Aasiaat is located on an island in the outermost southern part of Disko Bay in a very beautiful archipelago area and it is often referred to as "the land of a thousand islands". Many of the islands in the area are protected and provide wonderful opportunities to study the unique birdlife or the whales, which were originally the reason why Aasiaat was founded in the mid 1700s. Today, Aasiaat's old town is home to a museum, a local museum with focus on Inuit history and the town's past and a community hall that is decorated with 24 paintings by world-renowned Danish painter Per Kirkeby.