Ilulissat is the municipal seat and largest town of the municipality ofAvannaata in westernGreenland. It is located on the eastern shore ofDisko Bay, just north of theIlulissat Icefjord World Heritage Site, and approximately 350 km (220 mi) north of theArctic Circle. With a population of 5,149 as of 2025, it is thethird-largest city in Greenland, afterNuuk andSisimiut. The area around the town was inhabited byInuit peoples from prehistoric times, with evidence ofSaqqaq andDorset settlements. Dutch whalers traded extensively with the local population from the 17th century and referred to the area as Maklykout. Ilulissat was later established as a trading post byJacob Severin's company in 1741, and was named in his honor after theBattle of Jacobshavn, in which Danish forces defeated the Dutch whalers. The town was the site of theArctic Ocean Conference in 2008, in which representatives from Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States met to discussterritorial claims in the Arctic. This 2024 photograph shows a panorama of Ilulissat taken from the south west.Photograph credit:Ekrem Canli