page_title: Ilulissat
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Ilulissat / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of the the Lutheran church at Jacobshaven taken in 1869
context_page_description: Ilulissat, formerly Jakobshavn or Jacobshaven, is the municipal seat and largest town of the Avannaata municipality in western Greenland, located approximately 350 km north of the Arctic Circle. With the population of 4,670 as of 2020, it is the third-largest city in Greenland, after Nuuk and Sisimiut.
  The city is home to almost as many sled-dogs as people.
  In direct translation, Ilulissat is the Kalaallisut word for "Icebergs". The nearby Ilulissat Icefjord is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and has made Ilulissat the most popular tourist destination in Greenland. Tourism is now the town's principal industry.
  The city neighbours the Ilulissat Icefjord, where there are enormous icebergs from the most productive glacier in the northern hemisphere.
context_section_description: The town was established as a trading post by Jacob Severin's company in 1741 and was named in his honor.
  The Zion Church (Zions Kirke) was built in the late 18th century, and was the largest man-made structure in Greenland at the time. The final resident of nearby Sermermiut moved to Ilulissat in 1850.
caption: The Lutheran church, photographed in 1869
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