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Hans Egede, “The Apostle of
Greenland”
 ans Egede was known as “The Apostle of
Greenland” because of his
missionary work there which began in 1721 and continued for fifteen years. Egede was born on
January 31, 1686 in Harrestad, Norway. He received his bachelors degree in theology in 1705
from the University of Copenhagen. Influenced by Pietism, the prevailing Church movement of
those days, Egede decided to become a missionary to Greenland.
Egede’s Description of Greenland
When Egede arrived in Greenland in 1721, no settled trade existed there. With the support of
the Bergen Company, Egede established the town of Gothaab. The initial colony was not
successful, and in 1733 the Danish government effectively became the chief support of trading
and missionary work there. It must have been in the days of failure, when Egede was sending
discouraging reports and appeals for help back to Europe, that he sent his description of
Greenland. As early as 1722 Egede had written a report to the Bergen Company which was
printed in 1729, without his knowledge, as Det gamle Grønlands nye perlustration.
This book, the first extensive description of Greenland, was so popular that it was translated into
German the following year. The content attests to Egede’s interest in the ancient Norse
settlements in Greenland. He begins with a brief narrative of the founding of the Norse colony
and its later history. He also describes the plant and animal life on Greenland, and gives accounts
of Eskimo culture, commerce and religion. When Egede returned to Denmark in 1736 he
assumed a supervisory position over the Greenland mission. During this latter period he did most
of his writing. In 1741 a much enlarged version of the 1729 book was printed. This edition
includes an extensive natural history of Greenland, accounts of the manner of living of the
Greenlanders, a brief vocabulary of their language, their religion, knowledge of the stars, etc. The
portion of the book that deals with Greenland’s geography and earlier history is much
expanded. Egede also added a map of Greenland as well as eleven excellent woodcut
illustrations.
A Brief History of Greenland
At the end of the tenth century Norsemen from Iceland came to settle in the
southwestern regions of Greenland. By the thirteenth century the Norse colonization was at its
height. The once uninhabited region had 280 farmsteads and a population of 3000. The region
also had a bishop’s see with sixteen churches. The progress and prosperity of this region
did not last however. Because of the political conditions in Europe, ties gradually loosened with
the colony and communication ceased altogether until the sixteenth century.
As the position of
the colony weakened it is believed that Eskimos then moved down from the North and that the
Norse settlers “must have succumbed” to their force.1 Information about
Greenland, which Egede later made use of, was recorded in the early 1600s by Danish
expeditions as well as English and Danish seafarers who navigated Davis Strait in order to hunt
whales and barter with the inhabitants there. Throughout the seventeenth century Greenland
remained for the large part unexplored, and the old Norse colony was all but forgotten until Hans
Egede set his sights on what he believed to be a much neglected part of the world.
Sara Shannon, Research Assistant
James Ford Bell Library
1. Bobé, Louis. Hans Egede:
Colonizer and Missionary of Greenland.
Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1952, p. 9.
Editions of Hans Egede’s Description of Greenland at the James Ford
Bell Library
Catalog entry
- Hans Egede, Det gamle Grønlands nye perlustration; eller; en kort beskrievelse
om
de gamle nordske coloniers beyndelse og undergang I Grønland.… Kjobenhavn,
H.C. Paulli, 1729, 58pp.
- There are three copies of this edition in North America.
- Des alten Gröenlands neue Perlustration, oder Ein kurtze Beschreibund
derer alten
nordischen Colonien … in Gröenland. Franckfurt, Stodks Erben und Schilung,
1730. 47 pp. 17 cm.
- Being the first description of Greenland by a resident, the work
became immediately popular, and this German edition followed the original edition by one year.
- Ausführliche und wahrhafte Nachricht vom Anfange und Fortgange der
grondländischen Mission. Hamburg, Christian, Wilhelm Brandt, 1740. 288p. 8 p.l. 21
cm.
- In his 1722 report to the Bergen Company which was published
as Det gamle Grönlands .…, he had announced the forthcoming
Instaebdekug ig y ydfirkug rekatuib, of which the present book is the first German
translation. This is based on entries from Egede’s diaries, kept during his years in
Greenland. They had been sent back to Denmark as annual reports. All fifteen of them were lost
in a fire in 1795. The account of his missionary work was first published in 1730, and was
reissued in 1737 and 1738, but it never achieved the same popularity which this natural history of
Greenland enjoyed.
- Det gamle Grønlands nye perlustration, eller naturel-historie.
Copenhagen,
Johan Christoph Groth, 1741. 131 pp. fold. map, 11 p.l. 20 cm.
- The present edition is a much enlarged version of Egede’s
1729 Danish version. It includes an extensive natural history of Greenland, accounts of the
manner of living of the Greenlanders, a brief vocabulary of their language, their religion,
knowledge of the stars, etc. The natural history section is illustrated with copper engravings of
good quality. The portion of the book that deals with Greenland’s geography and earlier
history is much expanded. In fact, this is an entirely different book from the one published in
1729. It attracted interest in other countries, probably because of its description of whaling.
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Map from the 1741 edition
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- A description of Greenland. London, For C. Hitch, 1745. 220 pp.; fold. map,
11 pl.
20 cm.
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View of whaling from the 1745 English translation. “When
they go a Whale catching, they put on their best Gear or Apparel, as if they were going to a
Wedding-Feast, fancying that if they did not come cleanly
and neatly dressed, the Whale, who can’t bear sloven and dirty Habits,
would shun them and fly from them.” (p.102, 1745).
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- This is an English edition of Egede’s 1740 expanded work.
In the introduction Egede writes the second edition has come about since he has “got a
fuller Light in these Matters” partly through his own observations and those of his son
Paul, who had remained in the North-West colony of Greenland.
- Beschryving van oud-Groenland, of eigentlyk van de zoogenaamde Straat Davis.
Delft,
Reinier Boitet, 1746. 192 pp., Fold. map, 11 pl. 21 cm.
- This is the first Dutch edition. Interest in Greenland in Europe at this
time was stimulated by the whaling industry that developed in the Davis Strait area and also the
scientific interest in the peoples and the plants and animals of Greenland. This book, therefore,
introduced the Dutch to the religion, manners and customs, hunting methods, language, and other
cultural aspects of the Greenlanders, as well as exploring the commercial possibilities of
Greenland. An excellent map is provided, and the eleven illustrations depict various aspects of
Greenland life.
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Map from 1746 Dutch edition
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Seal-hunting, from 1746 edition
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Houses, 1746 edition. “As to their Houses or dwelling Places
they have one for the Winter-Season, and another for the Summer. Their Winter Habitation is a
low Hut built with Stone and Turf, two or three yards high, with a flat Roof. In this Hut the
Windows are on one Side, made of
the Bowels of Seals, dressed and sewed together … and are white and
transparent.” (p.114, 1745)
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Games, 1746 edition. “Ball-playing is their most common
Diversion, which they play two different ways. They divide themselves into two Parties; the first
Party throws the Ball to each other; while those of the second Party endeavour to get it from
them, and so by turns. The second manner is like our playing at Foot-ball. They mark out two
Barriers, at three or four hundred Paces distance one from the other; then being divided into two
Parties, as before, they meet at the starting Place … and the Ball being thrown upon the
Ground, they strive who first shall get at it, and kick it with the Foot, each Party towards their
Barrier.”; (p.161, 1745)
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- Description et historie naturelle du Groenland. Copenhagen and Geneva,
C.&
A. Philibert, 1763. 168 pp. Fold map, 10 pl. 19 cm.
- This is the first French edition, printed in 1763. This edition has ten
illustrations rather than eleven as in all of the other editions. The illustration which was left out
in this edition is of young men who are getting exercise by wrestling.
- A description of Greenland. Second edition. London: printed for T. And J.
Allman,
1818.
- This later edition has an historical introduction and a life of the
author. It is illustrated with a fold-out map and numerous wood engravings. The book does not
have full-page illustrations as with the earlier editions. Instead, figures cut from Egede’s
1741 edition are placed over chapter headings.
Further Reading on Hans Egede and Greenland
Primary Sources at the James Ford Bell Library
- Blefken, Dithmar. Islandia, sive populorum & mirabilium quae in
ea insula
reperiuntur accuratior descriptio. Leiden, Henrici ab Haestens, 1607.
- The first edition of an account of trade and travel in both Iceland
and Greenland, by a German preacher accompanying merchants from Hamburg in 1563.
- Blefken, Dithmar. Scheeps-togt na Ysland en Groenland. Leiden,
P.Van der
As, 1706.
- This Dutch edition is part of Pieter Van der Aa’s great
collection of voyages and travels to all parts of the world.
- Egede, Niels Rasch. Tredie continuation af relationerne betreffende den
Grønlandske missions tilstand og besckaffenhed. Copenhagen, Johann Christoph Groth
[1744].
- A diary of a merchant-missionary in Greenland, covering the years
1738-1742.
- Egede, Poul Hansen. Efterretninger om Grønland, uddrangne af en
journal
holden fra 1721 til 1788. Copenhagen, Hans Christopher Schrøder, [1789].
- When Hans Egede went with his family to Greenland in 1722, his
son Paul was twelve years old. Although Paul returned to Copenhagen for his education from
1731 to 1734, he spent most of his time in Greenland until poor health forced him to return to
Denmark permanently in 1740. From that time on he was an instructor to missionaries planning
to go to Greenland. He spoke the language like a native and translated some of the books of the
Bible into Icelandic.
His book is a history of the Greenland missionary undertaking from
the beginnings to 1788,
although the years following his return from Greenland are given rather brief coverage, being
mostly news taken from letters written by missionaries. The earlier years contain his own
experiences and observations, including commentary on the people of Greenland, the going and
coming of ships between Greenland and Denmark, the growth of the Danish settlements, the
coming of the Moravian Brethren as missionaries and other contemporary events. He includes an
extract from the Vatican archive concerning the ancient Norse settlements on Greenland.
Altogether it is useful, and one of the few sources for the history of this period in
Greenland’s history. It includes a good map locating settlements and churches.
Pellham, Edward. Gods power and providence: shewed, in the miraculous
preservation and deliverance of eight Englishmen, left by mischance in Green-land anno 1630,
nine moneths and twelve dayes: with a true relation of all their miseries … with a
description
of the chiefe places and rarities of that barren and cold countrey. London: printed for R.Y for
Iohn Partridge … 1631. In Awnsham Churchill’s A collection of voyages and
travels.… 3rd ed. London: Lintot and Obsborn, 1744-46. Vol.4, pp.743-755.
- La Peyrere, Isaac de, 1594-1676. Rélations de l’Islande, et
du
Groenland. Amsterdam: Jean Frédéric Bernard, 1731. In Jean
Frédéric Bernard’s Recueil de voyages au nord. Amsterdam, J.F.
Bernard, 1725-38.
- A ten-volume collection of accounts of voyages of exploration and
trade, chiefly to the northern regions, but including also voyages to Louisiana, Korea, Turkistan,
and elsewhere.
Two journals: the first kept by seven sailers in the isle of St. Maurice in Greenland, in the
years 1633, 1634, who pass’d the winter, and all died in the said island: the second kept by
seven other sailers, who in the years 1633 and 1634, wintered at Spitzbergen, with an account of
their adventures and sufferings from the bears and whales, insupportable cold and storms,
&c. London: printed for Henry Lintot and John Osborn … 1744. In Awnsham
Churchill’s A collection of voyages and travels.… 3rd ed. London: Lintot and
Osborn, 1744-46.Vol.2, pp.347-360.
Secondary Sources
Louis Bobé. Hans Egede: Colonizer and Missionary of Greenland.
Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1952.
Gad, Finn. The history of Greenland. London: C.Hurst, 1982.
Ingstad, Helge. Land under the pole star: a voyage to the Norse settlements of Greenland
and the saga of the people that vanished. London: Cape, 1966.
Pioneers of Eskimo grammar: Hans Egede’s and Albert Top’s early
manuscripts on Greenlandic. Copenhagen: Linguistic Circle of Copenhagen, c. 1986.
Jansen, Henrik M. A critical account of the written and archaeological sources’
evidence concerning the Norse settlements in Greenland. Copenhagen: C.A. Reitzel, 1972.
Krabbe, Thomas Neergaard. Greenland, its nature, inhabitants, and history.
Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard, 1930.
Seaver, Kirsten A. The frozen echo: Greenland and the exploration of North America, ca.
A.D. 1000-1500. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996.
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