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Greenland - Subdivisions (Denmark)

Last modified: 2008-10-11 by dov gutterman
Keywords: greenland | denmark |
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Municipalities (until 31 December 2008):


See also:


Overview

There are 18 municipalities in Greenland, fifteen in West Greenland, two in East Greenland and one in North Greenland. The municipalities are united in a national association, Kanukoka,  which attends to common interests of the municipalities against the Home Rule, the state and organisations, etc. The municipalities' main responsibilities are tasks within the social sector, culture, education, sport, local environmental projects and the responsibility for running and administration of the villages. There are municipal elections every four years.
Fabio Facoetti, 24 July 2003

However, when I was in Greenland (1993) I haven't seen any municipal flags, neither in Ilulissat, Sisimiut, Qeqertarsuaq nor in Kangerlussuaq (airport). I only saw the Greenland flag, and I'm aware only of the municipal coats-of-arms. As far as I know, those are not flags but blazons.
Marcus Schmöger, 24 July 2003

In my opinion a Greenland municipality is more likely to fly a Danish flag than a municipal flag. Sure, if they were to create a flag of their own, they probably would use their arms. However, they would also be more likely to write "Yorinor kommune" below it than to choose the form chosen here. In short, I'd say there is no reason to assume that such flags exist, and there are several reasons to assume they don't.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 10 August 2003

At the moment we know about 5-6 municipal flags to exist. All of them are white and charge with the coat of arms.
Dov Gutterman, 10 July 2004

I recently researched municipal flags in Greenland by correspondence with municipal authorities in Greenland. The results have just been published in the Fall 2005 issue of Nordisk Flaggkontakt, the journal of the Nordic Flag Society [joe05].
I managed to get confirmation from 15 of 18 municipalities all using the same flag model - the coat of arms on a white field (the colour white carries no symbolism).
Jan Oskar Engene, 24 October 2005

Greenland is in the process of merging municipalities into four large new ones as indicated in this map: <www.kanukoka.gl>.
The names in the map are just indications of geographical location "north", "centre", "east-west" and "south".
The new municipalities will be in force from 1 January 2009. They are in the process of adopting new names, new arms or logos.
Here are the new names and news reports on their arms:
- Qaasuitsup Kommunia (in the North) - Arms at <www.knr.gl>.
- Qeqqata Kommunia (in the centre) - Arms at <sermitsiaq.gl> and more suggestions at <www.qeqqata.gl>.
- Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq (spanning east-west) - Arms at <www.knr.gl>.
- Kujalleq (in the south) - Arms at <www.knr.gl>.
Whether these arms will fly on flags, I do not know.
Previous arms and flags will became obsolete.
Jan Oskar Engene, 6 September 2008


Colors of Subdivisions Flags

Judging from the images from [ach82] available at Ralf Hartemink's page, from a total of 18 municipality Coat of Arms, only three include other colors than just white and blue, and only in one, Nanortalik, is blue absent at all. Nanortalik has the only municipal arms with a red field.
Antonio Martins, 13 July 2004

A very light blue was used before for many of the images. Might this light tone be the result of the sensitivities of digital cameras to blue colours, especially in light conditions such as those in Greenland?
The photo I got from Greenland of a real flag has a more standard medium/heraldic blue.
Jan Oskar Engene, 24 October 2005