Abstract
Two great transitions, from seal hunting to codfishing, then from cod fishing to shrimp, affectedpopulation centers of southwest Greenland during the20th century. These economic transitionsreflected large-scale shifts in the underlying marineecosystems, driven by interactions between climate andhuman resource use. The combination of climaticvariation and fishing pressure, for example, provedfatal to west Greenland's cod fishery. We examine thehistory of these transitions, using data down to thelevel of individual municipalities. At this level,the uneven social consequences of environmental changeshow clearly: some places gained, while others lost. Developments in 20th-century Greenland resemblepatterns of human-environment interactions in themedieval Norse settlements, suggesting some generalpropositions relevant to the human dimensions ofclimatic change.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Amorosi, T., Buckland, P., Dugmore, A., Ingimundarson, J. H., and McGovern, T. H.: 1997, ‘Raiding the Landscape: Human Impact in the Scandinavian North Atlantic’ Human Ecol. 25, 491–518.
Arnason, R. and Friis, P.: 1995, ‘The Greenland Fisheries: Developing a Modern Fishing Industry’ in Arnason, R. and Felt, L. (eds.), The North Atlantic Fisheries: Successes, Failures and Challenges, The Institute of Island Studies, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, pp. 169–196.
Arneborg, J.: 1991, ‘The Roman Church in Norse Greenland’ in Bigelow, G. F. (ed.), The Norse of the North Atlantic, Acta Archaeol. 61, Copenhagen, pp. 142–150.
Berglund, J.: 1986, ‘The Decline of the Norse Settlements in Greenland’ Arct. Anthropol. 23, 109–135.
Broecker, W. S.: 1997, ‘Thermohaline Circulation, the Achilles Heel of our Climate System: Will Man-Made CO2 Upset the Current Balance?’ Science 278, 1582–1588.
Buckland, P. C., Amorosi, T., Barlow, L. K., Dugmore, A. J., Mayewski, P. A., McGovern, T. H., Ogilvie, A. E. J., Sadler, J. P., and Skidmore, P.: 1996, ‘Bioarchaeological and Climatological Evidence for the Fate of Norse Farmers in Medieval Greenland’ Antiquity 70 (267), 88–96.
Caulfield, R. A.: 1997, Greenlanders, Whales, and Whaling: Sustainability and Self-Determination in the Arctic, University Press of New England, Hanover.
COADS (Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Web site: http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/coads/
Fitzhugh, W. W.: 1984, ‘Paleo-Eskimo Cultures of Greenland’ in Sturtevant, W. C. (ed.), Handbook of North American Indians: Volume 5, Arctic, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., pp. 528–548.
Greenland Summit Ice Cores CD-ROM: 1997, Available from the National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado at Boulder.
Grootes, P. M. and Stuiver, M.: 1997, ‘Oxygen 18/16 Variability in Greenland Snow and Ice with 10?3 to 10?5-year time resolution’ J. Geophys. Res. 102 (C12), 26,455–26,470.
Hamilton, L. C. and Haedrich, R. L.: 1999, ‘Ecological and Population Changes in Fishing Communities of the North Atlantic Arc’ Polar Res. 18.
Horsted, S. A.: 1994, ‘A Review with Some Proposals for Amendments of the Catch Statistics for the Cod Fisheries in Greenland Waters since 1911’ NAFO SCR Doc. 94/38, No. N2407.
Jansen, H. M.: 1972, A Critical Account of the Written and Archaeological Sources’ Evidence Concerning the Norse Settlements in Greenland, Meddelelser om Grønland, Copenhagen, 182(4).
Jones, G.: 1986, The Norse Atlantic Saga: Being the Norse Voyages of Discovery and Settlement to Iceland, Greenland, and North America, Oxford University Press, New York.
Keller, C.: 1991, ‘Vikings in the West Atlantic: A Model for Norse Greenlandic Society’ in Bigelow, G. F. (ed.), The Norse of the North Atlantic, Acta Archaeologica 61, Copenhagen, pp. 126–141.
Lauritzen, P.: 1989, Highlights of an Arctic Revolution: The First 120 Months of Greenlandic Home Rule, Atuakkiorfik, Nuuk.
Lyck, L. and Taagholt, J.: 1987, ‘Greenland-Its Economy and Resources’ Arctic 40, 50–59.
Lyster, P.: 1997, 'subsistence versus Commercial Use of the Living Natural Resources in the Greenlandic Municipalities-Regional Patterns of a Social Transformation Process’ Paper presented at the NARF seminar, Nuuk, Greenland, 19-23 March.
Manabe, S.: 1995, ‘Simulation of Abrupt Climate Change Induced by Freshwater Input to the North Atlantic Ocean’ Nature 378 (6553), 165-167.
Mattox, W. G.: 1973, Fishing in West Greenland 1910-1966: The Development of a New Native Industry, Meddelelser om Grønland, Copenhagen, 197(1).
Mayewski, P. A. et al.: 1994, ‘Changes in Atmospheric Circulation and Ocean Ice Cover over the North Atlantic during the Last 41,000 Years’ Science 263, 1747-1751.
McGovern, T. H.: 1990, ‘The Archaeology of the Norse North Atlantic’ in Siegel, B. J., Beals, A. R., and Tyler, S. A. (eds.), Annual Review of Anthropology, Volume 19, Annual Reviews, Palo Alto, pp. 331-351.
McGovern, T. H.: 1991, ‘Climate, Correlation and Causation in Norse Greenland’ Arct. Anthropol. 28, 77-100.
McGovern, T. H.: 1992, ‘Bones, Buildings and Boundaries: Paleoeconomic Approaches to Norse Greenland’ in Rackham, J. and Morris, C. D. (eds.), Norse and Later Subsistence and Settlement in the North Atlantic, Glasgow University Press, 193-230.
Ogilvie, A. E. J.: 1992, ‘Documentary Evidence for Changes in the Climate of Iceland 1500 to 1800’ in Bradley, R. S. and Jones, P. D. (eds.), Climate since A.D. 1500, Routledge, London, pp. 92-117.
Paldam, M.: 1997, ‘Rent Seeking and Dutch Disease: An Essay on Greenland’ Eur. J. Polit. Econ. 13, 591-615.
Pauly, D., Christensen, V., Dalsgaard, J., Froese, R., and Torres, F., Jr.: 1998, ‘Fishing Down Marine Food Webs’ Science 279, 860-863.
Petersen, M.-L. D.: 1986, ‘The Impact of Public Planning on Ethnic Culture: Aspects of Danish Resettlement Policies’ Arct. Anthropol. 1, 2, 271-280.
Poppel, B.: 1997, ‘Greenland's Road to Recovery and the Pattern of Settlement’ North 8, 11-18.
Rasmussen, R. O. and Hamilton, L. C.: 1999, The Development of Fisheries in Greenland, with Focus on the Communities of Paamiut/Frederikshåb and Sisimiut/Holsteinsborg, University of New Hampshire, NAARC Working Paper 99-01.
Rätz, H-J.: 1991, Notes of the Structures and Changes in the Icthyofauna of West Greenland, NAFO SCR Doc. 91/36, Number N1916.
Rätz, H-J.: 1992, Decrease in Fish Biomass of West Greenland (subdivisions 1B-1F), NAFO SCR Doc. 92/40, Number N2088.
Schmidt, E. L. B.: 1989, Min tid i Grønland-Grønland i min tid. Fiskeri, Biologi, Samfund 1948-1985.
Vilhjálmsson, H.: 1997, ‘Climatic Variations and Some Examples of their Effects on the Marine Ecology of Icelandic and Greenlandic Waters, in Particular during the Present Century’ J. Marine Res. Inst. Reykjavík 15 (1).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hamilton, L., Lyster, P. & Otterstad, O. Social Change, Ecology and Climate in 20th-Century Greenland. Climatic Change 47, 193–211 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005607426021
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005607426021