many also speak Kalaallisut and Danish.

AI overview

Qaanaaq is a town of about 646 people in northwestern Greenland whose inhabitants were forcibly moved from their traditional homeland in 1953 to make way for a U.S. Air Force base. The town matters as a place where a local Arctic community has persisted and maintained its distinct Inuktun language despite displacement and ongoing geopolitical significance in the region.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

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7-day forecast

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Place details

Locality: Qaanaaq
Region: Avannaata
Country: Kalaallit Nunaat
Population: 646
Timezone: America/Thule

via OpenStreetMap · GeoNames

Air quality

27US AQIGood

PM2.5: 6.2 µg/m³
PM10: 7.6 µg/m³

As of 2026-08-10 22:00 · Open-Meteo

Key facts

Settlement.name: Qaanaaq
Settlement.other_name: New Thule
Settlement.image_skyline: Qaanaaq, Greenland.jpg
Settlement.imagesize: 250px
Settlement.image_caption: Qaanaaq
Settlement.pushpin_map: Greenland#Arctic
Settlement.pushpin_map_caption: Location within Greenland
Settlement.pushpin_mapsize: 200
Settlement.subdivision_type: Sovereign state
Settlement.subdivision_type1: Autonomous territory
Settlement.subdivision_name1: Greenland
Settlement.subdivision_type2: Municipality
Settlement.subdivision_name2: Avannaata
Settlement.subdivision_name3: Qaanaaq Municipality
Settlement.established_title: First settled
Settlement.established_date: 2000 BC
Settlement.population_as_of: 2025
Settlement.population_total: 591

via Wikipedia infobox

Travel guide

Understand

thumb|350px|View over Qaanaaq The alternative name for this settlement is Thule. The word comes from the Latin "Ultima Thule", meaning the Far North Land.

Get in

thumb|A tanker ship (left) and the cruise ship Sea Explorer (right) at Qaanaaq in 2013

Go next

The Northeast Greenland National Park is the obvious next destination.

Travel guide from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA 4.0)

~7 min read

Encyclopedic overview

11 sections

Contents

Geography
History
Culture
Government
Population
Climate
Infrastructure
Education
References
Further reading
External links

Qaanaaq is one of the northernmost towns in the world. Within Greenland, it is the northernmost major town and the third northernmost public settlement, after nearby Qeqertat and Siorapaluk.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Qaanaaq” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.