Avannaa

Map of North Greenland.

Avannaa, originally Nordgrønland ("North Greenland"), was one of the three counties (Danish: amt) of Greenland, until 31 December 2008. The county seat was at the main settlement, Qaanaaq.

It was one of the least-densely-populated administrative divisions in the world, with 843 people living in 106,700 km2 of ice-free land for a density of 0.0079 people per square kilometre. The total land area including the land covered by the ice cap is over 500,000 km2. North Greenland has a higher portion of ice-free land than most other areas of the country because much of the extreme north, such as Peary Land, is largely ice-free due to its low precipitation.[1]

The county was also sometimes known as Avannaarsua or Avanersuaq.

  1. ^ "The CIA World Factbook 2008" Central Intelligence Agency, Skyhorse Publishing Inc, 2007, ISBN 1-60239-080-0, pg, 253