Ittoqqortoormiit

Ittoqqortoormiit (East Greenlandic [itːɔqːɔtːɔːmːiːt]; West Greenlandic: Illoqqortoormiut [iɬːɔqːɔtːɔːmːiut]; formerly known as Scoresbysund) is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in eastern Greenland. Its population was 345 as of 2020, and it has been described as one of the most remote settlements on Earth.

The former name Scoresbysund derives from the English Arctic explorer and whaler William Scoresby, who was the first European to map the area in 1822. The name "Ittoqqortoormiit" means "big house dwellers" in the Eastern Greenlandic dialect. The region is known for its wildlife, including polar bears, muskoxen, and seals.

Ittoqqortoormiit is located on Liverpool Land, east of Hurry Inlet near the mouth of the northern shore of the Kangertittivaq fjord, which empties into the Greenland Sea.

The nearest other settlement in Greenland is Kulusuk, 831 kilometres (516 mi) away. The nearest other settlement is Sandvík, Grímsey, Iceland, 466 kilometres (290 mi) away.

The time zone in Ittoqqortoormiit is UTC-02:00, the same as most of Greenland's population. Until March 2024 it had previously been one hour ahead of most of Greenland.

Ittoqqortoormiit was founded in 1925 by Ejnar Mikkelsen and some 80 Inuit settlers (70 persons from Tasiilaq and four families from western Greenland). They were brought on the ship Gustav Holm and settled 400 kilometres (249 miles) south of the last known Inuit settlement in northeastern Greenland (Eskimonæs at Dødemandsbugten on the south coast of Clavering Ø, 27 km (17 miles) southwest of later Daneborg, 1823).

The settlement was encouraged by the colonial power Denmark which at the time had a growing interest in Northeast Greenland. At the same time, the colonization was intended to improve declining living conditions in Tasiilaq,^{[citation needed]} from where the settlers were more or less voluntarily^{[clarification needed]} transferred. The settlers soon prospered on the good hunting conditions of the new area, which was rich in seals, walruses, narwhals, polar bears and Arctic foxes.

Before that, the area itself had been home to a dense population of Inuit in the past, as testified by ruins and other archeological remains.