Greenland
Greenland (Greenlandic: Kalaallit Nunaat, pronounced [kalaːɬit nunaːt]; Danish: Grønland, pronounced [ˈkʁɶnˌlænˀ]) is the world's largest island,[lower-alpha 4] located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It is an autonomous territory[10] within the Kingdom of Denmark. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe (specifically Norway and Denmark, the colonial powers, as well as the nearby island of Iceland) for more than a millennium.[11] The majority of its residents are Inuit, whose ancestors migrated from Alaska through Northern Canada, gradually settling across the island by the 13th century.[12]
Greenland | |
---|---|
Autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark | |
Anthem: "Nunarput utoqqarsuanngoravit" (Greenlandic) (English: "You Our Ancient Land") | |
Kalaallit anthem: "Nuna asiilasooq" (Greenlandic) (English: "The Land of Great Length")[lower-alpha 1] | |
Location of Greenland | |
Location of Greenland (red) in the Kingdom of Denmark (red and beige) | |
Sovereign state | Kingdom of Denmark |
Union with Norway | 1262 |
Danish-Norwegian recolonization | 1721 |
Cession to Denmark | 14 January 1814 |
Home rule | 1 May 1979 |
Further autonomy and self rule | 21 June 2009[2][3] |
Capital and largest city | Nuuk 64°10′N 51°44′W |
Official languages | Greenlandic[lower-alpha 2] |
Recognised languages | Danish, English and other languages if necessary[lower-alpha 2] |
Ethnic groups (2018) | |
Religion | Christianity (Church of Greenland) |
Demonym(s) |
|
Government | Devolved government within a parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
• Monarch | Margrethe II |
• High Commissioner | Mikaela Engell |
• Premier | Kim Kielsen |
Vivian Motzfeldt | |
Legislature | Inatsisartut |
National representation | |
2 members | |
Area | |
• Total | 2,166,086 km2 (836,330 sq mi) |
• Water (%) | 83.1[lower-alpha 3] |
Highest elevation | 3,700 m (12,100 ft) |
Population | |
• 2020 estimate | 56,081[6] (210th) |
• Density | 0.028/km2 (0.1/sq mi) |
GDP (PPP) | 2011 estimate |
• Total | $1.8 billion[7] (not ranked) |
• Per capita | $37,000 (40-th) |
HDI (2010) | high · 61st |
Currency | Danish krone (DKK) |
Time zone | UTC±00:00 to UTC-04:00 |
Date format | dd-mm-yyyy |
Driving side | right |
Calling code | +299 |
Postal codes | 39xx |
ISO 3166 code | GL |
Internet TLD | .gl |
Nowadays, the population is largely concentrated on the southwest coast, while the rest of the island is sparsely populated. Greenland is divided into five municipalities – Sermersooq, Kujalleq, Qeqertalik, Qeqqata, and Avannaata. It has two unincorporated areas – the Northeast Greenland National Park and the Thule Air Base. The latter, while under Danish control, is administered by the United States Air Force.[13] Three-quarters of Greenland is covered by the only permanent ice sheet outside Antarctica. With a population of 56,081 (2020),[6] it is the least densely populated territory in the world.[14] About a third of the population lives in Nuuk, the capital and largest city; the second largest city in terms of population is Sisimiut, 320 kilometres (200 mi) north of Nuuk. The Arctic Umiaq Line ferry acts as a lifeline for western Greenland, connecting the various cities and settlements.
Greenland has been inhabited at intervals over at least the last 4,500 years by Arctic peoples whose forebears migrated there from what is now Canada.[15][16] Norsemen settled the uninhabited southern part of Greenland beginning in the 10th century, having previously settled Iceland. These Norsemen would later set sail from Greenland and Iceland, with Leif Erikson becoming the first known European to reach North America nearly 500 years before Columbus reached the Caribbean islands. Inuit peoples arrived in the 13th century. Though under continuous influence of Norway and Norwegians, Greenland was not formally under the Norwegian crown until 1261. The Norse colonies disappeared in the late 15th century when Norway was hit by the Black Death and entered a severe decline. Soon after their demise, beginning in 1499, the Portuguese briefly explored and claimed the island, naming it Terra do Lavrador (later applied to Labrador in Canada).[17]
In the early 17th century, Danish explorers reached Greenland again. To strengthen trading and power, Denmark–Norway affirmed sovereignty over the island. Because of Norway's weak status, it lost sovereignty over Greenland in 1814 when the union was dissolved. Greenland became Danish in 1814, and was fully integrated in the Danish state in 1953 under the Constitution of Denmark. In 1973, Greenland joined the European Economic Community with Denmark. However, in a referendum in 1982, a majority of the population voted for Greenland to withdraw from the EEC, which was effected in 1985. Greenland contains the world's largest and most northerly national park, Northeast Greenland National Park (Kalaallit Nunaanni nuna eqqissisimatitaq). Established in 1974, and expanded to its present size in 1988, it protects 972,001 square kilometres (375,292 sq mi) of the interior and northeastern coast of Greenland and is bigger than all but twenty-nine countries in the world.
In 1979, Denmark granted home rule to Greenland; in 2008, Greenlanders voted in favor of the Self-Government Act, which transferred more power from the Danish government to the local Greenlandic government. Under the new structure, in effect since 21 June 2009,[18] Greenland can gradually assume responsibility for policing, judicial system, company law, accounting, and auditing; mineral resource activities; aviation; law of legal capacity, family law and succession law; aliens and border controls; the working environment; and financial regulation and supervision, while the Danish government retains control of foreign affairs and defence. It also retains control of monetary policy, providing an initial annual subsidy of DKK 3.4 billion, which is planned to diminish gradually over time. Greenland expects to grow its economy based on increased income from the extraction of natural resources. The capital, Nuuk, held the 2016 Arctic Winter Games. At 70%, Greenland has one of the highest shares of renewable energy in the world, mostly coming from hydropower.[19]
Etymology
The early Norse settlers named the island as Greenland. In the Icelandic sagas, the Norwegian-born Icelander Erik the Red was said to be exiled from Iceland for manslaughter. Along with his extended family and his thralls (i.e. slaves or serfs), he set out in ships to explore an icy land known to lie to the northwest. After finding a habitable area and settling there, he named it Grœnland (translated as "Greenland"), supposedly in the hope that the pleasant name would attract settlers.[20][21][22] The Saga of Erik the Red states: "In the summer, Erik left to settle in the country he had found, which he called Greenland, as he said people would be attracted there if it had a favorable name."[23]
The name of the country in the indigenous Greenlandic language is Kalaallit Nunaat ("land of the Kalaallit").[24] The Kalaallit are the indigenous Greenlandic Inuit people who inhabit the country's western region.
History
Early Paleo-Eskimo cultures
In prehistoric times, Greenland was home to several successive Paleo-Eskimo cultures known today primarily through archaeological finds. The earliest entry of the Paleo-Eskimo into Greenland is thought to have occurred about 2500 BC. From around 2500 BC to 800 BC, southern and western Greenland were inhabited by the Saqqaq culture. Most finds of Saqqaq-period archaeological remains have been around Disko Bay, including the site of Saqqaq, after which the culture is named.[25][26]
From 2400 BC to 1300 BC, the Independence I culture existed in northern Greenland. It was a part of the Arctic small tool tradition.[27][28][29] Towns, including Deltaterrasserne, started to appear.
Around 800 BC, the Saqqaq culture disappeared and the Early Dorset culture emerged in western Greenland and the Independence II culture in northern Greenland.[30] The Dorset culture was the first culture to extend throughout the Greenlandic coastal areas, both on the west and east coasts. It lasted until the total onset of the Thule culture in 1500 AD. The Dorset culture population lived primarily from hunting of whales and caribou.[31][32][33][34]
Norse settlement
From 986, Greenland's west coast was settled by Icelanders and Norwegians, through a contingent of 14 boats led by Erik the Red. They formed three settlements – known as the Eastern Settlement, the Western Settlement and the Middle Settlement – on fjords near the southwesternmost tip of the island.[11][35] They shared the island with the late Dorset culture inhabitants who occupied the northern and western parts, and later with the Thule culture that entered from the north. Norse Greenlanders submitted to Norwegian rule in 1261 under the Kingdom of Norway (872–1397). Later the Kingdom of Norway entered into a personal union with Denmark in 1380, and from 1397 was a part of the Kalmar Union.[36]
The Norse settlements, such as Brattahlíð, thrived for centuries but disappeared sometime in the 15th century, perhaps at the onset of the Little Ice Age.[37] Apart from some runic inscriptions, no contemporary records or historiography survives from the Norse settlements. Medieval Norwegian sagas and historical works mention Greenland's economy as well as the bishops of Gardar and the collection of tithes. A chapter in the Konungs skuggsjá (The King's Mirror) describes Norse Greenland's exports and imports as well as grain cultivation.
Icelandic saga accounts of life in Greenland were composed in the 13th century and later, and do not constitute primary sources for the history of early Norse Greenland.[22] Modern understanding therefore mostly depends on the physical data from archeological sites. Interpretation of ice core and clam shell data suggests that between 800 and 1300, the regions around the fjords of southern Greenland experienced a relatively mild climate several degrees Celsius higher than usual in the North Atlantic,[38] with trees and herbaceous plants growing, and livestock being farmed. Barley was grown as a crop up to the 70th parallel.[39] What is verifiable is that the ice cores indicate Greenland has had dramatic temperature shifts many times over the past 100,000 years.[40] Similarly the Icelandic Book of Settlements records famines during the winters, in which "the old and helpless were killed and thrown over cliffs".[38]
These Icelandic settlements vanished during the 14th and early 15th centuries.[41] The demise of the Western Settlement coincides with a decrease in summer and winter temperatures. A study of North Atlantic seasonal temperature variability during the Little Ice Age showed a significant decrease in maximum summer temperatures beginning in the late 13th century to early 14th century – as much as 6 to 8 °C (11 to 14 °F) lower than modern summer temperatures.[42] The study also found that the lowest winter temperatures of the last 2000 years occurred in the late 14th century and early 15th century. The Eastern Settlement was likely abandoned in the early to mid-15th century, during this cold period.
Theories drawn from archeological excavations at Herjolfsnes in the 1920s, suggest that the condition of human bones from this period indicates that the Norse population was malnourished, maybe due to soil erosion resulting from the Norsemen's destruction of natural vegetation in the course of farming, turf-cutting, and wood-cutting. Malnutrition may also have resulted from widespread deaths due to pandemic plague;[43] the decline in temperatures during the Little Ice Age; and armed conflicts with the Skrælings (Norse word for Inuit, meaning "wretches"[37]). In 1379, the Inuit attacked the Eastern Settlement, killed 18 men and captured two boys and a woman.[37] Recent archeological studies somewhat challenge the general assumption that the Norse colonisation had a dramatic negative environmental effect on the vegetation. Data support traces of a possible Norse soil amendment strategy.[44] More recent evidence suggests that the Norse, who never numbered more than about 2,500, gradually abandoned the Greenland settlements over the 1400s as walrus ivory,[45] the most valuable export from Greenland, decreased in price due to competition with other sources of higher-quality ivory, and that there was actually little evidence of starvation or difficulties.[46]
Other theories about the disappearance of the Norse settlement have been proposed;
- Lack of support from the homeland.[43]
- Ship-borne marauders (such as Basque, English, or German pirates) rather than Skraelings, could have plundered and displaced the Greenlanders.[47]
- They were "the victims of hidebound thinking and of a hierarchical society dominated by the Church and the biggest land owners. In their reluctance to see themselves as anything but Europeans, the Greenlanders failed to adopt the kind of apparel that the Inuit employed as protection against the cold and damp or to borrow any of the Eskimo hunting gear."[11][37]
- "Norse society's structure created a conflict between the short-term interests of those in power, and the long-term interests of the society as a whole."[37]
Thule culture (1300–present)
The Thule people are the ancestors of the current Greenlandic population. No genes from the Paleo-Eskimos have been found in the present population of Greenland.[48] The Thule Culture migrated eastward from what is now known as Alaska around 1000, reaching Greenland around 1300. The Thule culture was the first to introduce to Greenland such technological innovations as dog sleds and toggling harpoons.
1500–1814
In 1500, King Manuel I of Portugal sent Gaspar Corte-Real to Greenland in search of a Northwest Passage to Asia which, according to the Treaty of Tordesillas, was part of Portugal's sphere of influence. In 1501, Corte-Real returned with his brother, Miguel Corte-Real. Finding the sea frozen, they headed south and arrived in Labrador and Newfoundland. Upon the brothers' return to Portugal, the cartographic information supplied by Corte-Real was incorporated into a new map of the world which was presented to Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, by Alberto Cantino in 1502. The Cantino planisphere, made in Lisbon, accurately depicts the southern coastline of Greenland.[49]
In 1605–1607, King Christian IV of Denmark sent a series of expeditions to Greenland and Arctic waterways to locate the lost eastern Norse settlement and assert Danish sovereignty over Greenland. The expeditions were mostly unsuccessful, partly due to leaders who lacked experience with the difficult arctic ice and weather conditions, and partly because the expedition leaders were given instructions to search for the Eastern Settlement on the east coast of Greenland just north of Cape Farewell, which is almost inaccessible due to southward drifting ice. The pilot on all three trips was English explorer James Hall.
After the Norse settlements died off, Greenland came under the de facto control of various Inuit groups, but the Danish government never forgot or relinquished the claims to Greenland that it had inherited from the Norse. When it re-established contact with Greenland in the early 17th century, Denmark asserted its sovereignty over the island. In 1721, a joint mercantile and clerical expedition led by Danish-Norwegian missionary Hans Egede was sent to Greenland, not knowing whether a Norse civilization remained there. This expedition is part of the Dano-Norwegian colonization of the Americas. After 15 years in Greenland, Hans Egede left his son Paul Egede in charge of the mission there and returned to Denmark, where he established a Greenland Seminary. This new colony was centred at Godthåb ("Good Hope") on the southwest coast. Gradually, Greenland was opened up to Danish merchants, and closed to those from other countries.
Treaty of Kiel to World War II
When the union between the crowns of Denmark and Norway was dissolved in 1814, the Treaty of Kiel severed Norway's former colonies and left them under the control of the Danish monarch. Norway occupied then-uninhabited eastern Greenland as Erik the Red's Land in July 1931, claiming that it constituted terra nullius. Norway and Denmark agreed to submit the matter in 1933 to the Permanent Court of International Justice, which decided against Norway.[50]
Greenland's connection to Denmark was severed on 9 April 1940, early in World War II, after Denmark was occupied by Nazi Germany. On 8 April 1941, the United States occupied Greenland to defend it against a possible invasion by Germany.[51] The United States occupation of Greenland continued until 1945. Greenland was able to buy goods from the United States and Canada by selling cryolite from the mine at Ivittuut. The major air bases were Bluie West-1 at Narsarsuaq and Bluie West-8 at Søndre Strømfjord (Kangerlussuaq), both of which are still used as Greenland's major international airports. Bluie was the military code name for Greenland.
During this war, the system of government changed: Governor Eske Brun ruled the island under a law of 1925 that allowed governors to take control under extreme circumstances; Governor Aksel Svane was transferred to the United States to lead the commission to supply Greenland. The Danish Sirius Patrol guarded the northeastern shores of Greenland in 1942 using dogsleds. They detected several German weather stations and alerted American troops, who destroyed the facilities. After the collapse of the Third Reich, Albert Speer briefly considered escaping in a small aeroplane to hide out in Greenland, but changed his mind and decided to surrender to the United States Armed Forces.[52]
Greenland had been a protected and very isolated society until 1940. The Danish government had maintained a strict monopoly of Greenlandic trade, allowing only small scale troaking with Scottish whalers. In wartime Greenland developed a sense of self-reliance through self-government and independent communication with the outside world. Despite this change, in 1946 a commission including the highest Greenlandic council, the Landsrådene, recommended patience and no radical reform of the system. Two years later, the first step towards a change of government was initiated when a grand commission was established. A final report (G-50) was presented in 1950: Greenland was to be a modern welfare state with Denmark as sponsor and example. In 1953, Greenland was made an equal part of the Danish Kingdom. Home rule was granted in 1979.
Home rule and self-rule
Following World War II, the United States developed a geopolitical interest in Greenland, and in 1946 the United States offered to buy the island from Denmark for $100,000,000. Denmark refused to sell it.[53][54] Historically this repeated an interest by Secretary of State William H. Seward. In 1867 he worked with former senator Robert J. Walker to explore the possibility of buying Greenland and perhaps Iceland. Opposition in Congress ended this project.[55] In the 21st century, the United States, according to WikiLeaks, remains interested in investing in the resource base of Greenland and in tapping hydrocarbons off the Greenlandic coast.[56][57] In August 2019, the American president Donald Trump again proposed to buy the territory, prompting premier Kim Kielsen to issue the statement, "Greenland is not for sale and cannot be sold, but Greenland is open for trade and cooperation with other countries – including the United States."[58]
In 1950, Denmark agreed to allow the US to reestablish Thule Air Base in Greenland; it was greatly expanded between 1951 and 1953 as part of a unified NATO Cold War defense strategy. The local population of three nearby villages was moved more than 100 kilometres (62 mi) away in the winter. The United States tried to construct a subterranean network of secret nuclear missile launch sites in the Greenlandic ice cap, named Project Iceworm. It managed this project from Camp Century from 1960 to 1966 before abandoning it as unworkable.[59] The Danish government did not become aware of the program's mission until 1997, when they discovered it while looking for records related to the crash of a nuclear-equipped B-52 bomber at Thule in 1968.[60]
With the 1953 Danish constitution, Greenland's colonial status ended as the island was incorporated into the Danish realm as an amt (county). Danish citizenship was extended to Greenlanders. Danish policies toward Greenland consisted of a strategy of cultural assimilation – or de-Greenlandification. During this period, the Danish government promoted the exclusive use of the Danish language in official matters, and required Greenlanders to go to Denmark for their post-secondary education. Many Greenlandic children grew up in boarding schools in southern Denmark, and a number lost their cultural ties to Greenland. While the policies "succeeded" in the sense of shifting Greenlanders from being primarily subsistence hunters into being urbanized wage earners, the Greenlandic elite began to reassert a Greenlandic cultural identity. A movement developed in favour of independence, reaching its peak in the 1970s.[61] As a consequence of political complications in relation to Denmark's entry into the European Common Market in 1972, Denmark began to seek a different status for Greenland, resulting in the Home Rule Act of 1979.
This gave Greenland limited autonomy with its own legislature taking control of some internal policies, while the Parliament of Denmark maintained full control of external policies, security, and natural resources. The law came into effect on 1 May 1979. The Queen of Denmark, Margrethe II, remains Greenland's head of state. In 1985, Greenland left the European Economic Community (EEC) upon achieving self-rule, as it did not agree with the EEC's commercial fishing regulations and an EEC ban on seal skin products.[62] Greenland voters approved a referendum on greater autonomy on 25 November 2008.[63][64] According to one study, the 2008 vote created what "can be seen as a system between home rule and full independence."[65]
On 21 June 2009, Greenland gained self-rule with provisions for assuming responsibility for self-government of judicial affairs, policing, and natural resources. Also, Greenlanders were recognized as a separate people under international law.[66] Denmark maintains control of foreign affairs and defence matters. Denmark upholds the annual block grant of 3.2 billion Danish kroner, but as Greenland begins to collect revenues of its natural resources, the grant will gradually be diminished. This is generally considered to be a step toward eventual full independence from Denmark.[67] Greenlandic was declared the sole official language of Greenland at the historic ceremony.[2][4][68][69][70]
Geography and climate
Greenland is the world's largest non-continental island[71] and the third largest area in North America after Canada and the United States.[72] It is between latitudes 59° and 83°N, and longitudes 11° and 74°W. Greenland is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Greenland Sea to the east, the North Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, the Davis Strait to the southwest, Baffin Bay to the west, the Nares Strait and Lincoln Sea to the northwest. The nearest countries are Canada, to the west and southwest across Nares Strait and Baffin Bay; and Iceland, southeast of Greenland in the Atlantic Ocean. Greenland also contains the world's largest national park, and it is the largest dependent territory by area in the world, as well as the fourth largest country subdivision in the world, after Sakha Republic in Russia, Australia's state of Western Australia, and Russia's Krasnoyarsk Krai, and the largest in North America.
The average daily temperature of Nuuk varies over the seasons from −5.1 to 9.9 °C (23 to 50 °F)[73] The total area of Greenland is 2,166,086 km2 (836,330 sq mi) (including other offshore minor islands), of which the Greenland ice sheet covers 1,755,637 km2 (677,855 sq mi) (81%) and has a volume of approximately 2,850,000 km3 (680,000 cu mi).[74] The highest point on Greenland is Gunnbjørn Fjeld at 3,700 m (12,139 ft) of the Watkins Range (East Greenland mountain range). The majority of Greenland, however, is less than 1,500 m (4,921 ft) in elevation.
The weight of the ice sheet has depressed the central land area to form a basin lying more than 300 m (984 ft) below sea level,[75][76] while elevations rise suddenly and steeply near the coast.[77]
The ice flows generally to the coast from the centre of the island. A survey led by French scientist Paul-Emile Victor in 1951 concluded that, under the ice sheet, Greenland is composed of three large islands.[78] This is disputed, but if it is so, they would be separated by narrow straits, reaching the sea at Ilulissat Icefjord, at Greenland's Grand Canyon and south of Nordostrundingen.
All towns and settlements of Greenland are situated along the ice-free coast, with the population being concentrated along the west coast. The northeastern part of Greenland is not part of any municipality, but it is the site of the world's largest national park, Northeast Greenland National Park.[79]
At least four scientific expedition stations and camps had been established on the ice sheet in the ice-covered central part of Greenland (indicated as pale blue in the adjacent map): Eismitte, North Ice, North GRIP Camp and The Raven Skiway. There is a year-round station Summit Camp on the ice sheet, established in 1989. The radio station Jørgen Brønlund 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 melt away completely, the world's sea level would rise by more than 7 m (23 ft).[80]
In 2003, a small island, 35 by 15 metres (115 by 49 feet) in length and width, was discovered by arctic explorer Dennis Schmitt and his team at the coordinates of 83-42. Whether this island is permanent is not yet confirmed. If it is, it is the northernmost permanent known land on Earth.
In 2007, the existence of a new island was announced. Named "Uunartoq Qeqertaq" (English: Warming Island), this island has always been present off the coast of Greenland, but was covered by a glacier. This glacier was discovered in 2002 to be shrinking rapidly, and by 2007 had completely melted away, leaving the exposed island.[81] The island was named Place of the Year by the Oxford Atlas of the World in 2007.[82] Ben Keene, the atlas's editor, commented: "In the last two or three decades, global warming has reduced the size of glaciers throughout the Arctic and earlier this year, news sources confirmed what climate scientists already knew: water, not rock, lay beneath this ice bridge on the east coast of Greenland. More islets are likely to appear as the sheet of frozen water covering the world's largest island continues to melt".[83] Some controversy surrounds the history of the island, specifically over whether the island might have been revealed during a brief warm period in Greenland during the mid-20th century.[84]
Climate change
Between 1989 and 1993, US and European climate researchers drilled into the summit of Greenland's ice sheet, obtaining a pair of 3 km (1.9 mi) 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.[85] The glaciers of Greenland are also contributing to a rise in the global sea level faster than was previously believed.[86] Between 1991 and 2004, monitoring of the weather at one location (Swiss Camp) showed that the average winter temperature had risen almost 6 °C (11 °F).[87] Other research has shown that higher snowfalls from the North Atlantic oscillation caused the interior of the ice cap to thicken by an average of 6 cm or 2.36 in/y between 1994 and 2005.[88]
Postglacial glacier advances on Nuussuaq peninsula
The 1,310-metre (4,300 ft) Qaqugdluit mountain land on the south side of Nuussuaq peninsula, 50 kilometres (31 miles) west of the Greenland inland ice at 70°7′50″N 51°44′30″W, is an example of the many mountainous areas of west Greenland. Up to 1979 (Stage 0) it showed postglacial glacier stages dating back about 7,000–10,000 years.[89][90] In 1979 the glacier tongues retreated – according to the extent and height of the glacier-nourishing area – from 140 to 660 metres (460 to 2,170 feet) above sea level. The climatic glacier snowline (ELA) was at about 800 metres (2,600 feet). The snowline of the oldest (VII) of the three Holocene glacier stages (V–VII) was about 230 metres (750 feet) deeper, i.e. at about 570 metres (1,870 feet).[91] The four youngest glacier stages (IV-I) can be classified as belonging to the global glacier advances in the years 1811 to 1850 and 1880 to 1900 ("Little Ice Age"), 1910 to 1930, 1948 and 1953.[90] Their snowlines rose step by step up to the level of 1979. The current snowline (Stage 0) is nearly unchanged. During the oldest Postglacial Stage VII an ice-stream network from valley glaciers joined each other and completely covered the land. Its nourishing areas consist of high-lying plateau glaciers and local ice caps. However, due to the rise of the snowline about 230 metres (750 feet) – corresponding to a warming of about 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) since 1979 - there is now only plateau-glaciation with small glacier tongues that hardly reach the main valley bottoms.[91] 96 polar scientists of the IMBIE research community from 50 scientific bodies, led by Professor Andrew Schaefer of the University of Leeds, produced the most complete study during the 1992–2018 period. Findings show that Greenland has lost 3.8 trillion tonnes of ice since 1992, enough to raise sea levels by almost 11mm (1.06 cm). The rate of ice loss has increased from an average of 33 billion tonnes a year in the 1990s, to 254 billion tonnes a year in the last decade.[92]
Biodiversity
There are approximately 700 known species of insects in Greenland, which is low compared with other countries (over one million species have been described worldwide). The sea is rich in fish and invertebrates, especially in the milder West Greenland Current; a large part of the Greenland fauna is associated with marine-based food chains, including large colonies of seabirds. The few native land mammals in Greenland include the polar bear, reindeer (introduced by Europeans), arctic fox, arctic hare, musk ox, collared lemming, ermine, and arctic wolf. The last four are found naturally only in East Greenland, having immigrated from Ellesmere Island. There are dozens of species of seals and whales along the coast. Land fauna consists predominantly of animals which have spread from North America or, in the case of many birds and insects, from Europe. There are no native or free-living reptiles or amphibians on the island.[93]
Phytogeographically, Greenland belongs to the Arctic province of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom. The island is sparsely populated in vegetation; plant life consists mainly of grassland and small shrubs, which are regularly grazed by livestock. The most common tree native to Greenland is the European white birch (Betula pubescens) along with gray-leaf willow (Salix glauca), rowan (Sorbus aucuparia), common juniper (Juniperus communis) and other smaller trees, mainly willows.
Greenland's flora consists of about 500 species of "higher" plants, i.e. flowering plants, ferns, horsetails and lycopodiophyta. Of the other groups, the lichens are the most diverse, with about 950 species; there are 600–700 species of fungi; mosses and bryophytes are also found. Most of Greenland's higher plants have circumpolar or circumboreal distributions; only a dozen species of saxifrage and hawkweed are endemic. A few plant species were introduced by the Norsemen, such as cow vetch.
The terrestrial vertebrates of Greenland include the Greenland dog, which was introduced by the Inuit, as well as European-introduced species such as Greenlandic sheep, goats, cattle, reindeer, horse, chicken and sheepdog, all descendants of animals imported by Europeans. Marine mammals include the hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) as well as the grey seal (Halichoerus grypus).[94] Whales frequently pass very close to Greenland's shores in the late summer and early autumn. Whale species include the beluga whale, blue whale, Greenland whale, fin whale, humpback whale, minke whale, narwhal, pilot whale, sperm whale.[95]
As of 2009, 269 species of fish from over 80 different families are known from the waters surrounding Greenland. Almost all are marine species with only a few in freshwater, notably Atlantic salmon and charr.[96] The fishing industry is the primary industry of Greenland's economy, accounting for the majority of the country's total exports.[97]
Birds, particularly seabirds, are an important part of Greenland's animal life; breeding populations of auks, puffins, skuas, and kittiwakes are found on steep mountainsides. Greenland's ducks and geese include common eider, long-tailed duck, king eider, white-fronted goose, pink-footed goose and barnacle goose. Breeding migratory birds include the snow bunting, lapland bunting, ringed plover, red-throated loon and red-necked phalarope. Non-migratory land birds include the arctic redpoll, ptarmigan, short-eared owl, snowy owl, gyrfalcon and white-tailed eagle.[93]
Politics
The Kingdom of Denmark is a constitutional monarchy, in which Queen Margrethe II is the head of state. The monarch officially retains executive power and presides over the Council of State (privy council).[98][99] However, following the introduction of a parliamentary system of government, the duties of the monarch have since become strictly representative and ceremonial,[100] such as the formal appointment and dismissal of the prime minister and other ministers in the executive government. The monarch is not answerable for his or her actions, and the monarch's person is sacrosanct.[101]
Political system
The party system is dominated by the social-democratic Forward Party, and the democratic socialist Inuit Community Party, both of which broadly argue for greater independence from Denmark. While the 2009 election saw the unionist Democrat Party (two MPs) decline greatly, the 2013 election consolidated the power of the two main parties at the expense of the smaller groups, and saw the eco-socialist Inuit Party elected to the Parliament for the first time. The dominance of the Forward and Inuit Community parties began to wane after the snap 2014 and 2018 elections.
The non-binding 2008 referendum on self-governance favoured increased self-governance by 21,355 votes to 6,663.
In 1985, Greenland left the European Economic Community (EEC), unlike Denmark, which remains a member. The EEC later became the European Union (EU, renamed and expanded in scope in 1992). Greenland retains some ties with the EU via Denmark. However, EU law largely does not apply to Greenland except in the area of trade.
Government
Greenland's head of state is Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. The Queen's government in Denmark appoints a high commissioner (Rigsombudsmand) to represent it on the island. The commissioner is Mikaela Engell.
Greenlanders elect two representatives to the Folketing, Denmark's parliament, out of a total of 179. The representatives are Aleqa Hammond of the Siumut Party and Aaja Chemnitz Larsen of the Inuit Community Party.[102]
Greenland also has its own Parliament, which has 31 members. The government is the Naalakkersuisut whose members are appointed by the premier. The head of government is the premier, usually the leader of the majority party in Parliament. The premier is Kim Kielsen of the Siumut party.
Military
Several American and Danish military bases are located in Greenland, including Thule Air Base, which is home to the United States Space Force's 21st Space Wing's global network of sensors providing missile warning, space surveillance and space control to North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).[103]
In 1995, a political scandal resulted in Denmark after a report revealed the government had given tacit permission for nuclear weapons to be located in Greenland, in contravention of Denmark's 1957 nuclear-free zone policy.[104][60] The United States built a secret nuclear powered base, called Camp Century, in the Greenland ice sheet.[105] On 21 January 1968, a B-52G, with four nuclear bombs aboard as part of Operation Chrome Dome, crashed on the ice of the North Star Bay while attempting an emergency landing at Thule Air Base.[106] The resulting fire caused extensive radioactive contamination.[107] One of the H-bombs remains lost.[108][109]
Administrative divisions
Formerly consisting of three counties comprising a total of 18 municipalities, Greenland abolished these in 2009 and has since been divided into large territories known as "municipalities" (Greenlandic: kommuneqarfiit, Danish: kommuner): Sermersooq ("Much Ice") around the capital Nuuk and also including all East Coast communities; Kujalleq ("South") around Cape Farewell; Qeqqata ("Centre") north of the capital along the Davis Strait; Qeqertalik ("The one with islands") surrounding Disko Bay; and Avannaata ("Northern") in the northwest; the latter two having come into being as a result of the Qaasuitsup municipality, one of the original four, being partitioned in 2018. The northeast of the island composes the unincorporated Northeast Greenland National Park. Thule Air Base is also unincorporated, an enclave within Avannaata municipality administered by the United States Air Force. During its construction, there were as many as 12,000 American residents but in recent years the number has been below 1,000.
Economy
The Greenlandic economy is highly dependent on fishing. Fishing accounts for more than 90% of Greenland's exports.[110] The shrimp and fish industry is by far the largest income earner.[5]
Greenland is abundant in minerals.[110] Mining of ruby deposits began in 2007. Other mineral prospects are improving as prices are increasing. These include iron, uranium, aluminium, nickel, platinum, tungsten, titanium, and copper. Despite resumption of several hydrocarbon and mineral exploration activities, it will take several years before hydrocarbon production can materialize. The state oil company Nunaoil was created to help develop the hydrocarbon industry in Greenland. The state company Nunamineral has been launched on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange to raise more capital to increase the production of gold, started in 2007.
Electricity has traditionally been generated by oil or diesel power plants, even if there is a large surplus of potential hydropower. There is a programme to build hydro power plants. The first, and still the largest, is Buksefjord hydroelectric power plant.
There are also plans to build a large aluminium smelter, using hydropower to create an exportable product. It is expected that much of the labour needed will be imported.[111]
The European Union has urged Greenland to restrict People's Republic of China development of rare-earth projects, as China accounts for 95% of the world's current supply. In early 2013, the Greenland government said that it had no plans to impose such restrictions.[112]
The public sector, including publicly owned enterprises and the municipalities, plays a 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). Gross domestic product per capita is equivalent to that of the average economies of Europe.
Greenland suffered an 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 that year. In 2017, new sources of ruby in Greenland have been discovered, promising to bring new industry and a new export from the country.[113] (See Gemstone industry in Greenland).
Transport
There is air transport both within Greenland and between the island and other nations. There is also scheduled boat traffic, but the long distances lead to long travel times and low frequency. There are virtually no roads between cities because the coast has many fjords that would require ferry service to connect a road network. The only exception is a gravel road of 5 km (3 mi) length between Kangilinnguit and the now abandoned former cryolite mining town of Ivittuut.[114] In addition, the lack of agriculture, forestry and similar countryside activities has meant that very few country roads have been built.
Kangerlussuaq Airport (SFJ) [115] is the largest airport and the main aviation hub for international passenger transport. It serves international and domestic airline operated flight.[116] SFJ is far from the vicinity of the larger metropolitan capital areas, 317 km (197 mi) to the capital Nuuk, and airline passenger services are available.[117] Greenland has no passenger railways.
Nuuk Airport (GOH) [118] is the second-largest airport located just 6.0 km (3.7 mi) from the centre of the capital. GOH serves general aviation traffic and has daily- or regular domestic flights within Greenland. GOH also serves international flights to Iceland, business and private airplanes.
Ilulissat Airport (JAV) [119] is a domestic airport that also serves international flights to Iceland. There are a total of 13 registered civil airports and 47 helipads in Greenland; most of them are unpaved and located in rural areas. The second longest runway is at Narsarsuaq, a domestic airport with limited international service in south Greenland.
All civil aviation matters are handled by the Danish Transport Authority. Most airports including Nuuk Airport have short runways and can only be served by special fairly small aircraft on fairly short flights. Kangerlussuaq Airport around 100 kilometres (62 miles) inland from the west coast is the major airport of Greenland and the hub for domestic flights. Intercontinental flights connect mainly to Copenhagen. Travel between international destinations (except Iceland) and any city in Greenland requires a plane change.
Air Iceland operates flights from Reykjavík to a number of airports in Greenland, and the company promotes the service as a day-trip option from Iceland for tourists.[120]
There are no direct flights to the United States or Canada, although there have been flights Kangerlussuaq – Baltimore,[121] and Nuuk – Iqaluit,[122] which were cancelled because of too few passengers and financial losses.[123] An alternative between Greenland and the United States/Canada is Air Iceland/Icelandair with a plane change in Iceland.[124]
Sea passenger transport is served by several coastal ferries. Arctic Umiaq Line makes a single round trip per week, taking 80 hours each direction.[125]
Cargo freight by sea is handled by the shipping company Royal Arctic Line from, to and across Greenland. It provides trade and transport opportunities between Greenland, Europe and North America.
Population
Demographics
Greenland has a population of 56,081 (January 2020 Estimate),[6] of whom 88% are Greenlandic Inuit (including Danish-Inuit mixed). The remaining 12% of people are of European descent, mainly Greenland Danes. A 2015 wide genetic study of Greenlanders found modern-day Inuit in Greenland are direct descendants of the first Inuit pioneers of the Thule culture with ∼25 % admixture of the European colonizers from the 16th century. Despite previous speculations, no evidence of Viking settlers predecessors has been found. [126]
Several thousand Greenlandic Inuit reside in Denmark proper. The majority of the population is Lutheran. Nearly all Greenlanders live along the fjords in the south-west of the main island, which has a relatively mild climate.[127] In 2020, 18,326 people reside in Nuuk, the capital city. Greenland's warmest climates such as the vegetated area around Narsarsuaq are sparsely populated, whereas the majority of the population lives north of 64°N in colder coastal climates.
Languages
Both Greenlandic (an Eskimo–Aleut language) and Danish have been used in public affairs since the establishment of home rule in 1979; the majority of the population can speak both languages. Greenlandic became the sole official language in June 2009,[129] In practice, Danish is still widely used in the administration and in higher education, as well as remaining the first or only language for some Danish immigrants in Nuuk and other larger towns. Debate about the roles of Greenlandic and Danish in the country's future is ongoing. The orthography of Greenlandic was established in 1851[130] and revised in 1973. The country has a 100% literacy rate.[5]
A majority of the population speaks Greenlandic, most of them bilingually. It is spoken by about 50,000 people, making it the most populous of the Eskimo–Aleut language family, spoken by more people than all the other languages of the family combined.
Kalaallisut is the Greenlandic dialect of West Greenland, which has long been the most populous area of the island. This has led to its de facto status as the official "Greenlandic" language, although the northern dialect Inuktun remains spoken by 1,000 or so people around Qaanaaq, and the eastern dialect Tunumiisut by around 3,000.[131] Each of these dialects is almost unintelligible to the speakers of the other and are considered by some linguists to be separate languages. A UNESCO report has labelled the other dialects as endangered, and measures are now being considered to protect the East Greenlandic dialects.[132]
About 12% of the population speak Danish as a first or sole language, particularly Danish immigrants in Greenland, many of whom fill positions such as administrators, professionals, academics, or skilled tradesmen. While Greenlandic is dominant in all smaller settlements, a part of the population of Inuit or mixed ancestry, especially in towns, speaks Danish. Most of the Inuit population speaks Danish as a second language. In larger towns, especially Nuuk and in the higher social strata, this is still a large group. While one strategy aims at promoting Greenlandic in public life and education, developing its vocabulary and suitability for all complex contexts, there are opponents of this.[133]
English is another important language for Greenland, taught in schools from the first school year.[134]
Education
Education is organised in a similar way to Denmark. There is ten year mandatory primary school. There is also a secondary school, with either work education or preparatory for university education. There is one university, the University of Greenland (Greenlandic: Ilisimatusarfik) in Nuuk. Many Greenlanders attend universities in Denmark or elsewhere.
Religion
The nomadic Inuit people were traditionally shamanistic, with a well-developed mythology primarily concerned with appeasing a vengeful and fingerless sea goddess who controlled the success of the seal and whale hunts.
The first Norse colonists worshipped the Norse gods, but Erik the Red's son Leif was converted to Christianity by King Olaf Trygvesson on a trip to Norway in 999 and sent missionaries back to Greenland. These swiftly established sixteen parishes, some monasteries, and a bishopric at Garðar.
Rediscovering these colonists and spreading ideas of the Protestant Reformation among them was one of the primary reasons for the Danish recolonization in the 18th century. Under the patronage of the Royal Mission College in Copenhagen, Norwegian and Danish Lutherans and German Moravian missionaries searched for the missing Norse settlements, but no Norse were found, and instead they began preaching to the Inuit. The principal figures in the Christianization of Greenland were Hans and Poul Egede and Matthias Stach. The New Testament was translated piecemeal from the time of the very first settlement on Kangeq Island, but the first translation of the whole Bible was not completed until 1900. An improved translation using the modern orthography was completed in 2000.[137]
Today, the major religion is Protestant Christianity, represented mainly by the Church of Denmark, which is Lutheran in orientation. While there are no official census data on religion in Greenland, the Bishop of Greenland Sofie Petersen[138] estimates that 85% of the Greenlandic population are members of her congregation.[139] The Church of Denmark is the established church through the Constitution of Denmark.[140]
The Roman Catholic minority is pastorally served by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Copenhagen. There are still Christian missionaries on the island, but mainly from charismatic movements proselytizing fellow Christians.[141]
Social issues
The rate of suicide in Greenland is very high. According to a 2010 census, Greenland holds the highest suicide rate in the world.[142][143] Another significant social issue faced by Greenland is a high rate of alcoholism.[144] Alcohol consumption rates in Greenland reached their height in the 1980s, when it was twice as high as in Denmark, and had by 2010 fallen slightly below the average level of consumption in Denmark (which at the time were 12th highest in the world, but has since fallen). However, at the same time, alcohol prices are far higher, meaning that consumption has a large social impact.[145][146] Prevalence of HIV/AIDS used to be high in Greenland and peaked in the 1990s when the fatality rate also was relatively high. Through a number of initiatives the prevalence (along with the fatality rate through efficient treatment) has fallen and is now low, c. 0.13%,[147][148] below most other countries. In recent decades, the unemployment rates have generally been somewhat above those in Denmark;[149] in 2017, the rate was 6.8% in Greenland,[150] compared to 5.6% in Denmark.[151]
Culture
Today Greenlandic culture is a blending of traditional Inuit (Kalaallit) and Scandinavian culture. Inuit, or Kalaallit, culture has a strong artistic tradition, dating back thousands of years. The Kalaallit are known for an art form of figures called tupilak or a "spirit object." Traditional art-making practices thrive in the Ammassalik.[152] Sperm whale ivory remains a valued medium for carving.[153]
Greenland also has a successful, albeit small, music culture. Some popular Greenlandic bands and artists include Sume (classic rock), Chilly Friday (rock), Nanook (rock), Siissisoq (rock), Nuuk Posse (hip hop) and Rasmus Lyberth (folk), who performed in the Danish national final for the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest, performing in Greenlandic. The singer-songwriter Simon Lynge is the first musical artist from Greenland to have an album released across the United Kingdom, and to perform at the UK's Glastonbury Festival. The music culture of Greenland also includes traditional Inuit music, largely revolving around singing and drums.
Sport
Sport is an important part of Greenlandic culture, as the population is generally quite active.[154] Popular sports include association football, track and field, handball and skiing. Handball is often referred to as the national sport,[155] and Greenland's men's national team was ranked among the top 20 in the world in 2001.
Greenland has excellent conditions for skiing, fishing, snowboarding, ice climbing and rock climbing, although mountain climbing and hiking are preferred by the general public. Although the environment is generally ill-suited for golf, there is a golf course in Nuuk.
Cuisine
The national dish of Greenland is suaasat. Meat from marine mammals, game, birds, and fish play a large role in the Greenlandic diet. Due to the glacial landscape, most ingredients come from the ocean.[156] Spices are seldom used besides salt and pepper.[157] Greenlandic coffee is a "flaming" dessert coffee (set alight before serving) made with coffee, whiskey, Kahlúa, Grand Marnier, and whipped cream. It is stronger than the familiar Irish dessert coffee.[158]
See also
- Index of Greenland-related articles
- Outline of Greenland
- The unity of the Realm
Notes
- Nuna asiilasooq has equal status as a regional anthem but is generally used only on the self-government of Greenland.[1]
- Greenlandic has been the sole official language of Greenland since 2009.[2][4]
- As of 2000: 410,449 km2 (158,475 sq mi) ice-free; 1,755,637 km2 (677,855 sq mi) ice-covered.
Density: 0.14/km2 (0.36 /sq. mi) for ice-free areas. - Australia and Antarctica, both larger than Greenland, are generally considered to be continental landmasses rather than islands.[9]
References
- "03EM/01.25.01-50 Spørgsmål til Landsstyret: Hvornår fremsætter Landsstyret beslutning om Grønlands" [03EM/01.25.01-50 Questions to the Home Rule Government: When does the Home Rule Government make a decision on Greenland]. Government of Greenland. 7 October 2003. Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
- (in Danish) TV 2 Nyhederne – "Grønland går over til selvstyre" TV 2 Nyhederne (TV 2 News) – Ved overgangen til selvstyre, er grønlandsk nu det officielle sprog. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
- "Self-rule introduced in Greenland". BBC News. 21 June 2009. Archived from the original on 25 April 2010. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
- (in Danish) Law of Greenlandic Selfrule Archived 8 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine (see chapter 7)
- "Greenland". CIA World Factbook. Archived from the original on 13 October 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2007.
- "Population and Population Growth 1901-2020". Statistical Greenland. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
- Greenland in Figures 2013 (PDF). Greenland in Figures. Statistics Greenland. ISBN 978-87-986787-7-9. ISSN 1602-5709. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
- Avakov, Aleksandr Vladimirovich (2012). Quality of Life, Balance of Powers, and Nuclear Weapons (2012): A Statistical Yearbook for Statesmen and Citizens. Algora Publishing. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-87586-892-9.
- "Joshua Calder's World Island Information". Worldislandinfo.com. Archived from the original on 23 April 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
-
- Benedikter, Thomas (19 June 2006). "The working autonomies in Europe". Society for Threatened Peoples.
Denmark has established very specific territorial autonomies with its two island territories
- Ackrén, Maria (November 2017). "Greenland". Autonomy Arrangements in the World.
Faroese and Greenlandic are seen as official regional languages in the self-governing territories belonging to Denmark.
- "Greenland". International Cooperation and Development. European Commission. 3 June 2013. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
Greenland [...] is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark
- Benedikter, Thomas (19 June 2006). "The working autonomies in Europe". Society for Threatened Peoples.
- The Fate of Greenland's Vikings Archived 11 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine, by Dale Mackenzie Brown, Archaeological Institute of America, 28 February 2000
- Mcghee, Robert (3 April 2015). "Thule Culture". Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
- "Qaasuitsup kommunia". www.qaasuitsup.gl. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
- "Population density (people per sq. km of land area)". The World Bank. Archived from the original on 5 June 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
- "Saqqaq-kulturen kronologi". National Museum of Denmark. Archived from the original on 7 December 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
- Saillard J, Forster P, Lynnerup N, Bandelt HJ, Nørby S (2000). "mtDNA variation among Greenland Eskimos: the edge of the Beringian expansion". American Journal of Human Genetics. 67 (3): 718–26. doi:10.1086/303038. PMC 1287530. PMID 10924403.
- The Portuguese Explorers Archived 8 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Heritage.nf.ca. Retrieved on 21 June 2016.
- Greenland in Figures 2012 (PDF). Greenland in Figures. stat.gl. ISBN 978-87-986787-6-2. ISSN 1602-5709. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
- Nordic Investment Bank. "Hydropower creates clean energy and jobs in Greenland". NIB. Nordic Investment Bank. Archived from the original on 3 November 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
- Eirik the Red's Saga. Gutenberg.org. 8 March 2006. Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- "How Greenland got its name" Archived 19 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine. The Ancient Standard. 17 December 2010.
- Grove, Jonathan (2009). "The place of Greenland in medieval Icelandic saga narrative". Journal of the North Atlantic. 2: 30–51. doi:10.3721/037.002.s206. S2CID 163032041. Archived from the original on 11 April 2012.
- Evans, Andrew. "Is Iceland Really Green and Greenland Really Icy?" Archived 4 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine, National Geographic (June 30, 2016).
- Stern, p. 89
- Grønnow, B. (1988). "Prehistory in permafrost: Investigations at the Saqqaq site, Qeqertasussuk, Disco Bay, West Greenland". Journal of Danish Archaeology. 7 (1): 24–39. doi:10.1080/0108464X.1988.10589995.
- Møbjerg, T. (1999). "New adaptive strategies in the Saqqaq culture of Greenland, c. 1600–1400 BC". World Archaeology. 30 (3): 452–65. doi:10.1080/00438243.1999.9980423. JSTOR 124963.
- "The history of Greenland – From dog sled to snowmobile". Greenland.com. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
- "Migration to Greenland – the history of Greenland". Greenland.com. Archived from the original on 5 September 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
- Rasch, M.; Jensen, J. F. (1997). "Ancient Eskimo dwelling sites and Holocene relative sea‐level changes in southern Disko Bugt, central West Greenland". Polar Research. 16 (2): 101–15. Bibcode:1997PolRe..16..101R. doi:10.1111/j.1751-8369.1997.tb00252.x.
- Ramsden, P.; Tuck, J. A. (2001). "A Comment on the Pre-Dorset/Dorset Transition in the Eastern Arctic". Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska. New Series. 1: 7–11.
- Grønnow, B. (1986). "Recent archaeological investigations of West Greenland caribou hunting". Arctic Anthropology. 23 (1/2): 57–80. JSTOR 40316103.
- Rowley, G. (1940). "The Dorset culture of the eastern Arctic". American Anthropologist. 42 (3): 490–99. doi:10.1525/aa.1940.42.3.02a00080.
- Gulløv, H. C.; Appelt, M. (2001). "Social bonding and shamanism among Late Dorset groups in High Arctic Greenland". The archaeology of shamanism. Routledge. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-415-25255-3.
- Gulløv, H. C. (1996). In search of the Dorset culture in the Thule culture. The Paleo-Eskimo Cultures of Greenland. Copenhagen: Danish Polar Center (Publication No. 1). pp. 201–14.
- Kudeba, N. (19 April 2014). "Chapter 5 – Norse Explorers from Erik the Red to Leif Erikson", in Canadian Explorers.
- Boraas, Tracey (2002). Sweden. Capstone Press. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-7368-0939-9.
- Diamond, Jared (2006). Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Harmondsworth [Eng.]: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-303655-5.
- Arnold C. (June 2010) "Cold did in the Norse," Earth Magazine. p. 9.
- Behringer, Wolfgang (9 September 2009). Kulturgeschichte des Klimas: Von der Eiszeit zur globalen Erwärmung: Amazon.de: Wolfgang Behringer: Bücher. ISBN 9783406528668. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- Alley, R.; Mayewski, P.; Peel, D.; Stauffer, B. (1996). "Twin ice cores from Greenland reveal history of climate change, more". Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. 77 (22): 209–10. Bibcode:1996EOSTr..77R.209A. doi:10.1029/96EO00142. Archived from the original on 14 April 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
- "Why societies collapse Archived 2 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine". ABC Science.
- William P. Patterson, Kristin A. Dietrich, Chris Holmden, and John T. Andrews (2010) "Two millennia of North Atlantic seasonality and implications for Norse colonies." http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0902522107
- Ingstad, Helge; Stine Ingstad, Anne (2000). The Viking Discovery of America: The Excavation of a Norse Settlement in L'Anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland. Breakwater Books. pp. 28–. ISBN 978-1-55081-158-2.
- Bishop, Rosie R., et al. "A charcoal-rich horizon at Ø69, Greenland: evidence for vegetation burning during the Norse landnám?." Journal of Archaeological Science 40.11 (2013): 3890–902
- Leone, Mark P.; Knauf, Jocelyn E. (2015). Historical Archaeologies of Capitalism. Springer. p. 211. ISBN 978-3-319-12760-6.
- Folger, Tim. "Why Did Greenland's Vikings Vanish?". Archived from the original on 17 March 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
- Trigger, Bruce G.; Washburn, Wilcomb E.; Adams, Richard E. W. (1996). The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas. Cambridge University Press. p. 331. ISBN 978-0-521-57393-1.
- "Inuit were not the first people to settle in the Arctic" Archived 9 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine, CBC News (Canada), 28 August 2014
- Nebenzahl, Kenneth. Rand McNally Atlas of Columbus and The Great Discoveries (Rand McNally & Company; Genoa, Italy; 1990); The Cantino Planisphere, Lisbon, 1502, pp. 34–37.
- Legal Status of Eastern Greenland Archived 11 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine, PCIJ Series A/B No. 53 (1933)
- Doenecke, Justus D. (8 July 1941). In Danger Undaunted: The Anti-Interventionist Movement of 1940–1941. Hoover Press. ISBN 978-0-8179-8841-8.
- Speer, Albert. Inside the Third Reich, 1971
- "Deepfreeze Defense". Time. 27 January 1947. Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
- Miller, John J. (7 May 2001). "Let's Buy Greenland! — A complete missile-defense plan". National Review. Archived from the original on 7 January 2010.
- "Robert J. Walker on Acquiring Greenland and Iceland" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 August 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
- Keil, Kathrin (29 August 2011) "U.S. Interests in Greenland – On a Path Towards Full Independence?", The Arctic Institute
- Andrews Kurth LLP, "Oil and Gas in Greenland – Still on Ice?" Archived 19 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Andrewskurth.com. Retrieved on 21 June 2016.
- Selsoe Sorensen, Martin (16 August 2019). "'Greenland Is Not for Sale': Trump's Talk of a Purchase Draws Derision". New York Times. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
- "A Radioactive Cold War Military Base Will Soon Emerge From Greenland's Melting Ice". Smithsonian. 5 August 2016. Archived from the original on 20 August 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
- "Cataclysmic cargo: The hunt for four missing nuclear bombs after a B-52 crash". The Washington Post. 21 January 2018.
- Loukacheva, Natalia (2007). The Arctic Promise: Legal and Political Autonomy of Greenland and Nunavut Archived 13 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine. University of Toronto Press, p. 25 ISBN 9780802094865
- Stern, pp. 55–56
- Cowell, Alan (26 November 2008). "Greenland Vote Favors Independence". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 17 April 2009. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
- "Vejledende folkeafstemning om selvstyre ? 25-11-2008" (in Kalaallisut). SermitValg. 26 November 2008. Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2008.
- "CIDOB – Secession and Counter-secession. An International Relations Perspective". CIDOB. p. 70. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
- Description of the Greenlandic Self-Government Act on the webpage of the Danish Ministry of State Archived 22 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine"The Self-Government Act provides for the Self-Government authorities to assume a number of new fields of responsibility, such as administration of justice, including the establishment of courts of law; the prison and probation service; the police; the field relating to company law, accounting and auditing; mineral resource activities; aviation; law of legal capacity, family law and succession law; aliens and border controls; the working environment; as well as financial regulation and supervision, cf. Schedule I and II in the Annex to the Self-Government Act."
- Greenland takes step toward independence from Denmark Archived 18 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine. The Daily Telegraph (21 June 2009). Retrieved 29 September 2012.
- "Nearly independent day". The Economist. 20 June 2009. Archived from the original on 25 June 2009. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
- "Greenland set for self-rule". The Australian. 19 June 2009. Archived from the original on 24 June 2009. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
- Boswell, Randy (19 June 2009). "Greenland takes big step towards full independence". Canwest News Services. Canada.com. Archived from the original on 24 June 2009. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
- "The Island of Greenland". Hidden Journeys – explore the world from the air. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
- "Demographic Yearbook – Table 3: Population by sex, rate of population increase, surface area, and density" (PDF). United Nations Statistics Division. 2008. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 December 2010. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
- d.o.o, Yu Media Group. "Nuuk, Greenland - Detailed climate information and monthly weather forecast". Weather Atlas. Archived from the original on 17 August 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
- "IPCC Climate Change 2001: Working Group I: The Scientific Basis". Grida.no. Archived from the original on 16 December 2007. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- "map (map on p. 4)". Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- DK Atlas, 2001.
- Schneider, D. (2003). "American Scientist Online – Greenland or Whiteland?". Sigma Xi. Archived from the original on 10 May 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2008.
- "Find Greenland Icecap Bridges Three Islands Archived 12 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine", Ellensburg Daily Record, 24 October 1951, p. 6. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
- "The National Park". Greenland.com. Archived from the original on 27 June 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
- "Greenland Melt May Swamp LA, Other Cities, Study Says". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 10 May 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- McCarthy, Michael (24 April 2007). "An island made by global warming". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 30 August 2008. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
- "Place of the Year". Blog.oup.com. 3 December 2007. Archived from the original on 15 October 2009. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- Publications, Usa Int'L Business. Denmark Company Laws and Regulations Handbook: Strategic Information and Basic Laws. Place of Publication Not Identified: Intl Business Pubns Usa, 2015. 20–21. Print.
- Revkin, Andrew C. (28 April 2008). "Arctic Explorer Rebuts 'Warming Island' Critique". New York Times. Archived from the original on 27 September 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- Alley, Richard B. The Two-Mile Time Machine: Ice Cores, Abrupt Climate Change, and Our Future. Princeton University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-691-00493-5.
- Roach, John (16 February 2006). "Greenland Glaciers Losing Ice Much Faster, Study Says". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 10 September 2006. Retrieved 13 September 2006.
- Climate variability and trends along the western slope of the Greenland ice sheet during 1991–2004 Archived 14 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Konrad Steffen, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA Nicloas Cullen, and Russell Huff University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
- Satellite shows Greenland's ice sheets getting thicker Archived 1 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Register, 7 November 2005.
- Heim, A. (1911). "Über die Petrographie und Geologie der Umgebung von Karsuarsuk, Nordseite der Halbinsel Nugsuak, W. Grönland". Meddr. Grönland. 47 (3). Archived from the original on 8 April 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- Weidick, A. (1968). "Observations on some Holocene Glacial Fluctuations in West Greenland". Meddr. Grönland. 165 (6): 1–202.
- Kuhle, M. (1983): Postglacial Glacier Stades of Nugssuaq Peninsula, Westgreenland (70°03'–70°10'N). In: Schroeder-Lanz, H. (ed.): Colloquium Trier 15.-17.5.1980: Late- and Postglacial Oscillations of Glaciers: Glacial and Periglacial Forms, Rotterdam: 325–355 (Im memoriam Hans Kinzl).
- "Γροιλανδία: Χάθηκαν 3,8 τρισ. τόνοι πάγου μέσα σε 26 χρόνια!". NewsIT. 11 December 2019.
- "Greenland Wildlife". Redaction. The Great Danish Encyclopedia. 2014. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
- "Greenland". Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition.
- "Animal life in Greenland – an introduction by the tourist board". Greenland Guide. Narsaq Tourist Office. n.d. Archived from the original on 27 April 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
- Møller, P. R.; Nielsen, J.; Knudsen, S. W.; Poulsen, J. Y.; Sünksen, K.; Jørgensen, O. A. (2010). "A checklist of the fish fauna of Greenland waters". Zootaxa. 2378 (1): 1–84. ISBN 978-1-86977-468-4. OCLC 551668689.
- "Economy and Industry in Greenland - Naalakkersuisut". naalakkersuisut.gl. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
- "The executive power is vested in the King." The Constitution of Denmark – Section 3. Archived 10 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- "The body of Ministers shall form the Council of State, in which the Successor to the Throne shall have a seat when he is of age. The Council of State shall be presided over by the King..." The Constitution of Denmark – Section 17. Archived 10 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- The Monarchy today Archived 15 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine – The Danish Monarchy (kongehuset.dk). Access date: 16 June 2012
- "The King shall not be answerable for his actions; his person shall be sacrosanct." The Constitution of Denmark – Section 13. Archived 10 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- Folketinget – Folketinget.dk Archived 28 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Ft.dk. Retrieved on 21 June 2016.
- "Trump reportedly wants to 'buy' Greenland. This is what it's like at the US's Arctic base there". Business Insider. 16 August 2019. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
- Hansen, H. C. (16 November 1957). "Danish Prime Minister Gives Tacit Go-Ahead For U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Greenland". The Nautilus Institute. Archived from the original on 6 November 2007. Retrieved 20 March 2009.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- "A Top-Secret US Military Base Will Melt Out of the Greenland Ice Sheet". VICE Magazine. 9 March 2019. Archived from the original on 20 August 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
- "The Cold War's Missing Atom Bombs". Der Spiegel. 14 November 2008. Archived from the original on 27 June 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
- "US B-52 nuclear bomber crash in Greenland 51 years ago has ill Danes seeking compensation". Fox News. 3 June 2019. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
- Corera, Gordon (10 November 2008). "Mystery of lost US nuclear bomb". BBC News.
- "US left nuclear weapon under ice in Greenland". The Daily Telegraph. 11 November 2008. Archived from the original on 20 August 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
- Walsh, Maurice (28 January 2017). "'You can't live in a museum': the battle for Greenland's uranium". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 29 January 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
- "Greenland's red hot labour market". Nordic Labour Journal. 12 October 2011. Archived from the original on 1 February 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
- Chinese Workers—in Greenland? Archived 13 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine 10 February 2013 BusinessWeek.
- "Greenland Rubies: What We Know At This Point | National Jeweler". www.nationaljeweler.com. Archived from the original on 17 August 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
- "Greenland – Transportation". www.iexplore.com. Archived from the original on 10 October 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
- "Mittarfeqarfiit, Grønlands Lufthavne, Greenland Airports Today's Flights Airports Kangerlussuaq airport – mit.gl". www.mit.gl.
- "tripsta". Archived from the original on 21 September 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
- "City, high-rise apartments, cosy atmosphere, culture, rock, gourmet restaurants, cafés, fashion outlets, art, the national museum and the university – all the ingredients of a capital - Nuuk - airgreenland.com". www.airgreenland.gl.
- "Nuuk Airport". www.mit.gl.
- "Ilulissat Airport". www.mit.gl.
- Perrin, Wendy (21 July 2015). "Greenland Day Trip from Iceland: Is it Worth It?". Wendy Perrin. Archived from the original on 26 December 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
- "Historical Maiden Flight US-Greenland – Official national guide by Greenland Tourism and Business Council". Greenland.com. 24 May 2007. Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- "Air Greenland teams with First Air for Iqaluit flights". CBC News. 7 June 2012. Archived from the original on 10 June 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
- "The Baltimore route is to close". Air Greenland. 12 June 2010. Archived from the original on 18 May 2013.
- "4 Ways to Get to Greenland". Fodor's. 26 February 2014. Archived from the original on 26 December 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
- PhD, Georg Woodman, Dr MSc & (18 October 2017). 2033-The Century After: How the World Would Look/Be If Nazi Germany & Empire Japan Had Won World War II. Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Agency. ISBN 978-1-68181-946-4.
- Moltke, Ida; Fumagalli, Matteo; Korneliussen, Thorfinn (2015). "Uncovering the Genetic History of the Present-Day Greenlandic Population". American Journal of Human Genetics. 96 (1): 54–69. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.11.012.
- "Greenland". Stalvik.com. Archived from the original on 23 September 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- http://citypopulation.de/Greenland.html
- "Danish doubts over Greenland vote". BBC News. 27 November 2008. Archived from the original on 7 December 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
- Kleinschmidt, Samuel 1968 (1851): Grammatik der grønlændischen Sprache : mit teilweisem Einschluss des Labradordialekts. Hildesheim : Olms, 1968.
- Mennecier, Philippe (1978). Le tunumiisut, dialecte inuit du Groenland oriental: description et analyse, Collection linguistique, 78, Societé de linguistique de Paris.
- "Sermersooq will secure Eastern Greenlandic" (in Danish). Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa. 6 January 2010. Archived from the original on 16 May 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
- McGwin, Kevin (9 May 2018). "A Nuuk plan to marginalize the Danish language in Greenland worries Copenhagen". Arctic Today. Archived from the original on 17 August 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
- "Travelling in Greenland". Greenland Representation to the EU, Greenland Home Rule Government. Archived from the original on 16 May 2014.
- "Greenland, Religion and Social Profile | National Profiles | International Data". Thearda.com. 21 June 2009. Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
- "Table: Christian Population as Percentages of Total Population by Country | Pew Research Center". 19 December 2011. Archived from the original on 11 May 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
- Sørensen, Leif Kiil (29 November 2000). "Grønlandsk bibel præsenteret | Kristeligt Dagblad". Kristeligt-dagblad.dk. Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- "Bells ring a wake-up call for climate justice." World Council of Churches. 14 December 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2010
- "Grønland, Grundloven og Gejstligheden" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
- "Constitution of Denmark – Section IV" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 March 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church shall be the Established Church of Denmark, and, as such, it shall be supported by the State.
- "The only Muslim in Greenland who fasts for 21 hours". The Jazba Blog. 8 August 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
- "The Suicide Capital of the World". Slate. 9 October 2009. Archived from the original on 4 March 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
- "Rising suicide rate baffles Greenland". Archived from the original on 23 March 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
- "Greenland profile – Overview" Archived 18 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine. BBC News.
- Aage, H. (2012). "Alcohol in Greenland 1951–2010: consumption, mortality, prices". International Journal of Circumpolar Health. 71: 18444. doi:10.3402/ijch.v71i0.18444. PMC 3525923. PMID 23256091.
- Madsen, M. H.; Grønbæk, M.; Bjerregaard, P.; Becker, U. (2005). "Urbanization, migration and alcohol use in a population of Greenland Inuit". International Journal of Circumpolar Health. 64 (3): 234–45. doi:10.3402/ijch.v64i3.17987. PMID 16050317.
- Bjorn-Mortensen, K.; Ladefoged, K; Obel, N.; Helleberg, M. (2013). "The HIV epidemic in Greenland – a slow spreading infection among adult heterosexual Greenlanders". Int J Circumpolar Health. 7232: 19558. doi:10.3402/ijch.v72i0.19558. PMC 3577920. PMID 23431117.
- "Nye tilfælde af HIV blandt unge". Naalakkersuisut. 13 October 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
- "Arbejde". europas-lande.dk. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
- "Unemployment rate". Statistics Greenland. 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
- "Euro area unemployment at 8.7%, December 2017" (PDF). Eurostat. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
- Hessel, p. 20
- Hessel, p. 21
- Wilcox and Latif, p. 109
- Wilcox and Latif, p. 110
- "Greenland - Greenlandic cuisine - Official Greenland Travel Guide". 14 April 2010. Archived from the original on 14 April 2010. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
- "Greenland - Traditional Greenlandic food - Official Greenland Travel Guide". 27 March 2010. Archived from the original on 27 March 2010. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
- "Greenland - Greenlandic coffee - Official Greenland Travel Guide". 30 March 2010. Archived from the original on 30 March 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
Bibliography
- Hessel, Ingo (2006). Arctic Spirit. Vancouver, BC: Douglas and McIntyre. ISBN 978-1-55365-189-5.
- Stern, Pamela (2004). Historical Dictionary of the Inuit. Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 978-0-8108-5058-3. OCLC 54768167.
- Wilcox, Jonathan; Latif, Zawiah Abdul (2007). Cultures of the World: Iceland. Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 978-0-7614-2074-3.
Works cited
- Bardarson, I. (ed. Jónsson, F.) "Det gamle Grønlands beskrivelse af Ívar Bárðarson (Ivar Bårdssön)", (Copenhagen, 1930).
- CIA World Factbook, 2000.
- Conkling, P. W. et al. 2011. The Fate of Greenland: Lessons from Abrupt Climate Change, co-authored with Richard Alley, Wallace Broecker and George Denton, with photographs by Gary Comer, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- Lund, S (1959). "The Marine Algae of East Greenland. 1. Taxonomical Part". Meddr Gronland. 156 (1): 1–245.
- Lund, S (1959). "The Marine Algae of East Greenland. 11. Geographic Distribution". Meddr Gronland. 156: 1–70.
- Steffen, Konrad, N. Cullen, and R. Huff (2005). "Climate variability and trends along the western slope of the Greenland Ice Sheet during 1991–2004", Proceedings of the 85th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting (San Diego).
- Sowa, F (2013). "Indigenous Peoples and the Institutionalization of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Greenland". Arctic Anthropology. 50 (1): 72–88. doi:10.3368/aa.50.1.72. S2CID 143294645.
- Sowa, F. 2013. Relations of Power & Domination in a World Polity: The Politics of Indigeneity & National Identity in Greenland. In: Heininen, L. Arctic Yearbook 2013. The Arctic of regions vs. the globalized Arctic. Akureyri: Northern Research Forum, pp. 184–198.www.arcticyearbook.com/ay2013
- Sowa, F. 2014. Greenland. in: Hund, A. Antarctica and the Arctic Circle: A Geographic Encyclopedia of the Earth's Polar Regions. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, pp. 312–316.
External links
- Greenland entry at Denmark.dk.
- Greenland at Curlie
- The Government of Greenland Offices official website
- Visit Greenland – the official Greenlandic Tourist Board
- Inuit Circumpolar Council Greenland