Arsuk

Arsuk is located at the southern end of the Sermersooq municipality, on the coast of Labrador Sea near the mouth of the Arsuk Fjord in the southeast.^[3] It is north of Cape Desolation, where the coastline of southwestern Greenland turns to the east approximately 30 km (18.6 mi) to the south of the settlement at the wide mouth of Alanngorsuaq Fjord. The 1,418 m (4,652.2 ft)^[4] Kuunnaat mountain rises on the mainland directly to the north of the village.

The region was first settled by people of the Saqqaq culture arriving from the north.^[3] The area was resettled by the Norse between the 10th century and the 14th century. Thule people were the second southbound Inuit migration, to arrive in the region in the 15th century,^[3] with the area permanently settled since then.

The discovery of cryolite in Ivittuut in the inner parts of Arsuk Fjord attracted the interest of the Danes during the colonial era, leading to the formal foundation of the settlement in 1805.^[4] The timber Lutheran church was built in 1830.^[4]

The mines closed in 1987,^[3] with the Ivittuut settlement abandoned soon thereafter, leaving Arsuk on the economic periphery despite its tourism potential.