Ilulissat is the municipal seat and largest town of the municipality of Avannaata in western Greenland. It is located on the eastern shore of Disko Bay, just north of the Ilulissat Icefjord World Heritage Site, and approximately 350 km (220 mi) north of the Arctic Circle. With a population of 5,149 as of 2025, it is the third-largest city in Greenland, after Nuuk and Sisimiut. The area around the town was inhabited by Inuit peoples from prehistoric times, with evidence of Saqqaq and Dorset settlements. Dutch whalers traded extensively with the local population from the 17th cenutry and referred to the area as Maklykout. Ilulissat was later established as a trading post by Jacob Severin's company in 1741, and was named in his honor after the Battle of Jacobshavn, in which Danish forces defeated the Dutch whalers. The town was the site of the Arctic Ocean Conference in 2008, in which representatives from Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States met to discuss territorial claims in the Arctic. This 2024 photograph shows a panorama of Ilulissat taken from the south west.
Credit: Ekrem Canli
