Pissimayok (Vikings in the New World)

< Main Page

Pissimayok is the largest city in the Umingmak Nuna province of Greenland.

In 1715, years after the Arctic Treaty was signed, Greenlandic explorers were tasked to settle the island of Umingmak Nuna. The exploration team left from a small town in Qaasuitsup (Part of Kitaa at the time), and took six days to get to their destination by ship. Due to the terrible sailing conditions, they immediately set up shop at the first coast they spotted. The captain of this expedition named the town Pissimayok, symbolizing that their mission was finally over (Pissimayok means "is done"). The town population went in and out for the next hundred years. As the small neighboring settlements fell in the mid-1700's, the town experienced a temporary spike. Once Okrilayok, the other major on the island, fell in the early-1800's, the population grew once more. They tried to keep from making excessive trade with mainland Greenland, and hunted the Muskox frequently. After the arrival of large scientific bases, the town experienced a period of goodwill, and it allowed them to get out of the borderline poverty they were in before. Today, while being extremely backwater, Pissimayok is doing pretty well for itself.