East Greenland is an Ice Age area.  It is difficult to distinguish between the sea ice and the land ice from the air.  In the year 900, the explorer Gunnbjorn Ulfsson sighted land where it is called Gunnbjarnarsker.  About 30 years later, other Icelanders attempted in vain to settle there.  Icelandic annals inform us about the East Greenland ice and ships, which were lost at sea.  No sources tell us about a successful settlement.  Frobisher, Richardson, Hudson, Carolus and a few other explorers spotted land from a great distance in the 16^th and 17^th centuries, but no one landed there until 1884.  In the early 19^th century, the Danes living in South Greenland received news about Inuit settlements far north.

Many exploring voyages were made, but they found no signs of human life.  The famines of The Little Ice Age, 1600-1900, had reduced the number of the Inuits on the East Coast greatly.  Eventually a Danish expedition, led by Gustaf Holm, managed to find 416 Inuits living in Stone Age conditions on the Angmagssalik Bay.  They were the survivors of a tribe that had lived all along the East Coast, from Pearyland in the north to the southernmost point of the country.  Ten years later, The Royal Danish Trading Company established itself on the Angmagssalik Bay.  At that time the number of inhabitants was 352.  Those people were the ancestors of the present 3500-4000 inhabitants of the East Coast.  They live in two large and nine small settlements.  Their main basis of livelihood is hunting and fishing.  Their only reliable means of transportation are airplanes and helicopters.

The climate.  Ammassalik almost rides the Arctic Circle.  Despite that, the climate probably is the best in the whole country.  The summers are warm and sunny, and the winters are relatively mild.  Spring is very short and bright.  The sudden changes between winter and summer are remarkable to watch.  Each season has its meteorological characteristics.  The weather can be mild and good or extremely harsh.  Weather changes sometimes are very abrupt.  Therefore it is highly recommended to be ready for all kinds of weather upon a visit there, even during summer.