Sisimiut is the northernmost town in Greenland with an ice-free harbour during winter. Also, it is the southernmost town with where dog sleds are used, however, not until the snow falls in November-December. With 5400 inhabitants, Sisimiut is the second-largest town in Greenland after Nuuk, the capital.
Sisimiut has been a settlement for 4500 years. The Saqqaq, Dorset and Thule cultures all came from Canada and sustained themselves primarily through fish, birds and mammals such as whale, seal and reindeer.
In the 17th century, the first European whalers arrived in the area, however, they had only sporadic content with its inhabitants.
It was not until the Norwegian missionary Hans Egede's colonization of Greenland that permanent contact betweeen europeans and the Inuit was made. In 1756, the colony Holsteinsborg (named after the former Prime Minister, Count Johan Ludvig Holstein) was established. The old part of Sisimiut contains houses from the first hundred years of the colony. The oldest is from 1756 and one of the most signicant buildings is the blue church from 1775.
Today, Sisimiut is an important town for fishing industry and education. The Royal Greenland fish processing factory is the largest of its kind in Greenland and one of the most modern in the world.
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