Greenland
For other places named Greenland, see Greenland (disambiguation). |
A typical scene from South Greenland, near Nanortalik, where fjords and mountains dominate the landscape. Observe the little iceberg in the foreground. |
Greenland (
Greenlandic:
Kalaallit Nunaat, meaning "the humans' land";
Danish:
Grønland, meaning "Greenland") is a
self-governed Danish territory. Though
geographically and
ethnically an
Arctic island nation associated with the
continent of
North America, politically and historically Greenland is closely tied to
Europe. The
Atlantic Ocean borders Greenland's southeast; the
Greenland Sea is to the east; the
Arctic Ocean is to the north; and
Baffin Bay is to the west. The nearest countries are
Iceland, east of Greenland in the Atlantic Ocean, and
Canada, to the west and across Baffin Bay. Greenland is the
world's largest island, and is the
largest dependent territory by area in the world. It also contains the world's largest
national park.
About 81% of its surface is covered by
ice, known as the Greenlandic ice cap, the weight of which has depressed the central land area to form a basin lying more than 300 m [1,000 ft] below the surrounding ocean. Nearly all Greenlanders live along the
fjords in the south-west of the main island, which has a milder climate. Most Greenlanders have both
Kalaallit (
Inuit) and
Scandinavian ancestry, and speak
Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) as their first language. Greenlandic is spoken by about 50,000 people, which is more than all the other
Eskimo-Aleut languages combined. A minority of Danish migrants with no
Inuit ancestry speak
Danish as their first language. Both languages are official, with the West Greenlandic dialect forming the basis of the official form of Greenlandic.
There is an on-going diplomatic
sovereignty dispute between
Canada and Greenland (represented internationally by Denmark) over the tiny
Hans Island.
Greenland was one of the
Norwegian Crown colonies from the
11th century until
1814. At that time, the Kingdom of Norway and Denmark (the Norwegian King having succeeded to the Danish throne a few centuries earlier; see
Denmark-Norway) found itself on the losing side of the
Napoleonic Wars. In gratitude to
Sweden for her assistance in defeating Napoleon (and as a consolation for the recent loss of
Finland to
Russia), mainland
Norway and certain Norwegian territories were transferred to Sweden — thus, the
personal union of Norway and Denmark ended. The crown colonies of Greenland,
Iceland and the
Faeroe Islands, however, remained part of the reorganised "Kingdom of Denmark."
Greenland became an integral part of the Kingdom of Denmark in
1953. It was granted
home rule by the
Folketing (Danish parliament) in
1978. The law went into effect on
May 1 1979. The
Queen of Denmark,
Margrethe II, remains Greenland's
Head of State. Greenlandic voters subsequently chose to leave the
European Economic Community upon achieving self-rule.
The name Greenland comes from
Scandinavian settlers. In the
Norse sagas, it is said that
Erik the Red was exiled from
Iceland for murder. He, along with his extended family and
thralls (slaves), set out in
ships to find the land that was rumored to be to the northwest. After settling there, he named the land
Grønland ("Greenland") in order to attract more people to settle there. Greenland was also called Gruntland ("Ground-land") on early maps. Whether Green is an erroneous transcription of Grunt ("Ground"), which refers to shallow bays, or vice versa, is not known. It should also be noted, however, that the southern portion of Greenland (not covered by glacier) is indeed
very green, at least in summer - the coastal temperature doubtless tempered by the northern branch of the North Atlantic Drift (aka Gulf Stream), which flows between Greenland and Iceland. (The southern branch flows south of Iceland over to and down the west coast of Ireland, where it re-meets the north branch, after it passes down the coast of Norway, then veers westward past Scotland and over to Ireland.)
Greenland was home to a number of
Paleo-Eskimo cultures in
prehistory, the latest of which â€" the
Early Dorset culture â€" disappeared around the year
200. Hereafter, the island seems to have been uninhabited for some eight centuries.
Icelandic settlers found the land uninhabited when they arrived ca.
982. They established three settlements near the very southwestern tip of the island, where they thrived for the next few centuries, disappearing after over 450 years of habitation.
The fjords of the southern part of the island were lush and had a warmer climate at that time, possibly due to what was called the
Medieval Warm Period. These remote communities thrived and lived off farming, hunting and trading with the motherland, and when the Scandinavian monarchs converted their domains to
Christianity, a bishop was installed in Greenland as well. The settlements seem to have coexisted relatively peacefully with the
Inuit, who had migrated southwards from the Arctic islands of North America around
1200. In
1261, Greenland became part of the Kingdom of Norway. Norway in turn entered into the
Kalmar Union in
1397 and later the personal union of Denmark-Norway.
After almost five hundred years, the Scandinavian settlements simply vanished, possibly due to famine during the
15th century in the
Little Ice Age, when climatic conditions deteriorated, and contact with Europe was lost. Bones from this late period were found to be in a condition consistent with malnutrition. Some believe the settlers were wiped out by
bubonic plague or exterminated by the Inuit. Other historians have speculated that
Basque or
English pirates or
slave traders from the
Barbary Coast contributed to the extinction of the Greenlandic communities.
Denmark-Norway reasserted its latent claim to the colony in
1721. The island's ties with Norway were severed by the
Treaty of Kiel of 1814, through which
Sweden gained control over mainland Norway while Denmark retained all of their common overseas possessions (which at that time included small territories in
India,
West Africa and the
West Indies, as well as the
Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland.
Norway occupied and claimed parts of (then uninhabited)
East Greenland aka
Erik the Red's Land in July 1931, claiming that it constituted
Terra nullius. Norway and Denmark agreed to settle the matter at the
Permanent Court of International Justice in
1933, where Norway lost.
During
World War II, Greenland's connection to Denmark was severed on
April 9,
1940 when Denmark was occupied by
Germany, and Greenland was on its own. Through the
cryolite from the mine in
Ivigtut, Greenland was able to pay for goods bought in the
United States and Canada. The manner in which Greenland had been governed prior to the war was altered.
During the War
Eske Brun was governor and ruled the Island via a
1925 law concerning the governing of the Island where, under extreme circumstances, the governors could take control. The other governor Aksel Svane was transferred to the United States as leader of the commission to supply Greenland .
The
Sirius Patrol, guarding the Northeastern shores of Greenland using
dog sleds, was founded in 1941 and participated in defeating the Germans, which gave Denmark a better position in the postwar turmoil. In 1953 Greenland was made an equal part of the Danish Kingdom. In 1979 home rule was granted.
Greenland's Head of State is the
Danish Monarch, currently Margrethe II. The Queen's government in Denmark appoints a
Rigsombudsmand (
High commissioner) representing the Danish government and monarchy.
Greenland has a 31-member elected
parliament. The
head of government is the
Prime Minister, who is usually the leader of the majority party in Parliament.
Greenland is not part of the
European Union (having left the predecessor of the EU, the
European Community, in 1985), despite Denmark itself being a member state.
|
South-east coast of Greenland |
The total area of Greenland measures 2,166,086
km² (836,109
square miles), of which the
Greenland ice sheet covers 1,755,637 km² (677,676 square miles) (81%). The coastline of Greenland is 39,330 km (24,430
miles) long, about the same length as the Earth's circumference at the
Equator.
The weight of the massive Greenlandic ice cap has depressed the central land area to form a basin lying more than 300 m [1,000 feet] below sea level
[DK Atlas, 2001.].
All
towns and settlements of Greenland are situated along the ice-free coast, with the population being concentrated along the Western coast. Northeastern Greenland, part of North and East Greenland, is not part of any municipality, but is the site of the world's largest national park,
Northeast Greenland National Park.
See Subdivisions of Greenland.At least four scientific expedition stations and camps had been established in the ice-covered central part of Greenland (indicated as pale blue in the map to the right), on the ice sheet:
Eismitte,
North Ice, North GRIP Camp and The Raven Skiway. Currently, there is a year-round station,
Summit Camp, on the ice sheet, established in 1989. The radio station
Jørgen Brøndlund Fjord was, until 1950, the northernmost permanent outpost in the world.
The extreme north of Greenland,
Peary Land, is not covered by an ice sheet, because the air there is too dry to produce
snow, which is essential in the production and maintenance of an ice sheet. If the
Greenland ice sheet were to completely
melt away, sea levels would rise more than 7 m (23
feet)
[http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0408_040408_greenlandicemelt.html] and Greenland would most likely become an
archipelago.
Between
1989 and
1993, U.S. and European
climate researchers drilled into the summit of Greenland's ice sheet, obtaining a pair of two-mile (3.2 km) long
ice cores. Analysis of the layering and chemical composition of the cores has provided a revolutionary new record of climate change in the
Northern Hemisphere going back about 100,000 years and illustrated that the world's
weather and
temperature have often shifted rapidly from one seemingly stable state to another, with worldwide
consequences.
Researchers reported in February 2006 that Greenland's glaciers are melting twice as fast as they were five years ago. By 2005, the annual loss was estimated at 216 km³/yr (52 cubic miles per year), according to satellite gravity measurements. Between 1991 and 2006, monitoring of the weather at one location (Swiss Camp) found that the average winter temperature had risen almost 10 degrees fahrenheit.
[citations needed for all statements in this paragraph]Greenland suffered economic contraction in the early
1990s, but since
1993 the economy has improved. The Greenland Home Rule Government (GHRG) has pursued a tight fiscal policy since the late
1980s which has helped create surpluses in the public budget and low inflation. Since
1990, Greenland has registered a foreign trade deficit following the closure of the last remaining
lead and
zinc mine in 1990. Greenland today is critically dependent on
fishing and
fish exports; the
shrimp fishing industry is by far the largest income earner. Despite resumption of several interesting
hydrocarbon and
mineral exploration activities, it will take several years before production can materialize.
Tourism is the only sector offering any near-term potential and even this is limited due to a short season and high costs. The public sector, including publicly owned enterprises and the municipalities, plays the dominant role in Greenland's economy. About half the government revenues come from grants from the Danish Government, an important supplement to the
gross domestic product.
GDP per capita is equivalent to that of the weaker economies of Europe.
Greenland has a population of 56,000, of which 87% are Greenlandic, a mixture of
Inuit and European races. The majority of the population are
Evangelical Lutherans.
English,
Danish and
Greenlandic are all spoken by the population.
The Greenland National Museum and Archives[
1] is located in
Nuuk.
Football (soccer) is the national sport of Greenland, but Greenland is not a member of
FIFA. FIFA rules stipulate that member nations have minimum standard pitches for international games, which mandates natural grass. Greenland's climate prevents natural grass pitches that come up to FIFA Standards.
*
Communications in Greenland*
Danish colonization of the Americas*
Foreign relations of Greenland*
History of Denmark*
List of towns and settlements in Greenland*
List of mountains in Greenland*
Military of Greenland*
Transportation in Greenland*
University of Greenland*
CIA World Factbook 2000
*
Official government site - Greenland Home Rule
*[https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/gl.html Greenland] - CIA World Factbook
*
Statistics Greenland*
Greenland Map - Hi-Res Map at the Nordic Ministerial Council
*
Official Greenland tourism information*
BBC country profile and
timeline*Greenland-related news on
Google and
Yahoo!nds-nl:Gruunlaand
