The History of Greenland
Including an Account of the Mission Carried on by the United Brethren in that Country

An edited 1820 English translation of a Moravian missionary's observations on Greenland, its people and their way of life.

David Crantz (Author)

9781108071055, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 May 2014

390 pages, 5 b/w illus. 2 maps
21.5 x 14 x 2.2 cm, 0.51 kg

In 1759, David Crantz (or Cranz) was sent to Greenland for a year by the Moravian Church. Writing in German, Crantz (1723–77) published in 1765 his detailed observations on the country, its people and their way of life, including a history of the Moravian mission there. This English translation appeared in two volumes in 1820, prepared by staff at the Fulneck School in West Yorkshire, where a Moravian community existed. The text is illustrated with several engravings that depict landscapes as well as kayaks, weapons and tools used by the Greenlanders, providing a valuable visual record of eighteenth-century life among the native population. Volume 1 is primarily concerned with the geography of Greenland, the local weather patterns, and flora and fauna, as well as the attitudes, traditions, social habits and hierarchies of the people of Greenland.

Preface
Part I: 1. Of the country in general
2. The sea and ice
3. Of the air and seasons
4. Rocks and minerals
5. Vegetable productions
Part II: 1. Land animals, land and sea fowls
2. Fishes
3. Cetaceous order of animals
4. Seals
Part III: 1. Figure and manner of life of the Greenlanders
2. Conduct of the Greenlanders in their domestic concerns
3. Social habits
4. Morality of the Greenlanders
5. Religion or superstition of the Greenlanders
6. Sciences of the Greenlanders
Part IV: 1. History of old Greenland
2. Account of the mission at Godhaab
Notes.

Subject Areas: History of the Americas [HBJK]