Greenland
Greenland, the world's largest island, is about 81% ice-capped. Greenland is in the Danish Kingdom, which benefits Greenland to the tune of about $500 million per year. In 2008, Greenland held a referendum on its autonomy. As a result, Denmark recognized Greenland’s right to increased home rule, and the country's official language was changed from Danish to Greenlandic in June 2009. However the Greenlanders want independence and are moving deliberately in that direction.
Greenland has a population of about 55,000, larger than #213 Liechtenstein at 36,713, #214 San Marino at 32,140, #217 Monaco at 30,510, or #225 Tuvalu and #226 Nauru, tied for last place among sovereign "states" with about 10,000 citizens apiece.
Vikings reached the island in the 10th century from Iceland; Danish colonization began in the 18th century, and Greenland was made an integral part of Denmark in 1953. It joined the European Community (now the EU) with Denmark in 1973, but withdrew in 1985 over a dispute centered on stringent fishing quotas. Greenland was granted self-government in 1979 by the Danish parliament; the law went into effect the following year.
The darkness which for so many ages shrouded the northern regions of the earth was guarded by the floating ice which constantly infests its shores and the surrounding ocean has always rendered discovery at once difficult and dangerous, while its inhospitable climate and rugged surface have equally prevented travelling by land. Where information is limited, fancy is apt to be the most active, supplying from the stores of imagination the deficiencies of experience; and hence the older geographers found in Greenland a last retreat for many fabulous localities no longer able to maintain their ground on the European continent. The country southward of latitude 68° is called South Greenland, whilst the remainder is termed North Greenland.
Greenland, visible from Iceland, was sighted by colonists bound for Iceland around 900. It was first extensively explored by Icelanders during the years 908-985; and colonized by some 400 of them who came to the southwest coast in 14 ships during the summer ·986. A republic was established about 990. The National Parliament of Greenland adopted Christianity in the year 1000, and the Roman Church was in contact with Greenland thereafter, so that bishops of Greenland were still holding office when Colombus sailed, the last bishop dying in Europe in 1537. The last published official reference to the Greenland Church was by Pope Alexander VI who wrote about it in the winter of 1492, about when Columbus was starting back from the West Indies.
The colonies along the southern half of the west coast of Greenland had eventually a maximum population of about 10,000, according to Professor Finnur Jonsson, of the University of Copenhagen, a foremost authority on the history of Greenland. They had 16 churches, a monastery, a nunnery, and 290 farms. They cultivated sheep specially, but archaeologists have examined stable ruins which show stalls for 100 cows.
Sailings between Europe and Greenland may or may not have ceased completely around 1500 or 1520.
There are two theories of what eventually happened to the Europeans of Greenland. The view is held by many Danes that they became extinct through a combination of ca;uses, while many Norwegians, among them Fridtjof Nansen, considered that the people did not die out, but only their culture-that they intermarried with the Eskimos and became Eskimo in ways of life. Some scholars of other lands follow the Danes and so do a few Norwegians; foreign scholars frequently, and Danes occasionally, side with the Norwegian (Nansen) school.
Danish control of Greenland is usually dated from the arrival there of the Norwegian-born missionary, Hans Egede, in 1722.
Many Greenlandic towns and villages are marked by poor educational systems with high drop-out rates, rampant alcoholism, and a chronic lack of economic and social opportunities. Some wonder whether, with such a small population base (57,000), Greenland can ever develop the economic scale and social cohesion to sustain itself as an independent state, even if natural resource revenues do materialize. Still, nationalist sentiment runs strong in Greenland, with the prospect of additional sovereignty, formal legal recognition as a people. Denmark on 27 January 2025 announced a $2 billion security plan for the Arctic ahead of a visit by the country's prime minister to Berlin, Paris and Brussels to shore up "European unity" on Greenland. The announcement came after US President Donald Trump said Greenland was needed for US "national security".
Denmark's Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said in a statement "We must face the fact that there are serious challenges regarding security and defence in the Arctic and North Atlantic." His announcement came ahead of a visit by the country's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to Berlin, Paris and Brussels this week to shore up "European unity" on Greenland.
Greenland is already part of a power struggle in the Arctic. As its ice melts due to global warming, the battle for its natural resources is also heating up – enormous oil and gas deposits are believed to lie under its seas. Russia and China have already increased their Arctic mining activities and military presence, and the region may soon offer new shipping routes between the US and Europe.
"Europe is facing a serious situation. With war on the continent and shifts in the geopolitical reality. In moments like this, unity is crucial," Frederiksen said in a statement. She said she would be meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as well as with Mark Rutte, secretary general of the NATO transatlantic defence alliance. "Denmark is a small country with strong allies. And it is part of a strong European community where together we can meet the challenges we face," Frederiksen said.
The announcement and visit came after Trump earlier this month expressed interest in controlling Greenland and the Panama Canal and refused to rule out using military force to do so. "We need Greenland for national security purposes," he said.
EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on 27 January 2025 said the European Union is "not negotiating" on Greenland following Trump's claims. "We are not negotiating on Greenland. Of course we are supporting our member state, Denmark, and its autonomous region, Greenland, but we shouldn't also go into speculation about what-ifs because this is not the situation right now," Kallas told reporters after an EU foreign ministers' meeting.
Greenland and Denmark have both publicly said the Arctic island is not for sale, with Greenland's Prime Minister Mute Egede saying that its people should decide their own future. Trump reportedly spoke with Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen in a 45-minutes call last week described as “horrendous” in which he upped the rhetoric by threatening tariffs. “The intent was very clear. They want it. The Danes are now in crisis mode,” one European official told the Financial Times.
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