The History of Greenland

Abstract

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 2 contains an account of Moravian missionary activity in Greenland since 1733, tracing how the Moravians managed to brave the conditions while spreading the Gospel among the people. An appendix looks at the Moravian settlement established on the coast of Labrador.