Nuuk [key], town (1996 pop. 12,882), Nuuk dist., W Greenland, on the Godthåbfjord. The largest town and capital of Greenland, it is the seat of the national council and of the supreme court, and it has foreign consulates. Nuuk also has radio stations and newspapers, is a fishing center, and has oil and liquid gas storage facilities. An airfield was built there in the late 1970s. The town was founded in 1721 by Hans Egede, a Norwegian missionary. The Godthåbfjord region has fine pastures and supports reindeer herds. At the head of the fjord are the remains of Vesterbygd, a 10th-century Norse settlement.
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