Greenland Hotels Sea Rooms and Apartments

Greenland

Anthem: Nunarput utoqqarsuanngoravit
Nuna asiilasooq

Capital
(and largest city) Nuuk (Godthåb)
64°10′N, 51°43′W
Official languages Greenlandic, Danish
Government Parliamentary democracy
(within constitutional monarchy)
- Monarch Margrethe II
- Prime Minister Hans Enoksen
Autonomous province of the Kingdom of Denmark
- Home rule 1979
Area
- Total 2,166,086 km² (13th)
836,109 sq mi
- Water (%) 81.11
Population
- Dec 2006 estimate 57,100 (200th)
- Density 0.026/km² (230th)
0.067/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2001 estimate
- Total $1.1 billion (not ranked)
- Per capita $19,0002 (not ranked)
HDI (n/a) n/a (n/a) (n/a)
Currency Danish krone (DKK)
Time zone (UTC0 to -4)
Internet TLD .gl
Calling code +299

1 As of 2000: 410,449 km² (158,433 sq. miles) ice-free; 1,755,637 km² (677,676 sq. miles) ice-covered.
2 2001 estimate.
Greenland (Greenlandic: Kalaallit Nunaat, meaning "Land of the Kalaallit (Greenlanders)"; Danish: Grønland, meaning "Greenland") is a self-governing Danish province located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. Though geographically and ethnically an Arctic island nation associated with the continent of North America, politically and historically Greenland is closely tied to Europe, specifically Iceland, Norway and Denmark. In 1978, Denmark granted home rule to Greenland, making it an equal member of the Rigsfællesskab. It is the largest island in the world that is not also considered a continent

History
Main article: History of Greenland
Greenland, which is about one quarter the size of the United States, was home to a number of Paleo-Eskimo cultures in prehistory. From AD 984 it was colonized by Norse settlers who lived in two settlements on the west coast on the fjords near the very southwestern tip of the island. The Norse settlements thrived for the next few centuries, and then disappeared sometime in the 15th century after nearly 500 years of habitation.[1]

Data obtained from ice cores indicate that between AD 800 and 1300 the regions around the fjords of the southern part of the island experienced a relatively mild climate similar to today. Trees and herbaceous plants grew in the south of the island and the prevailing climate initially permitted farming of domestic livestock species as farmed in Norway.[1] These remote communities thrived and lived off farming, hunting and trading with the motherland, and when the Norwegian kings converted their domains to Christianity, a bishop was installed in Greenland as well, subordinate to the archdiocese of Nidaros. 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.

After almost five hundred years, the Scandinavian settlements vanished, likely due to famine and increasing conflicts among the Norse themselves and with the Inuit during the fifteenth century. Main contributors to the demise of the Norse settlements appeared to have been destruction of the natural vegetation for farming, turf, and wood by the Norse and ensuing soil erosion and a decline in local temperatures during the Little Ice Age, as well as armed conflicts with the Inuit.[1] The condition of human bones from this late period indicates malnutrition of the Norse population. It has been suggested that cultural practices, such as spurning fish as a source of food and reliance solely on livestock ill-adapted to Greenland's climate caused recurring famines, which along with environmental degradation resulted in the abandonment of the Greenland Norse colony.[1]

View from the air.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 Norway was ceded to the king of Sweden, while Denmark retained all of her common overseas possessions: the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland, as well as Denmark-Norway's small territories in India (Tranquebar), West Africa (Danish Gold Coast) and the West Indies (Danish Virgin Islands).

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. Through the cryolite from the mine in Ivigtût, Greenland was able to pay for goods bought in the United States and Canada. During the war the system of government changed. 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, detected and destroyed several German weather stations, giving Denmark a better position in the postwar turmoil.

Greenland had been a protected and thereby very isolated society until 1940. The Danish government, which governed the colonies of Greenland, had been convinced that the society would face exploitation from the outside world or even extinction if the country was opened up. During World War II, though, Greenland developed a sense of self-reliance during its period of self-government and independent communication with the outside world.

However, a commission in 1946 (with the highest Greenlandic council Landsrådet as participant) recommended patience and no radical reformation of the system. Two years later the first step towards an alteration of the governing of Greenland was initiated when a grand commission was founded. In 1950 the report (G-50) was presented. Greenland was to be a modern welfare society with Denmark as the sponsor and example. In 1953, Greenland was made an equal part of the Danish Kingdom; home rule was granted in 1979.

Greenland