Nuuk is the capital and largest city of the self-governing Danish territory of Kalaallit Nunaat Greenland. The city was founded in 1728 by the Norwegian missionary Hans Egede, and given the name Godthåb. However Hans Egede had arrived at place he called Colony of Hope (in Danish known as Håbets Ø) close to the already existing inuit population living in Kangeq. At this time Greenland was technically a Norwegian colony under the Dano-Norwegian Crown, but the colony had not had any contact with Norway proper for more than two centuries.
However, the site has a long history of different inhabitation first by the ancient Inuit people known as the Saqqaq culture around 2000 B.C. Later by Viking explorers in the 10th century and shortly thereafter, by Inuit peoples. Inuit and Vikings lived together in this area from around 1000 A.D until around 1500 A.D. Today Nuuk--as the rest of Greenland--is populated by Inuit and Danes.
The city is commonly known as Godthåb in Danish, although since home rule was enacted in 1979, the official name of the city is its Greenlandic name of Nuuk. It is the seat of government for the municipality of Nuuk, which encompasses about 39,000 square miles (100,000 km²) of Greenland.
Nuuk is home to the University of Greenland (Ilisimatusarfik).
Air Greenland operates air services to Nuuk.