View source for Greenland

{{short description|Autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark in North America}}
{{About|the Danish territory|the island itself|Geography of Greenland|other uses}}
{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2023}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=January 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox political division
| name = Greenland
| native_name = {{nobold|{{native name|kl|Kalaallit Nunaat}}}}<br />{{nobold|{{native name|da|Grønland}}}}
| settlement_type = [[Danish Realm|Autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark]]
| image_flag = Flag of Greenland.svg
| flag_size = 130px
| flag_link = Flag of Greenland
| image_seal = Coat of arms of Greenland.svg
| seal_size = 75px
| seal_type = Coat of arms
| seal_link = Coat of arms of Greenland
| nickname =
| nickname_link =
| motto_link =
| motto =
| anthem_link =
| anthem = <br />{{native name|kl|"[[Nunarput, utoqqarsuanngoravit]]"|italics=off}}<br />"You Our Ancient Land"{{parabr}}{{center| }}<!-- Self government and national anthem -->
| song_type = '''[[Kalaallit]] song'''
| song = <br />{{native name|kl|"[[Nuna asiilasooq]]"|italics=off}}<br />"The Land of Great Length"{{efn|1=''Nuna asiilasooq'' has equal status as a [[regional anthem]] but is generally used only in Greenland.<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 October 2003 |title=03EM/01.25.01-50 Spørgsmål til Landsstyret: Hvornår fremsætter Landsstyret beslutning om Grønlands |trans-title=03EM/01.25.01-50 Questions to the Home Rule Government: When does the Home Rule Government make a decision on Greenland |url=http://www.inatsisartut.gl/groenlands_landsting/landstingssamlinger/em_2003/dgopkt_behdato/spoergsmaal/50.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213120446/http://www.inatsisartut.gl/groenlands_landsting/landstingssamlinger/em_2003/dgopkt_behdato/spoergsmaal/50.html |archive-date=13 December 2014 |access-date=13 December 2014 |publisher=[[Inatsisartut|Government of Greenland]]}}</ref>}}{{parabr}}{{center|[[File:Nuna asiilasooq.ogg]]}}
| image_map = Greenland (orthographic projection).svg
| map_caption = Location of Greenland
| mapsize = 290px
| image_map2 = 
| map_caption2 = {{map caption |location_color=red |region=the [[Kingdom of Denmark]] |region_color=red and beige}}
| mapsize2 =
| subdivision_type = [[Sovereign state]]
| subdivision_name = [[Kingdom of Denmark]]
| established_title = [[Kingdom of Norway (872–1397)|Union with Norway]]
| established_date = 1262
| established_title2 = [[Dano-Norwegian empire|Danish-Norwegian recolonization]]
| established_date2 = 1721
| established_title3 = [[Treaty of Kiel|Cession to Denmark]]
| established_date3 = 14 January 1814
| established_title4 = [[Home rule]]
| established_date4 = 1 May 1979
| established_title5 = Further [[autonomy]] and [[self rule]]
| established_date5 = 21 June 2009<ref name=selvstyre /><ref name="selfrule">{{Cite news |date=21 June 2009 |title=Self-rule introduced in Greenland |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8111292.stm |url-status=live |access-date=4 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100425041746/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8111292.stm |archive-date=25 April 2010}}</ref>
| official_languages = [[Greenlandic language|Greenlandic]]{{efn|name=languages|Greenlandic has been the sole official language of Greenland since 2009.<ref name="selvstyre">{{in lang|da}} [http://nyhederne-dyn.tv2.dk/article.php/id-23165644:gr%C3%B8nland-g%C3%A5r-over-til-selvstyre.html?rss TV 2 Nyhederne – "Grønland går over til selvstyre"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230809031528/https://nyheder.tv2.dk/2009-06-21-groenland-gaar-over-til-selvstyre |date=9 August 2023}} TV 2 Nyhederne (''[[TV 2 (Denmark)|TV 2]] News'') – Ved overgangen til selvstyre, er grønlandsk nu det officielle sprog. Retrieved 22 January 2012.</ref><ref name="law">{{in lang|da}} [http://www.stm.dk/multimedia/selvstyreloven.pdf Law of Greenlandic Selfrule] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208032617/http://www.stm.dk/multimedia/selvstyreloven.pdf |date=8 February 2012}} (see chapter 7)</ref>}}<br />{{hlist|style=font-size: 85}}
| languages_type = Recognized languages
| languages = [[Danish language|Danish]], [[English language|English]], and other languages if necessary{{efn|name=languages}}
| capital = [[Nuuk]]
| coordinates = {{Coord|64|10|N|51|44|W|type:city_region:GL-SM}}
| largest_city = capital
|ethnic_groups =
*89.5% [[Greenlandic Inuit|Inuit]] {{small|(including multi-ethnic [[Ethnic groups in Europe|European]]-[[Inuit]], mainly [[Danes|Danish]] and other [[North Germanic peoples|Nordic]])}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 October 1997 |title=Bekendtgørelse af ILO-konvention nr. 169 af 28. juni 1989 vedrørende oprindelige folk og stammefolk i selvstændige stater |url=https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/ltc/1997/97 |language=da |website=Retsinformation.dk |access-date=23 October 2020 |archive-date=8 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008125927/https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/ltc/1997/97 |url-status=live }}</ref>
*7.5% [[Danish people in Greenland|Danish]] 
*1.1% other [[North Germanic peoples|Nordic]] 
*1.9% [[Demographics of Greenland#Ethnic groups|Others]]
| ethnic_groups_year = 2020<ref name="cia.gov" />
| religion = [[Christianity]] ([[Church of Greenland]])
| demonym = {{hlist|Greenlander|Greenlandic}}
| government_type = [[Devolution|Devolved government]] within a [[Parliamentary system|parliamentary]] [[constitutional monarchy]]
| leader_title1 = [[Monarchy of Denmark|Monarch]]
| leader_name1 = [[Frederik X]]
| leader_title2 = [[Prime Minister of Denmark|Realm Prime Minister]]
| leader_name2 = [[Mette Frederiksen]]
| leader_title3 = {{nowrap|[[List of Danish High Commissioners in Greenland|High Commissioner]]}}
| leader_name3 = [[Julie Præst Wilche]]
| leader_title4 = [[Prime Minister of Greenland|Greenlandic Prime Minister]]
| leader_name4 = [[Múte Bourup Egede]]
| leader_title5 = [[List of speakers of the Inatsisartut|Speaker of the Inatsisartut]]
| leader_name5 = [[Mimi Karlsen]]
| legislature = [[Folketing]]et <small>([[Danish Realm|Realm]] legislature)</small><br />
[[Inatsisartut]] <small>(Local legislature)</small>
| upper_house =
| lower_house =
| national_representation_type1 = [[Folketing]]
| national_representation1 = [[List of members of the Folketing, 2022–present|2 members]]
| area_km2 = 2,166,086<!-- (410,449 ice-free) -->
| area_rank = <!-- Area rank should match [[List of countries and dependencies by area]];should not be any here -->
| area_sq_mi = 836,109<!--Do not remove per [[WP:MOSNUM]]-->
| percent_water = 83.1{{efn|As of 2000: {{convert|410449|km2|abbr=on}} ice-free; {{convert|1755637|km2|abbr=on}} ice-covered.<br />Density: {{convert|0.14|/km2|abbr=on}} for ice-free areas.}}
| elevation_max_ft =
| elevation_max_m = 3,700
| population_estimate = {{increaseNeutral}}56,583<ref>{{Cite web|title=Population of Greenland|url=https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/greenland-population|work=Greenlandic Population as of 2022|access-date=12 August 2022|archive-date=4 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804114047/https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/greenland-population|url-status=live}}</ref>
| population_census =
| population_estimate_year = 2022
| population_estimate_rank = 210th
| population_census_year =
| population_density_km2 = 0.028 <!-- (0.16 on ice-free areas) -->
| population_density_sq_mi = 0.069 <!--Do not remove per [[WP:MOSNUM]]-->
| population_density_rank =
| GDP_PPP = $1.8 billion<ref name="Greenland in Figures 2013">{{Cite book |url=http://www.stat.gl/publ/en/GF/2013/pdf/Greenland%20in%20Figures%202013.pdf |title=Greenland in Figures 2013 |publisher=[[Statistics Greenland]] |isbn=978-87-986787-7-9 |issn=1602-5709 |access-date=2 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054558/http://www.stat.gl/publ/en/GF/2013/pdf/Greenland%20in%20Figures%202013.pdf |archive-date=21 September 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>
| GDP_PPP_year = 2011
| GDP_PPP_rank = 
| GDP_PPP_per_capita = $37,000
| GDP_PPP_per_capita_rank = 
| GDP_nominal = DKK 20.1 billion<ref name=DANMARKS.NATIONALBANK>{{citation|title=DANMARKS NATIONALBANK|url=https://www.nationalbanken.dk/media/jv4i3stl/analysis-no13-the-greenlandic-economy-final.pdf|website=www.nationalbanken.dk|access-date=16 December 2023|archive-date=16 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216060644/https://www.nationalbanken.dk/media/jv4i3stl/analysis-no13-the-greenlandic-economy-final.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><br />$3.08 billion<ref>{{Cite web|title=Greenland {{!}} Data|url=https://data.worldbank.org/country/GL|access-date=9 August 2021|website=data.worldbank.org|archive-date=31 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230531211931/https://data.worldbank.org/country/GL|url-status=live}}</ref>
| GDP_nominal_year = 2020
| GDP_nominal_rank =
| GDP_nominal_per_capita = DKK 358,000<ref name=DANMARKS.NATIONALBANK/><br />$54,694<ref>{{cite web | url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=GL | title=GDP per capita (Current US$) - Greenland &#124; Data | access-date=23 February 2022 | archive-date=27 March 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327131743/https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=GL | url-status=live }}</ref>
| GDP_nominal_per_capita_rank =
| Gini                   = 33.9 <!--number only-->
| Gini_year              = 2015
| Gini_change            = steady<!--increase/decrease/steady-->
| Gini_ref               = <ref name="wb-gini">{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/gini-index-coefficient-distribution-of-family-income/country-comparison/ |title=Gini Index coefficient |publisher=CIA World Factbook |access-date=16 July 2021 |archive-date=17 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717071854/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/gini-index-coefficient-distribution-of-family-income/country-comparison |url-status=live }}</ref>
| HDI = 0.786 <!--number only-->
| HDI_year = 2010 <!-- Please use the year to which the data refers, not the publication year-->
| HDI_change = increase <!--increase/decrease/steady-->
| HDI_ref = <ref>{{Cite book |last=Avakov |first=Aleksandr Vladimirovich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p--IYwyuog0C |title=Quality of Life, Balance of Powers, and Nuclear Weapons (2012): A Statistical Yearbook for Statesmen and Citizens |date=2012 |publisher=Algora Publishing |isbn=978-0-87586-892-9 |page=51 |access-date=18 September 2022 |archive-date=9 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240309055223/https://books.google.com/books?id=p--IYwyuog0C |url-status=live }}</ref>
| HDI_rank = 61st
| currency = [[Danish krone]]
| currency_code = DKK
| timezone =
| utc_offset_list = [[UTC±00:00]] to [[UTC-04:00]]
| date_format = dd-mm-yyyy
| drives_on = right
| calling_code = [[Telephone numbers in Greenland|+299]]
| postal_code_type = Postal codes
| postal_code = 39xx
| iso_code = [[ISO 3166-2:GL|GL]]
| cctld = [[.gl]]
}}
'''Greenland''' ({{langx|kl|Kalaallit Nunaat}}, {{IPA-kl|kalaːɬːit nʉnaːt|pron}}; {{langx|da|Grønland}}, {{IPA|da|ˈkʁɶnˌlænˀ|pron}}) is a North American island [[Autonomous administrative division|autonomous territory]]<ref>{{cite news | url=https://denmark.dk/people-and-culture/greenland | title=Greenland: The world's largest island | newspaper=Denmark.dk | access-date=14 January 2024 | archive-date=20 December 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220232126/https://denmark.dk/people-and-culture/greenland | url-status=live }}</ref> of the [[Danish Realm|Kingdom of Denmark]].<ref>* {{cite book | author = Dallen J. Timothy | date = 6 November 2020 | title = Tourism in European Microstates and Dependencies: Geopolitics, Scale and Resource Limitations | publisher = CABI | pages = 94– | isbn = 978-1-78924-310-9 | oclc = 1162434605 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UYMIEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA94 | quote = This ....This change in governance also resulted in Greenland becoming an autonomous 'constituent country' in the Danish realm... | access-date = 18 September 2022 | archive-date = 10 June 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240610113252/https://books.google.com/books?id=UYMIEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA94#v=onepage&q&f=false | url-status = live }}
*{{Cite web |last=Benedikter |first=Thomas |date=19 June 2006 |title=The working autonomies in Europe |url=http://www.gfbv.it/3dossier/eu-min/autonomy.html |publisher=[[Society for Threatened Peoples]] |quote=Denmark has established very specific territorial autonomies with its two island territories |access-date=3 June 2019 |archive-date=9 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080309063149/http://www.gfbv.it/3dossier/eu-min/autonomy.html |url-status=live }}
*{{Cite web|url=http://www.world-autonomies.info/tas/Greenland/Pages/default.aspx|title=Greenland|last=Ackrén|first=Maria|date=November 2017|publisher=Autonomy Arrangements in the World|quote=Faroese and Greenlandic are seen as official regional languages in the self-governing territories belonging to Denmark.|access-date=30 August 2019|archive-date=30 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830110832/http://www.world-autonomies.info/tas/Greenland/Pages/default.aspx|url-status=dead}}
*{{Cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/countries/greenland_en|title=Greenland|date=3 June 2013|website=International Cooperation and Development|publisher=[[European Commission]]|language=en|access-date=27 August 2019|quote=Greenland [...] is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark|archive-date=16 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140916135422/https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/countries/greenland_en|url-status=live}}</ref> It is the larger of two autonomous territories within the Kingdom, the other being the [[Faroe Islands]]; the citizens of both territories are full [[Danish nationality law|citizens of Denmark]]. As Greenland is one of the [[Special territories of members of the European Economic Area#Overseas countries and territories|Overseas Countries and Territories]] of the [[European Union]], citizens of Greenland are [[European Union citizens]].<ref name=worldfactbook>{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/greenland/ |title=Greenland |work=The World Factbook |publisher=CIA |access-date=13 January 2021 |archive-date=9 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109162939/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/greenland/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The capital and largest city of Greenland is [[Nuuk]].<ref name=worldfactbook/> Greenland lies between the [[Arctic Ocean|Arctic]] and Atlantic oceans, east of the [[Arctic Archipelago|Canadian Arctic Archipelago]]. It is the [[List of islands by area|world's largest island]],{{efn|[[Afro-Eurasia]], the [[Americas]], [[Australia (continent)|Australia]], and [[Antarctica]] are all larger than Greenland, but they are generally considered [[continent]]s, not islands.<ref name="jc">{{Cite web |title=Joshua Calder's World Island Information |url=http://www.worldislandinfo.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110423173524/http://www.worldislandinfo.com/ |archive-date=23 April 2011 |access-date=6 September 2010 |publisher=Worldislandinfo.com}}</ref> }} and is the location of the northernmost point of land in the world{{snd}}[[Kaffeklubben Island]] off the northern coast is the world's [[Northernmost point of land|northernmost undisputed point of land]], and [[Cape Morris Jesup]] on the mainland was thought to be so until the 1960s.

Though a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe (specifically Norway and Denmark, the colonial powers) for more than a millennium, beginning in 986.<ref name="Brown2000">[http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/greenland/ The Fate of Greenland's Vikings] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110111090459/http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/greenland/ |date=11 January 2011 }}, by Dale Mackenzie Brown, ''Archaeological Institute of America'', 28 February 2000</ref> Greenland has been inhabited at intervals over at least the last 4,500 years by [[circumpolar peoples]] whose forebears migrated there from what is now Canada.<ref name="natmus">{{Cite web |title=Saqqaq-kulturen kronologi |url=http://natmus.dk/forsknings-og-formidlingsafdelingen/etnografisk-samling/sila-arctic-centre/prehistory-of-greenland/saqqaq/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207035806/http://natmus.dk/forsknings-og-formidlingsafdelingen/etnografisk-samling/sila-arctic-centre/prehistory-of-greenland/saqqaq/ |archive-date=7 December 2013 |access-date=2 August 2013 |publisher=National Museum of Denmark}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Saillard J, Forster P, Lynnerup N, Bandelt HJ, Nørby S |year=2000 |title=mtDNA variation among Greenland Eskimos: the edge of the Beringian expansion |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=67 |issue=3 |pages=718–26 |doi=10.1086/303038 |pmc=1287530 |pmid=10924403 | issn=0002-9297}}</ref> [[Vikings|Norsemen]] settled the uninhabited [[Norse settlements in Greenland|southern part of Greenland]] beginning in the 10th century (having previously [[Settlement of Iceland|settled Iceland]]), and the 13th century saw the arrival of [[Inuit]].

In the early 17th century, Dano-Norwegian explorers reached Greenland again. When Denmark and Norway separated in 1814, Greenland was transferred to the Danish crown, and was fully integrated in the Danish state in 1953 under the [[Constitution of Denmark]], which made the people in Greenland citizens of Denmark. In the [[1979 Greenlandic home rule referendum]], Denmark granted [[home rule]] to Greenland; in the [[2008 Greenlandic self-government referendum]], Greenlanders voted for the Self-Government Act, which transferred more power from the Danish government to the local [[Naalakkersuisut]] (Greenlandic government).<ref name="Greenland In Figures 2012">{{Cite book |url=http://www.stat.gl/publ/en/GF/2012/content/Greenland%20in%20Figures%202012.pdf |title=Greenland in Figures 2012 |publisher=stat.gl |isbn=978-87-986787-6-2 |issn=1602-5709 |access-date=10 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113160436/http://www.stat.gl/publ/en/GF/2012/content/Greenland%20in%20Figures%202012.pdf |archive-date=13 November 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> Under this structure, Greenland gradually assumed responsibility for a number of governmental services and areas of competence. The Danish government retains control of citizenship, monetary policy, and foreign affairs, including defence. Most residents of Greenland are Inuit.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Thule Culture |encyclopedia=Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Historica Canada |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/thule-culture/ |access-date=1 June 2015 |last=Mcghee |first=Robert |date=3 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120045928/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/thule-culture/ |archive-date=20 November 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The population is concentrated mainly on the southwest coast, and the rest of the island is sparsely populated. Three-quarters of Greenland is covered by the [[Greenland ice sheet|only permanent ice sheet]] outside [[Antarctica]]. With a population of 56,583 (2022),<ref name="population">{{Cite web |title=Population of Greenland |url=https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/greenland-population |access-date=12 August 2022 |archive-date=4 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804114047/https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/greenland-population |url-status=live }}</ref> Greenland is the [[List of countries and dependencies by population density|least densely populated region]] in the world.<ref name="popden">{{Cite web |title=Population density (people per sq. km of land area) |url=http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.POP.DNST?order=wbapi_data_value_2010+wbapi_data_value+wbapi_data_value-last&sort=asc |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605122932/http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.POP.DNST?order=wbapi_data_value_2010+wbapi_data_value+wbapi_data_value-last&sort=asc |archive-date=5 June 2013 |access-date=3 November 2012 |publisher=The World Bank}}</ref> Sixty-seven percent of its electricity production comes from renewable energy, mostly from [[hydropower]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Vedvarende energi |url=https://nukissiorfiit.gl/da/Produkter/Vedvarende-energi |publisher=Nukissiorfiit |access-date=28 March 2023 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610113257/https://nukissiorfiit.gl/da/Produkter/Vedvarende-energi |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Etymology==
[[File:Greenland 42.74746W 71.57394N.jpg|thumb|Greenland is visible from space. [[Arctic ice pack|Arctic Sea ice]] is not shown.]]
The early Norse settlers named the island ''Greenland''. In the [[Sagas of Icelanders|Icelandic sagas]], the Norwegian [[Erik the Red]] was exiled from Iceland with his father, Thorvald, who had committed manslaughter. With his extended family and his [[thrall]]s {{gloss|mode=def|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 {{lang|non|{{linktext|Grœnland}}}} (translated as "Greenland"), supposedly in the hope that the pleasant name would attract settlers.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17946/17946-h/17946-h.htm |title=Eirik the Red's Saga |date=8 March 2006 |publisher=Gutenberg.org |access-date=6 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511061916/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17946/17946-h/17946-h.htm |archive-date=11 May 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ancientstandard">[http://ancientstandard.com/2010/12/17/how-greenland-got-its-name/ "How Greenland got its name"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319050912/http://ancientstandard.com/2010/12/17/how-greenland-got-its-name/ |date=19 March 2012 }}. ''The Ancient Standard''. 17 December 2010.</ref><ref name="Grove">{{Cite journal |last=Grove |first=Jonathan |year=2009 |title=The place of Greenland in medieval Icelandic saga narrative |url=https://cambridge.academia.edu/JonathanGrove/Papers/397439/The_Place_of_Greenland_In_Medieval_Icelandic_Saga_Narrative |url-status=dead |journal=Journal of the North Atlantic |volume=2 |pages=30–51 |doi=10.3721/037.002.s206 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120411212816/http://cambridge.academia.edu/JonathanGrove/Papers/397439/The_Place_of_Greenland_In_Medieval_Icelandic_Saga_Narrative |archive-date=11 April 2012 |s2cid=163032041}}</ref> 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."<ref>Evans, Andrew. [https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/06/iceland-greenland-name-swap/ "Is Iceland Really Green and Greenland Really Icy?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171204222855/https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/06/iceland-greenland-name-swap/ |date=4 December 2017 }}, ''[[National Geographic]]'' (30 June 2016).</ref>

The name of the territory in the [[Greenlandic language]] is {{lang|kl|Kalaallit Nunaat}} {{gloss|land of the Kalaallit}}.<ref name="InuitDictionary">[[#Stern|Stern]], p. 89</ref> The [[Kalaallit]] are the [[Greenlandic Inuit]] who inhabit the territory's western region.

==History==
{{Main|History of Greenland}}
{{For timeline|Timeline of Greenland}}

===Early Paleo-Inuit cultures===
[[File:Independence-fjord.svg|thumb|upright|Areas of Independence I and Independence II cultures around Independence Fjord]]
In prehistoric times, Greenland was home to several successive [[Paleo-Inuit]] cultures known primarily through archaeological finds. The earliest entry of the Paleo-Inuit into Greenland is thought to have occurred about 2500&nbsp;BC. From about 2500&nbsp;BC to 800&nbsp;BC, southern and western Greenland was inhabited by the [[Saqqaq culture]]. Most finds of remains from that period have been around [[Disko Bay]], including the site of Saqqaq, for which the culture is named.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grønnow |first=B. |year=1988 |title=Prehistory in permafrost: Investigations at the Saqqaq site, Qeqertasussuk, Disco Bay, West Greenland |journal=Journal of Danish Archaeology |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=24–39 |doi=10.1080/0108464X.1988.10589995}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Møbjerg |first=T. |year=1999 |title=New adaptive strategies in the Saqqaq culture of Greenland, c. 1600–1400 BC |journal=World Archaeology |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=452–65 |doi=10.1080/00438243.1999.9980423 |jstor=124963}}</ref>

From 2400&nbsp;BC to 1300&nbsp;BC, the [[Independence I culture]] existed in northern Greenland. It was a part of the [[Arctic small tool tradition|Arctic small-tool tradition]].<ref name="Greenland History">{{Cite web |title=The history of Greenland – From dog sled to snowmobile |url=http://www.greenland.com/en/about-greenland/kultur-sjael/historie.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927011214/http://www.greenland.com/en/about-greenland/kultur-sjael/historie.aspx |archive-date=27 September 2011 |access-date=10 September 2011 |publisher=Greenland.com }}</ref><ref name="Greenland Migration">{{Cite web |title=Migration to Greenland – the history of Greenland |url=http://www.greenland.com/en/about-greenland/kultur-sjael/historie/indvandringerne-til-groenland.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905074558/http://www.greenland.com/en/about-greenland/kultur-sjael/historie/indvandringerne-til-groenland.aspx |archive-date=5 September 2011 |access-date=10 September 2011 |publisher=Greenland.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rasch |first1=M. |last2=Jensen |first2=J. F. |year=1997 |title=Ancient Eskimo dwelling sites and Holocene relative sea-level changes in southern Disko Bugt, central West Greenland |journal=Polar Research |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=101–15 |bibcode=1997PolRe..16..101R |doi=10.3402/polar.v16i2.6629 }}</ref> Towns, including [[Deltaterrasserne]], appeared. About 800&nbsp;BC, the Saqqaq culture disappeared and the Early [[Dorset culture]] emerged in western Greenland and the [[Independence II culture]] in northern Greenland.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ramsden |first1=P. |last2=Tuck |first2=J. A. |year=2001 |title=A Comment on the Pre-Dorset/Dorset Transition in the Eastern Arctic |url=https://www.academia.edu/231379 |url-status=live |journal=Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska |series=New Series |volume=1 |pages=7–11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408154010/https://www.academia.edu/231379 |archive-date=2022-04-08}}</ref> The Dorset culture was the first culture to extend throughout the Greenlandic coastal areas, in the west and the east. It lasted until the total onset of the [[Thule people|Thule culture]], in AD&nbsp;1500. The people of the Dorset culture lived mainly by hunting [[Aboriginal whaling|whales]] and [[reindeer]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grønnow |first=B. |year=1986 |title=Recent archaeological investigations of West Greenland caribou hunting |journal=Arctic Anthropology |volume=23 |issue=1/2 |pages=57–80 |jstor=40316103}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rowley |first=G. |year=1940 |title=The Dorset culture of the eastern Arctic |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=490–99 |doi=10.1525/aa.1940.42.3.02a00080|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gulløv |first1=H. C. |title=The archaeology of shamanism |last2=Appelt |first2=M. |publisher=Routledge |year=2001 |isbn=0-415-25255-5 |page=146 |chapter=Social bonding and shamanism among Late Dorset groups in High Arctic Greenland}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gulløv |first=H. C. |title=In search of the Dorset culture in the Thule culture. The Paleoo Cultures of Greenland |publisher=Copenhagen: Danish Polar Center (Publication No. 1) |year=1996 |pages=201–14}}</ref>

===Norse settlement===
[[File:Runesten fra Kingittorsuaq.jpg|thumb|The [[Kingittorsuaq Runestone]] is from [[Kingittorsuaq Island]] ([[Middle Ages]]).]]
{{main|Norse settlements in Greenland}}
From 986, the west coast was settled by [[Icelanders]] and [[Norwegians]], through a contingent of 14 boats led by Erik the Red. They formed three settlements—the [[Eastern Settlement]], the [[Western Settlement]], and the [[Ivittuut|Middle Settlement]]—on fjords near the southwestern tip of the island.<ref name=Brown2000 /><ref>Kudeba, N. (19 April 2014). Chapter 5, "Norse Explorers from Erik the Red to Leif Erikson", in ''Canadian Explorers''.</ref> They shared the island with the late Dorset culture inhabitants, who occupied the northern and western parts, and later with those of the Thule culture, who entered from the north. Norse Greenlanders submitted to Norwegian rule in 1261 under the [[Kingdom of Norway (872–1397)|Kingdom of Norway]].<ref name = Encyclopedia.com>{{cite web |title=Viking Settlers in Greenland |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/viking-settlers-greenland |website=Encyclopedia.com |access-date=2023-12-18 |language=en |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610113237/https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/viking-settlers-greenland |url-status=live }}</ref> The Kingdom of Norway entered a personal union with Denmark in 1380, and from 1397 was a part of the [[Kalmar Union]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boraas |first=Tracey |url=https://archive.org/details/sweden0000bora/page/24 |title=Sweden |publisher=Capstone Press |year=2002 |isbn=0-7368-0939-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/sweden0000bora/page/24 24]}}</ref>

The Norse settlements, such as [[Brattahlíð]], thrived for centuries, before disappearing in the 15th century, perhaps at the onset of the [[Little Ice Age]].<ref name="Diamond">{{Cite book |last=Diamond |first=Jared |title=Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed |title-link=Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed |publisher=Penguin |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-14-303655-5 |location=Harmondsworth [Eng.] |author-link=Jared Diamond}}</ref> Except some runic inscriptions, the only contemporary records or [[historiography]] that survives from the Norse settlements is of their contact with Iceland or Norway. Medieval Norwegian sagas and historical works mention Greenland's economy, the bishops of [[Garðar, Greenland|Gardar]], and the collection of tithes. A chapter in the ''[[Konungs skuggsjá]]'' (''The King's Mirror'') describes [[Norse Greenland]]'s exports, imports, and grain cultivation.

[[File:Hvalsey Church.jpg|thumb|One of the last contemporary written mentions of the [[Norsemen|Norse]] Greenlanders records a marriage that took place in 1408 in the [[church of Hvalsey]], now the best-preserved Nordic ruins in Greenland. The married couple then travelled to Iceland, which is why the account has been preserved.]]
Icelandic saga accounts of life in Greenland were composed in the 13th century and later, and are not primary sources for the history of early Norse Greenland.<ref name=Grove /> Those accounts are closer to primary for more contemporaneous accounts of late Norse Greenland. Modern understanding therefore mostly depends on the physical data from archeological sites. Interpretation of [[Ice core|ice-core]] and clam-shell data suggests that between AD 800 and 1300 the regions around the fjords of southern Greenland had a relatively mild climate, several degrees Celsius warmer than usual in the North Atlantic<ref name="Arnold">Arnold C. (June 2010) "Cold Did In the Norse", ''Earth Magazine''. p. 9.</ref> with trees<!--"mild is vague" it makes people believe the climate was temperate; This sentence also suggests that trees stopped growing after 1300 and that trees don't grow in cold climates --> and [[herbaceous plant]]s growing and livestock being farmed. [[Barley]] was grown as a crop up to the 70th&nbsp;parallel.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Behringer |first=Wolfgang |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VqjESAAACAAJ |title=Kulturgeschichte des Klimas: Von der Eiszeit zur globalen Erwärmung |language=de |location=Munich |publisher=Dt. Taschenbuch-Verlag |date=9 September 2009 |isbn=978-3-406-52866-8 |access-date=18 September 2022 |archive-date=24 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230624225857/https://books.google.com/books?id=VqjESAAACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> The ice cores show that Greenland has had dramatic temperature shifts many times in the past 100,000 years.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Alley |first1=R. |last2=Mayewski |first2=P. |last3=Peel |first3=D. |last4=Stauffer |first4=B. |year=1996 |title=Twin ice cores from Greenland reveal history of climate change, more |url=https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ers_facpub/252 |url-status=live |journal=Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union |volume=77 |issue=22 |pages=209–10 |bibcode=1996EOSTr..77R.209A |doi=10.1029/96EO00142 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180414125211/https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ers_facpub/252/ |archive-date=14 April 2018 |access-date=16 August 2019}}</ref> Similarly the [[Landnámabók|Icelandic Book of Settlements]] records famines during the winters, in which "the old and helpless were killed and thrown over cliffs".<ref name=Arnold />

These [[Norse colonization of North America|Norse settlements]] vanished during the 14th and early 15th centuries.<ref>"[http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2003/07/17/2858655.htm Why societies collapse] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120802053920/http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2003/07/17/2858655.htm |date=2 August 2012 }}". ABC Science.</ref> 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 about the turn of the 14th century—as much as {{convert|6|to|8|C-change}} lower than modern summer temperatures.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Patterson |first1=W. P. |last2=Dietrich |first2=K. A. |last3=Holmden |first3=C. |last4=Andrews |first4=J. T. |date=23 March 2010 |title=Two millennia of North Atlantic seasonality and implications for Norse colonies |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=107 |issue=12 |pages=5306–5310 |bibcode=2010PNAS..107.5306P |doi=10.1073/pnas.0902522107 |pmc=2851789 |pmid=20212157|doi-access=free }}</ref> The study also found that the lowest winter temperatures of the last 2,000 years occurred in the late 14th century and early 15th century. The Eastern Settlement was probably abandoned in the early to mid-15th century, during [[Little Ice Age|this cold period]].

[[File:DanishColonialEmpire(FIX).png|thumb|Extent of the Dano-Norwegian possessions (1536–1814)]]
[[File:Dorset, Norse, and Thule cultures 900-1500.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Estimated extent of Arctic cultures in Greenland from 900 AD to 1500 AD. Colored areas on each map indicate the extent and migration patterns over time of the [[Dorset culture|Dorset]], [[Thule people|Thule]], and [[Norse colonization of North America#Norse Greenland|Norse]] cultures.]]
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, possibly because of [[Erosion|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 from [[pandemic]] plague;<ref name="IngstadIngstad2000">{{Cite book |last1=Ingstad |first1=Helge |url={{GBurl|Gj-I5hdpzGoC|p=28}} |title=The Viking Discovery of America: The Excavation of a Norse Settlement in L'Anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland |last2=Stine Ingstad |first2=Anne |publisher=Breakwater Books |year=2000 |isbn=1-55081-158-4 |pages=28–}}</ref> the decline in temperatures during the Little Ice Age; and armed conflicts with the ''[[Skræling]]s'' (Norse word for Inuit, meaning "wretches"<ref name="Diamond" />). Recent archeological studies somewhat challenge the general assumption that the Norse colonization had a dramatic negative environmental effect on the vegetation. Data support traces of a possible Norse soil amendment strategy.<ref>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</ref> More recent evidence suggests that the Norse, who never numbered more than about 2,500, gradually abandoned the Greenland settlements over the 15th century as [[walrus ivory]],<ref name="LeoneKnauf2015">{{Cite book |last1=Leone |first1=Mark P. |url={{GBurl|id=zJy4CQAAQBAJ|p=211}} |title=Historical Archaeologies of Capitalism |last2=Knauf |first2=Jocelyn E. |date=2015 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-12760-6 |page=211}}</ref> the most valuable export from Greenland, decreased in price because of competition with other sources of higher-quality ivory, and that there was actually little evidence of starvation or difficulties.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Folger |first=Tim |title=Why Did Greenland's Vikings Vanish? |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-greenland-vikings-vanished-180962119/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317033211/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-greenland-vikings-vanished-180962119/ |archive-date=17 March 2017 |access-date=13 March 2017}}</ref>

Other explanations of the disappearance of the Norse settlements have been proposed:
# Lack of support from the homeland.<ref name="IngstadIngstad2000" />
# Ship-borne marauders (such as [[Basques|Basque]], English, or German pirates) rather than ''[[Skræling]]s'', could have plundered and displaced the Greenlanders.<ref name="TriggerWashburn1996">{{Cite book |last1=Trigger |first1=Bruce G. |url={{GBurl|id=CBLPX2ARjdgC|p=331}} |title=The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas |last2=Washburn |first2=Wilcomb E. |last3=Adams |first3=Richard E. W. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-57393-9 |page=331}}</ref>
# 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 Inuit hunting gear."<ref name="Brown2000" /><ref name="Diamond" />
# That portion of the Greenlander population willing to adopt Inuit ways and means intermarried with and assimilated into the Inuit community.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stefansson |first=Vilhjalmur |title=Unsolved Mysteries of the Arctic |publisher=The Macmillan Company |year=1938 |isbn=9781878100955 |pages=1–36 |language=en}}</ref> Much of the Greenland population is mixed Inuit and European ancestry. It was impossible in 1938 when Stefansson wrote his book to distinguish between intermarriage before the European loss of contact and after the contact was restored.
# "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."<ref name="Diamond" />

===Thule culture (1300–present)===
[[File:Billeder fra Grønland 11441.tif|thumb|Pictures of Greenland, {{circa|1863}}]]
The Thule people are the ancestors of the current Greenlandic population. No genes from the Paleo-Inuit have been found in the present population of Greenland.<ref>[https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.2749691 "Inuit were not the first people to settle in the Arctic"], CBC News (Canada), 28 August 2014</ref> The Thule culture migrated eastward from what is now known as Alaska around 1000 AD, reaching Greenland around 1300. The Thule culture was the first to introduce to Greenland such technological innovations as [[dog sled]]s and [[toggling harpoon]]s.

There is an account of contact and conflict with the Norse population, as told by the Inuit. It is republished in ''The Norse Atlantic Sagas'', by Gwyn Jones. Jones reports that there is also an account of perhaps the same incident, of more doubtful provenance, told by the Norse side.

===1500–1814===
In 1500, King [[Manuel&nbsp;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 (island)|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|Ercole I d'Este]], [[Duke of Ferrara and of Modena|Duke of Ferrara]], by Alberto Cantino in 1502. The [[Cantino planisphere|''Cantino'' planisphere]], made in Lisbon, accurately depicts the southern coastline of Greenland.<ref>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.</ref>

[[File:Old Greenland 1747.jpg|thumb|[[Emanuel Bowen]] made this English map of 1747, based on [[Hans Egede]]'s descriptions and misconceptions.]]
In 1605–1607, King [[Christian IV of Denmark and Norway]] sent a [[Christian IV's expeditions to Greenland|series of expeditions]] to Greenland and Arctic waterways to locate the lost eastern Norse settlement and assert [[Denmark-Norway|Danish-Norwegian]] 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, Greenland|Cape Farewell]], which is almost inaccessible due to southward [[Drift ice|drifting ice]]. The pilot on all three trips was English explorer [[James Hall (explorer)|James Hall]].

[[File:Legende børn, ca. 1878 (8473597948).jpg|thumb|[[Nuuk|Godthåb]] in Greenland, {{circa|1878}}]]
After the Norse settlements died off, Greenland came under the de&nbsp;facto control of various Inuit groups, but the Dano-Norwegian 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&nbsp;century, Denmark-Norway asserted its sovereignty over the island. In 1721 a joint mercantile and clerical expedition led by Dano-Norwegian missionary [[Hans Egede]] was sent to Greenland, not knowing whether a Norse civilization remained there. This expedition is part of the [[Danish colonization of the Americas|Dano-Norwegian colonization of the Americas]]. After 15&nbsp;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 [[Nuuk|Godthåb]] ("Good Hope") on the southwest coast. Gradually, Greenland was opened up to Danish merchants, but closed to those from other countries.

===Treaty of Kiel to World War II (1814–1945)===
{{Main|Greenland in World War II}}
[[File:Some of the intelligent inhabitants, man, boy, and girl.jpg|thumb|upright|1869 photograph of [[Greenlandic Inuit]]]]
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.<ref>[http://www.icj-cij.org/pcij/serie_AB/AB_53/01_Groenland_Oriental_Arret.pdf ''Legal Status of Eastern Greenland''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511135249/http://www.icj-cij.org/pcij/serie_AB/AB_53/01_Groenland_Oriental_Arret.pdf |date=11 May 2011 }}, PCIJ Series A/B No. 53 (1933)</ref>

Greenland's connection to Denmark was severed on 9 April 1940, early in [[History of Greenland during World War II|World War&nbsp;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.<ref>{{Cite book |author=America First Committee |editor-last=Doenecke |editor-first=Justus D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bhnf0fxI260C |title=In Danger Undaunted: The Anti-Interventionist Movement of 1940–1941 |date=1990 |orig-date=8 July 1941 |publisher=Hoover Institution Press |isbn=0-8179-8841-6 |access-date=18 September 2022 |archive-date=30 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630095753/https://books.google.com/books?id=Bhnf0fxI260C |url-status=live }}</ref> 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]]. [[Greenland in World War II|In World War II]], the United States military used {{lang|en-US|[[Bluie]]|italics=yes}} as a code name for Greenland, where they kept several bases named "Bluie (East or West) (sequential numeral)".<ref name="sem">{{cite book | last = Morison | first = Samuel Eliot | year = 1975 | title = History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume 1: The Battle of the Atlantic September 1939&nbsp;– May 1943 | publisher = Little, Brown and Company | location = Boston |page=62}}</ref> The major air bases were [[Bluie West-1]] at [[Narsarsuaq Airport|Narsarsuaq]] and [[Bluie West-8]] at [[Kangerlussuaq Airport|Søndre Strømfjord]] (Kangerlussuaq), both of which are still used as Greenland's major international airports.

[[File:EricTheRedsLand.svg|thumb|upright|Map of Eirik Raudes Land]]
During this war, the system of government changed: [[List of governors of Greenland|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 [[Slædepatruljen Sirius|Sirius Patrol]] guarded the northeastern shores of Greenland in 1942 using dog sleds. They detected several German [[weather station]]s 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]].<ref>[[Albert Speer|Speer, Albert]]. ''Inside the Third Reich,'' 1971.</ref>

Greenland had been a protected and very isolated society until 1940. The [[Politics of Denmark|Danish government]] had maintained a strict monopoly of [[Economy of Greenland|Greenlandic trade]], allowing no more than small scale [[troaking|barter trading]] with British 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 ''[[Greenland Provincial Council|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, which recommended the introduction of a modern [[welfare state]] with Denmark's development as sponsor and model. In 1953, Greenland was made an equal part of the Danish Kingdom. Home rule was granted in 1979.

===Home rule and self-rule===
{{See also|Greenlandic independence}}
[[File:Golfbane Nuuk.JPG|thumb|The orthography and vocabulary of the Greenlandic language is governed by {{ill|Oqaasileriffik|italic=yes|kl}}, the Greenlandic language secretariat, located in the ''Ilimmarfik'' ([[University of Greenland]]), [[Nuuk]].]]
In 1867, [[United States]] [[Secretary of State]] [[William H. Seward]] worked with former senator [[Robert J. Walker]] to explore the possibility of buying Greenland and, perhaps, [[Iceland]]. Opposition in Congress ended this project.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert J. Walker on Acquiring Greenland and Iceland |url=http://rse.hi.is/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Dyer.WalkerPurchaseofIceland-2.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190816182349/http://rse.hi.is/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Dyer.WalkerPurchaseofIceland-2.pdf |archive-date=16 August 2019 |access-date=16 August 2019}}</ref> Following World War II, the United States developed a [[Geopolitics|geopolitical]] interest in Greenland and in 1946 offered to [[Proposed United States purchase of Greenland|buy the island from Denmark]] for $100,000,000; the Danish rejected the offer.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=27 January 1947 |title=Deepfreeze Defense |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,778870,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=14 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221020734/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,778870,00.html |archive-date=21 February 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=John J. |date=7 May 2001 |title=Let's Buy Greenland! — A complete missile-defense plan |work=National Review |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/nr_comment/nr_comment050701b.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107010850/http://www.nationalreview.com/nr_comment/nr_comment050701b.shtml |archive-date=7 January 2010}}</ref> In the 21st century, the United States remains interested in investing in the resource base of Greenland and in tapping hydrocarbons off the Greenlandic coast.<ref>Keil, Kathrin (29 August 2011) [https://web.archive.org/web/20150113180223/http://www.thearcticinstitute.org/2011/08/us-interest-will-us-help-greenland-to.html "U.S. Interests in Greenland – On a Path Towards Full Independence?"], The Arctic Institute</ref><ref>[http://www.andrewskurth.com/pressroom-publications-1165.html Andrews Kurth LLP, "Oil and Gas in Greenland – Still on Ice?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151019102737/https://www.andrewskurth.com/pressroom-publications-1165.html |date=19 October 2015}}, Andrewskurth.com. Retrieved on 21 June 2016.</ref> In August 2019, the US again proposed to buy the country, 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."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Selsoe Sorensen |first=Martin |date=16 August 2019 |title='Greenland Is Not for Sale': Trump's Talk of a Purchase Draws Derision |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/16/world/europe/trump-greenland |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220102/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/16/world/europe/trump-greenland |archive-date=2 January 2022 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |access-date=21 August 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

[[File:Aerial Picture Of Thule Air Base.jpg|thumb|The United States has operated [[Pituffik Space Base]], originally Thule Air Base, since the 1950s.]]
In 1950, Denmark agreed to allow the US to regain the use of [[Thule Air Base]]; it was greatly expanded between 1951 and 1953 as part of a unified [[NATO]] [[Cold War]] defence strategy. The local population of three nearby villages was moved more than {{convert|100|km|mi|abbr=in}} away in the winter. The United States tried to construct a subterranean network of secret [[Missile launch facility|nuclear missile launch sites]] in the Greenlandic ice cap, named [[Project Iceworm]]. According to documents declassified in 1996,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Petersen |first=Nikolaj |date=17 December 2007 |title=The Iceman That Never Came |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03468750701449554 |journal=Scandinavian Journal of History |publisher=Scandinavian Journal of History Volume 33, 2008 – Issue 1 |volume=33 |pages=75–98 |doi=10.1080/03468750701449554 |access-date=15 August 2020 |s2cid=142526881 |archive-date=24 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324002002/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03468750701449554 |url-status=live }}</ref> this project was managed from [[Camp Century]] from 1960 to 1966 before abandonment as unworkable.<ref>{{Cite news |date=5 August 2016 |title=A Radioactive Cold War Military Base Will Soon Emerge From Greenland's Melting Ice |work=Smithsonian |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/radioactive-cold-war-military-base-will-soon-emerge-greenlands-melting-ice-180960036/ |url-status=live |access-date=20 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190820163632/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/radioactive-cold-war-military-base-will-soon-emerge-greenlands-melting-ice-180960036/ |archive-date=20 August 2019}}</ref> The missiles were never fielded, and necessary consent from the Danish Government to do so was never sought. The Danish government did not become aware of the programme's mission until 1997, when they discovered it while looking, in the declassified documents, for records related to the [[1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash|crash]] of a nuclear equipped [[B-52]]&nbsp;bomber at Thule in 1968.<ref name="h-bomb"/>

With the 1953 Danish constitution, Greenland's colonial status ended as the island was incorporated into the Danish realm as an [[amt (country subdivision)|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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Loukacheva|first=Natalia|year=2007|url={{GBurl|id=HzPzwrUYdgkC|p=29}}|title=The Arctic Promise: Legal and Political Autonomy of Greenland and Nunavut|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413025807/https://books.google.com/books?id=HzPzwrUYdgkC&pg=PA25|archive-date=13 April 2016|url-status=live|publisher=University of Toronto Press|page=25|isbn=978-0-8020-9486-5}}</ref> 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.

[[File:20190626 Harbor 0308 (48480740237).jpg|thumb|[[Sermiligaaq]]. Greenland has more than 60 settlements.]]
This gave Greenland limited autonomy with [[Parliament of Greenland|its own legislature]] taking control of some internal policies, while the [[Folketing|Parliament of Denmark]] maintained full control of external policies, security, and natural resources. The law came into effect on 1 May 1979. The [[List of Danish monarchs|King of Denmark]], [[Frederik&nbsp;X]], remains Greenland's [[head of state]]. In 1985, Greenland [[Withdrawal of Greenland from the European Communities|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 [[pinniped|seal]] skin products.<ref>[[#Stern|Stern]], pp. 55–56</ref> Greenland voters approved a [[2008 Greenlandic self-government referendum|referendum on greater autonomy]] on 25 November 2008.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cowell |first=Alan |date=26 November 2008 |title=Greenland Vote Favors Independence |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/27/world/europe/27greenland.html |url-status=live |access-date=4 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417043301/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/27/world/europe/27greenland.html |archive-date=17 April 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=26 November 2008 |title=Vejledende folkeafstemning om selvstyre ? 25-11-2008 |url=http://www.valg.gl/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208143857/http://www.valg.gl/ |archive-date=8 December 2008 |access-date=26 November 2008 |publisher=SermitValg |language=kl}}</ref> According to one study, the 2008 vote created what "can be seen as a system between home rule and full independence".<ref>{{Cite web |title=CIDOB – Secession and Counter-secession. An International Relations Perspective |url=https://www.cidob.org/en/publications/publication_series/monographs/monographs/secession_and_counter_secession_an_international_relations_perspective |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127014249/https://www.cidob.org/en/publications/publication_series/monographs/monographs/secession_and_counter_secession_an_international_relations_perspective |archive-date=27 January 2018 |access-date=19 May 2018 |website=CIDOB |page=70}}</ref>

On 21 June 2009, Greenland gained self-rule with provisions for assuming responsibility for self-government of [[judiciary|judicial affairs]], policing, and [[natural resource]]s. Also, Greenlanders were recognized as a separate people under [[international law]].<ref>[http://www.stm.dk/_p_13090.html Description of the Greenlandic Self-Government Act on the webpage of the Danish Ministry of State] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140922104912/http://www.stm.dk/_p_13090.html |date=22 September 2014 }}"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."</ref> Denmark maintains control of [[Foreign policy|foreign affairs]] and [[Military|defence]] matters. Denmark upholds the annual block grant of 3.2&nbsp;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.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greenland/5594140/Greenland-takes-step-toward-independence-from-Denmark.html Greenland takes step toward independence from Denmark] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718214954/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greenland/5594140/Greenland-takes-step-toward-independence-from-Denmark.html |date=18 July 2018 }}. ''The Daily Telegraph'' (21 June 2009). Retrieved 29 September 2012.</ref> [[Greenlandic language|Greenlandic]] was declared the sole official language of Greenland at the historic ceremony.<ref name = selvstyre /><ref name="law" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=20 June 2009 |title=Nearly independent day |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |url=http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13854765 |url-status=live |access-date=20 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090625014014/http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13854765 |archive-date=25 June 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=19 June 2009 |title=Greenland set for self-rule |url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25659553-26040,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090624151256/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0%2C25197%2C25659553-26040%2C00.html |archive-date=24 June 2009 |access-date=20 June 2009 |website=[[The Australian]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Boswell |first=Randy |date=19 June 2009 |title=Greenland takes big step towards full independence |url=http://www.canada.com/news/Greenland+takes+step+towards+full+independence/1713910/story.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090624150211/http://www.canada.com/news/Greenland%2Btakes%2Bstep%2Btowards%2Bfull%2Bindependence/1713910/story.html |archive-date=24 June 2009 |access-date=20 June 2009 |website=Canwest News Services |publisher=Canada.com }}</ref>

==Tourism==
{{Main|Tourism in Greenland}}
Tourism increased significantly between 2015 and 2019, with the number of visitors increasing from 77,000 per year to 105,000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tourismstat.gl/resources/reports/en/r31/Tourism%20Statistics%20Report%20Greenland%202019.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204015604/http://www.tourismstat.gl/resources/reports/en/r31/Tourism%20Statistics%20Report%20Greenland%202019.pdf |archive-date=2021-02-04 |url-status=live|title=Tourism Statistics Report 2019, Greenland|access-date=12 January 2022}}</ref> One source estimated that in 2019 the revenue from this aspect of the economy was about 450 million kroner (US$67 million). Like many aspects of the economy, this slowed dramatically in 2020 and into 2021, due to restrictions required as a result of the [[COVID-19 pandemic]];<ref>{{cite web|url=https://naalakkersuisut.gl/~/media/Nanoq/Files/Attached%20Files/Finans/ENG/GOR_ny/G%C3%98R%20rapport%202020%20en.pdf|title=Greenland's Economy Autumn 2020, Summary|access-date=27 March 2021|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417155028/https://naalakkersuisut.gl/~/media/Nanoq/Files/Attached%20Files/Finans/ENG/GOR_ny/G%C3%98R%20rapport%202020%20en.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> one source describes it as being the "biggest economic victim of the coronavirus" (the overall economy did not suffer too severely as of mid-2020, thanks to the fisheries "and a hefty subsidy from Copenhagen").<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.arctictoday.com/greenlands-economy-is-poised-to-rebound-in-2021/|title=Greenland's economy is poised to rebound in 2021, 2 June 2020|date=2 June 2020|access-date=27 March 2021|archive-date=22 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522223557/https://www.arctictoday.com/greenlands-economy-is-poised-to-rebound-in-2021/|url-status=live}}</ref> Greenland's goal for returning tourism is to develop it "right" and to "build a more sustainable tourism for the long run".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cntraveler.com/story/greenland-is-approaching-tourism-slowly-and-taking-lessons-from-iceland|author=Stephanie Vermillion|title=Greenland Is Approaching Tourism Slowly—And Taking Lessons from Iceland, 24 March 2021|date=24 March 2021|access-date=20 January 2022|archive-date=16 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116105011/https://www.cntraveler.com/story/greenland-is-approaching-tourism-slowly-and-taking-lessons-from-iceland|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Geography and climate==
{{Main|Geography of Greenland|Climate of Greenland}}
{{See also|Climate of the Arctic#Greenland|Administrative divisions of Greenland|Territorial claims in the Arctic}}
[[File:Greenland ice sheet AMSL thickness map-en.png|thumb|upright=1.3|Map of Greenland]]
Greenland is the world's [[List of islands by area|largest non-continental island]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Island of Greenland |url=http://www.hiddenjourneys.co.uk/London-Vancouver/Greenland.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714184902/https://www.hiddenjourneys.co.uk/London-Vancouver/Greenland.aspx |archive-date=14 July 2014 |access-date=8 July 2014 |website=Hidden Journeys – explore the world from the air }}</ref> and the third largest area in North America after Canada and the United States.<ref>{{Cite journal |year=2008 |title=Demographic Yearbook – Table 3: Population by sex, rate of population increase, surface area, and density |url=http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2008/Table03.pdf |url-status=live |journal=[[United Nations Statistics Division]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101224062814/http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2008/Table03.pdf |archive-date=24 December 2010 |access-date=24 September 2010}}</ref> It is between latitudes [[59th parallel north|59°]] and [[83rd parallel north|83°N]], and longitudes [[11th meridian west|11°]] and [[74th meridian west|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 to Greenland are Canada, with which it shares a [[Maritime boundary|maritime border]], to the west and southwest across Nares Strait and Baffin Bay, as well as a shared land border on [[Hans Island]];<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.canada.ca/en/global-affairs/news/2022/06/boundary-dispute.html|title=Boundary dispute|publisher=[[Global Affairs Canada]]|access-date=17 July 2023|date=14 June 2022|archive-date=16 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220616002309/https://www.canada.ca/en/global-affairs/news/2022/06/boundary-dispute.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and Iceland, southeast of Greenland in the Atlantic Ocean. Greenland also contains the [[Northeast Greenland National Park|world's largest national park]], and it is the [[list of countries and dependencies by area|largest]] constituent country by area in the world, and is the [[List of the largest country subdivisions by area|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 lowest temperature ever recorded in the [[Northern Hemisphere]] was recorded in Greenland, near the topographic summit of the [[Greenland Ice Sheet]], on 22 December 1991, when the temperature reached {{convert|-69.6|C}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://public-old.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/wmo-verifies-696%C2%B0c-greenland-temperature-northern-hemisphere-record|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231218173115/https://public-old.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/wmo-verifies-696%C2%B0c-greenland-temperature-northern-hemisphere-record|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 December 2023|title=WMO verifies −69.6°C Greenland temperature as Northern hemisphere record|date=22 September 2020|website=World Meteorological Organization}}</ref> In Nuuk, the average daily temperature varies over the seasons from {{convert|-5.1|to|9.9|C}}.<ref>{{Cite web |publisher=Yu Media Group |title=Nuuk, Greenland – Detailed climate information and monthly weather forecast |url=https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/greenland/nuuk-climate |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190817152132/https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/greenland/nuuk-climate |archive-date=17 August 2019 |access-date=17 August 2019 |website=Weather Atlas |language=en}}</ref> The total area of Greenland is {{convert|2166086|km2|abbr=on}} (including other offshore minor islands), of which the [[Greenland ice sheet]] covers {{convert|1755637|km2|abbr=on}} (81%) and has a volume of approximately {{convert|2850000|km3|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=IPCC Climate Change 2001: Working Group I: The Scientific Basis |url=http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/412.htm#tab113 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071216235037/http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/412.htm |archive-date=16 December 2007 |access-date=6 September 2010 |publisher=Grida.no}}</ref> The highest point on Greenland is [[Gunnbjørn Fjeld]] at {{convert|3700|m|abbr=on}} of the [[Watkins Range]] ([[East Greenland mountain range]]). The majority of Greenland, however, is less than {{convert|1500|m|abbr=on}} in elevation.

[[File:Topographic map of Greenland bedrock.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|alt=Topographic map of Greenland|Greenland bedrock is above sea level.]]
The weight of the [[ice sheet]] has depressed the central land area to form a basin lying more than {{convert|300|m|abbr=on}} below sea level,<ref>{{Cite web |title=map (map on p. 4) |url=http://nia.ecsu.edu/ur/0708/07summerinterns/smith_cresis_greenland.ppt |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718165137/http://nia.ecsu.edu/ur/0708/07summerinterns/smith_cresis_greenland.ppt |archive-date=18 July 2011 |access-date=6 September 2010}}</ref><ref name="Atlas">DK Atlas, 2001.</ref> while elevations rise suddenly and steeply near the coast.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schneider |first=D. |year=2003 |title=American Scientist Online&nbsp;– Greenland or Whiteland? |url=http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/2003/9/greenland-or-whiteland |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510013154/http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/2003/9/greenland-or-whiteland |archive-date=10 May 2011 |access-date=3 March 2008 |publisher=Sigma Xi}}</ref>

The ice [[Ice-sheet dynamics|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.<ref name="ellensburg">"[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=860&dat=19511024&id=pWwKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xEoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5335,4712968 Find Greenland Icecap Bridges Three Islands] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412192018/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=860&dat=19511024&id=pWwKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xEoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5335,4712968 |date=12 April 2016 }}", ''Ellensburg Daily Record'', 24 October 1951, p. 6. Retrieved 13 May 2012.</ref> 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 [[List of cities and towns in Greenland|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]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The National Park |url=http://www.greenland.com/en/about-greenland/natur-klima/nationalparken.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130627011801/http://www.greenland.com/en/about-greenland/natur-klima/nationalparken.aspx |archive-date=27 June 2013 |access-date=18 June 2013 |publisher=Greenland.com }}</ref>

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 [[melting|melt]] away completely, the world's [[sea level]] would rise by more than {{convert|7|m|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Greenland Melt May Swamp LA, Other Cities, Study Says |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0408_040408_greenlandicemelt.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510010100/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0408_040408_greenlandicemelt.html |archive-date=10 May 2011 |access-date=6 September 2010 |website=National Geographic}}</ref>

In 2003, a small island, {{convert|35|x|15|m|abbr=on}} 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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McCarthy |first=Michael |date=24 April 2007 |title=An island made by global warming |work=The Independent |location=London |url=http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/climate_change/article2480994.ece |access-date=4 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830030612/http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/climate_change/article2480994.ece |archive-date=30 August 2008}}</ref> The island was named Place of the Year by the Oxford Atlas of the World in 2007.<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 December 2007 |title=Place of the Year |url=http://blog.oup.com/2007/12/place_of_the_year |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091015151345/http://blog.oup.com/2007/12/place_of_the_year/ |archive-date=15 October 2009 |access-date=6 September 2010 |publisher=Blog.oup.com}}</ref> Ben Keene, the atlas's editor, commented: 
{{Blockquote|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.<ref>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.</ref>}} 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&nbsp;century.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Revkin |first=Andrew C. |date=28 April 2008 |title=Arctic Explorer Rebuts 'Warming Island' Critique |url=http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/arctic-explorer-rebuts-critique-of-warming-island/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100927055552/http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/arctic-explorer-rebuts-critique-of-warming-island/ |archive-date=27 September 2010 |access-date=6 September 2010 |website=The New York Times}}</ref>

===Climate change===
{{See also|Climate change in the Arctic|Sea level rise}}
[[File:Greenland Meltdown 08072012 12072012.jpg|thumb|[[NASA]] graphics show the extent of the then-record melting event in July 2012.]]
Greenland ice sheet always loses some mass from [[ice calving]] at its coasts, but it used to gain more ice on average due to the accumulation of snowfall.<ref name="Noël2021">{{Cite journal |last1=Noël |first1=B. |last2=van Kampenhout |first2=L. |last3=Lenaerts |first3=J. T. M. |last4=van de Berg |first4=W. J. |last5=van den Broeke |first5=M. R. |date=19 January 2021 |title=A 21st Century Warming Threshold for Sustained Greenland Ice Sheet Mass Loss |journal=Geophysical Research Letters |volume=48 |issue=5 |page=e2020GL090471 |doi=10.1029/2020GL090471 |bibcode=2021GeoRL..4890471N |hdl=2268/301943 |s2cid=233632072 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Yet, Greenland has been warming starting from around 1900,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kjeldsen |first1=Kristian K. |last2=Korsgaard |first2=Niels J. |last3=Bjørk |first3=Anders A. |last4=Khan |first4=Shfaqat A. |last5=Box |first5=Jason E. |last6=Funder |first6=Svend |last7=Larsen |first7=Nicolaj K. |last8=Bamber |first8=Jonathan L. |last9=Colgan |first9=William |last10=van den Broeke |first10=Michiel |last11=Siggaard-Andersen |first11=Marie-Louise |last12=Nuth |first12=Christopher |last13=Schomacker |first13=Anders |last14=Andresen |first14=Camilla S. |last15=Willerslev |first15=Eske |last16=Kjær  |first16=Kurt H. |date=16 December 2015 |title=Spatial and temporal distribution of mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet since AD 1900 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=528 |issue=7582 |pages=396–400 |doi=10.1038/nature16183 |pmid=26672555 |bibcode=2015Natur.528..396K |hdl=1874/329934 |s2cid=4468824 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> and starting from 1980s, the losses became larger than the gains.<ref name="Mouginot2019">{{cite journal |last1=Mouginot |first1=Jérémie |last2=Rignot |first2=Eric |last3=Bjørk |first3=Anders A. |last4=van den Broeke |first4=Michiel |last5=Millan |first5=Romain |last6=Morlighem |first6=Mathieu |last7=Noël |first7=Brice |last8=Scheuchl |first8=Bernd |last9=Wood |first9=Michael |title=Forty-six years of Greenland Ice Sheet mass balance from 1972 to 2018 |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=20 March 2019 |volume=116 |issue=19 |pages=9239–9244 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1904242116 |pmid=31010924 |pmc=6511040 |bibcode=2019PNAS..116.9239M |doi-access=free }}</ref> After 1996, Greenland has not had a single year when it did not lose mass on average.<ref name="CB2022">{{cite web |last1=Stendel |first1=Martin |last2=Mottram |first2=Ruth |date=22 September 2022 |title=Guest post: How the Greenland ice sheet fared in 2022 |url=https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-how-the-greenland-ice-sheet-fared-in-2022/ |website=[[Carbon Brief]] |access-date=2022-10-22 |archive-date=22 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221022153851/https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-how-the-greenland-ice-sheet-fared-in-2022/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2010s, Greenland ice sheet had been melting at its fastest rate over at least the past 12,000 years, and on track to exceed that later in the century.<ref name="Briner2020">{{cite journal |last1=Briner |first1=Jason P. |last2=Cuzzone |first2=Joshua K. |last3=Badgeley | first3=Jessica A. |last4=Young |first4=Nicolás E. |last5=Steig |first5=Eric J. |last6=Morlighem |first6=Mathieu |last7=Schlegel |first7=Nicole-Jeanne |last8=Hakim |first8=Gregory J. |last9=Schaefer |first9=Joerg M. |last10=Johnson |first10=Jesse V. |last11=Lesnek |first11=Alia J. |last12=Thomas |first12=Elizabeth K. |last13=Allan |first13=Estelle |last14=Bennike |first14=Ole |last15=Cluett |first15=Allison A. |last16=Csatho |first16=Beata |last17=de Vernal |first17=Anne |last18=Downs |first18=Jacob |last19=Larour |first19=Eric |last20=Nowicki |first20=Sophie |date=30 September 2020 |title=Rate of mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet will exceed Holocene values this century |journal=Nature |volume=586 |issue=7827 |pages=70–74 |doi=10.1038/s41586-020-2742-6 |pmid=32999481 |bibcode=2020Natur.586...70B |s2cid=222147426 }}</ref> In 2012, 2019 and 2021, so-called "massive melting events" had occurred, when practically the entire surface of the ice sheet had been melting and no accumulation had been taking place.<ref>{{cite web |date=23 September 2013 |title=Greenland enters melt mode |url=http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/342767/title/Greenland_enters_melt_mode |work=Science News |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-date=5 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805043523/http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/342767/title/Greenland_enters_melt_mode |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="phys-Greenland">{{cite news |title=Record melt: Greenland lost 586 billion tons of ice in 2019 |url=https://phys.org/news/2020-08-greenland-lost-billion-tons-ice.html |access-date=6 September 2020 |work=phys.org |language=en |archive-date=13 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200913083740/https://phys.org/news/2020-08-greenland-lost-billion-tons-ice.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="MeltEvents">{{Cite web |last=Barnes |first=Adam |date=9 August 2021 |title='Massive melting event' torpedoes billions of tons of ice the whole world depends on |url=https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/climate-change/566950-massive-melting-event-torpedoes-billions-of |work=The Hill |quote=Ice cores show that these widespread melt events were really rare prior to the 21st century, but since then, we have had several melt seasons. |access-date=24 August 2021 |archive-date=25 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210825031801/https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/climate-change/566950-massive-melting-event-torpedoes-billions-of |url-status=live }}</ref> During the 2021 event, rain fell at Greenland's highest point for the first time in recorded history: an event so unexpected that the research station at the summit had no [[rain gauge]]s for the occasion.<ref name="waPoRain">{{Cite news |last=Patel |first=Kasha |date=19 August 2021 |title=Rain falls at the summit of Greenland Ice Sheet for first time on record |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/08/19/greenland-melt-august-summit-rain/ |newspaper=Washington Post |quote=Rain fell on and off for 13 hours at the station, but staff are not certain exactly how much rain fell...there are no rain gauges at the summit because no one expected it to rain at this altitude. |access-date=24 August 2021 |archive-date=19 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819221317/https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/08/19/greenland-melt-august-summit-rain/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

As with the ice losses elsewhere, the melting of Greenland contributes to sea level rise. Between 2012 and 2017, this melting had added an average of 0.68&nbsp;mm per year,<ref name="Shepherd2020">{{Cite journal |last1=Shepherd |first1=Andrew |last2=Ivins |first2=Erik |last3=Rignot |first3=Eric |last4=Smith |first4=Ben |last5=van den Broeke |first5=Michiel |last6=Velicogna |first6=Isabella |author-link6=Isabella Velicogna |last7=Whitehouse |first7=Pippa |last8=Briggs |first8=Kate |last9=Joughin |first9=Ian |last10=Krinner |first10=Gerhard |last11=Nowicki |first11=Sophie |date=12 March 2020 |title=Mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet from 1992 to 2018 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=579 |issue=7798 |pages=233–239 |doi=10.1038/s41586-019-1855-2 |pmid=31822019 |hdl=2268/242139 |s2cid=219146922 |issn=1476-4687 |url=https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/242139 |access-date=23 October 2022 |archive-date=23 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221023151210/https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/242139 |url-status=live |hdl-access=free }}</ref> which was equivalent to 37% of sea level rise from ''land ice'' sources (excluding thermal expansion of water from the continual increase in the [[ocean heat content]]).<ref name="Bamber2018">{{cite journal |last1=Bamber |first1=Jonathan L |last2=Westaway |first2=Richard M |last3=Marzeion |first3=Ben |last4=Wouters |first4=Bert |title=The land ice contribution to sea level during the satellite era |journal=Environmental Research Letters |date=1 June 2018 |volume=13 |issue=6 |page=063008 |doi=10.1088/1748-9326/aac2f0 |bibcode=2018ERL....13f3008B |doi-access=free }}</ref> By the end of the century, the melting of Greenland alone would add between ~{{cvt|6|cm|in|frac=2}} if the temperatures are kept below {{convert|2|C-change|F-change}}, to around {{cvt|13|cm|in|frac=2}} if the most intense [[climate change scenario]] with ever-increasing [[greenhouse gas emissions]] is followed.<ref name="IPCC AR6 WG1 Ch.9">{{Cite journal |last1=Fox-Kemper |first1=B. |last2=Hewitt |first2=H.T. |author2-link=Helene Hewitt |last3=Xiao |first3=C. |last4=Aðalgeirsdóttir |first4=G. |last5=Drijfhout |first5=S.S. |last6=Edwards |first6=T.L. |last7=Golledge |first7=N.R. |last8=Hemer |first8=M. |last9=Kopp |first9=R.E. |last10=Krinner |first10=G. |last11=Mix |first11=A. |date=2021 |editor-last=Masson-Delmotte |editor-first=V. |editor2-last=Zhai |editor2-first=P. |editor3-last=Pirani |editor3-first=A. |editor4-last=Connors |editor4-first=S.L. |editor5-last=Péan |editor5-first=C. |editor6-last=Berger |editor6-first=S. |editor7-last=Caud |editor7-first=N. |editor8-last=Chen |editor8-first=Y. |editor9-last=Goldfarb |editor9-first=L. |title=Chapter 9: Ocean, Cryosphere and Sea Level Change |journal=Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |url=https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Chapter09.pdf |publisher=Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, US |access-date=22 October 2022 |archive-date=24 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221024162651/https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Chapter09.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|1302}} Under this scenario, the worst case for Greenland melting could reach {{cvt|33|cm|in|frac=2}} of sea level rise equivalent.<ref name="Aschwanden2019">{{Cite journal |last1=Aschwanden |first1=Andy |last2=Fahnestock |first2=Mark A. |last3=Truffer |first3=Martin |last4=Brinkerhoff |first4=Douglas J. |last5=Hock |first5=Regine |last6=Khroulev |first6=Constantine |last7=Mottram |first7=Ruth |last8=Khan |first8=S. Abbas |date=19 June 2019 |title=Contribution of the Greenland Ice Sheet to sea level over the next millennium |journal=Science Advances |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=218–222 |language=EN |doi=10.1126/sciadv.aav9396 |pmid=31223652 |pmc=6584365 |bibcode=2019SciA....5.9396A }}</ref> The large quantities of fresh [[meltwater]] also affect the [[Atlantic meridional overturning circulation]], or AMOC, by diluting key currents, slowing it down.<ref name=PhysorgJan2016>{{cite web |date=22 January 2016 |title=Melting Greenland ice sheet may affect global ocean circulation, future climate |url=http://phys.org/news/2016-01-greenland-ice-sheet-affect-global.html |publisher=Phys.org |access-date=25 January 2016 |archive-date=19 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230819184753/https://phys.org/news/2016-01-greenland-ice-sheet-affect-global.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yang |first1=Qian |last2=Dixon |first2=Timothy H. |last3=Myers |first3=Paul G. |last4=Bonin |first4=Jennifer |last5=Chambers |first5=Don |last6=van den Broeke |first6=M. R. |last7=Ribergaard |first7=Mads H. |last8=Mortensen |first8=John |title=Recent increases in Arctic freshwater flux affects Labrador Sea convection and Atlantic overturning circulation |journal=Nature Communications |date=22 January 2016 |volume=7 |page=10525 |doi=10.1038/ncomms10525 |pmid=26796579 |pmc=4736158 |bibcode=2016NatCo...710525Y }}</ref> Due to this meltwater input, the circulation may even collapse outright, with widespread detrimental effects, although research suggests this is only likely if highest possible warming is sustained for multiple centuries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bakker |first1=P |last2=Schmittner |first2=A |last3=Lenaerts |first3=JT |last4=Abe-Ouchi |first4=A |last5=Bi |first5=D |last6=van den Broeke |first6=MR |last7=Chan |first7=WL |last8=Hu |first8=A |last9=Beadling |first9=RL |last10=Marsland |first10=SJ |last11=Mernild |first11=SH |last12=Saenko |first12=OA |last13=Swingedouw |first13=D |last14=Sullivan |first14=A |last15=Yin |first15=J |date=11 November 2016 |title=Fate of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation: Strong decline under continued warming and Greenland melting |journal=Geophysical Research Letters |volume=43 |issue=23 |pages=12,252–12,260 |doi=10.1002/2016GL070457|bibcode=2016GeoRL..4312252B |hdl=10150/622754 |s2cid=133069692 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Canadell |first1=J.G. |last2=Monteiro |first2=P.M.S. |last3=Costa |first3=M.H. |last4=Cotrim da Cunha |first4=L. |last5=Cox |first5=P.M. |last6=Eliseev |first6=A.V. |last7=Henson |first7=S. |last8=Ishii |first8=M. |last9=Jaccard |first9=S. |last10=Koven |first10=C. |last11=Lohila |first11=A. |editor-last=Masson-Delmotte |editor-first=V. |editor2-last=Zhai |editor2-first=P. |editor3-last=Piran |editor3-first=A. |editor4-last=Connors |editor4-first=S.L. |editor5-last=Péan |editor5-first=C. |editor6-last=Berger |editor6-first=S. |editor7-last=Caud |editor7-first=N. |editor8-last=Chen |editor8-first=Y. |editor9-last=Goldfarb |editor9-first=L. |title=Global Carbon and Other Biogeochemical Cycles and Feedbacks |url=https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Chapter05.pdf |journal=Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. 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[[File:Höning 2023 GIS thresholds.jpg|thumb|Potential equilibrium states of the ice sheet in response to different equilibrium carbon dioxide concentrations in [[parts per million]]. Second and third states would result in {{convert|1.8|and|2.4|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} of sea level rise, while the fourth state is equivalent to {{convert|6.9|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Höning2023">{{Cite journal |last1=Höning |first1=Dennis |last2=Willeit |first2=Matteo |last3=Calov |first3=Reinhard |last4=Klemann |first4=Volker |last5=Bagge |first5=Meike |last6=Ganopolski |first6=Andrey |date=27 March 2023 |title=Multistability and Transient Response of the Greenland Ice Sheet to Anthropogenic CO2 Emissions |journal=Geophysical Research Letters |volume=50 |issue=6 |page=e2022GL101827 |doi=10.1029/2022GL101827 |s2cid=257774870}}</ref>]]

Greenland ice sheet has a great volume of ~{{convert|2900000|km3|cumi|-3}}. This means that if it were all to melt, the global sea levels would increase by ~{{convert|7.4|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} from that alone.<ref name="BBC2017">{{cite web |title=How Greenland would look without its ice sheet |date=14 December 2017 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42260580 |publisher=[[BBC News]] |access-date=7 December 2023 |archive-date=7 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207201039/https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42260580 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, it also means that it will take at least 1,000 years for the ice sheet to disappear even with very high warming,<ref name="Aschwanden2019" /> and in around 10,000 years under lower warming which still crosses the threshold for the ice sheet's disappearance.<ref name="ArmstrongMcKay2022">{{Cite journal |last1=Armstrong McKay |first1=David |last2=Abrams |first2=Jesse |last3=Winkelmann |first3=Ricarda |last4=Sakschewski |first4=Boris |last5=Loriani |first5=Sina |last6=Fetzer |first6=Ingo |last7=Cornell |first7=Sarah |last8=Rockström |first8=Johan |last9=Staal |first9=Arie |last10=Lenton |first10=Timothy |date=9 September 2022 |title=Exceeding 1.5°C global warming could trigger multiple climate tipping points |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn7950 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=377 |issue=6611 |pages=eabn7950 |doi=10.1126/science.abn7950 |pmid=36074831 |hdl=10871/131584 |s2cid=252161375 |issn=0036-8075 |hdl-access=free |access-date=22 October 2022 |archive-date=14 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221114143835/https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn7950 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="ArmstrongMcKay2022Explainer">{{Cite web |last=Armstrong McKay |first=David |date=9 September 2022 |title=Exceeding 1.5°C global warming could trigger multiple climate tipping points – paper explainer |url=https://climatetippingpoints.info/2022/09/09/climate-tipping-points-reassessment-explainer/ |access-date=2 October 2022 |website=climatetippingpoints.info |language=en |archive-date=18 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230718085705/https://climatetippingpoints.info/2022/09/09/climate-tipping-points-reassessment-explainer/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This threshold likely lies for the global warming between {{convert|1.7|C-change|F-change}} and {{convert|2.3|C-change|F-change}}. Reducing the warming back to {{convert|1.5|C-change|F-change}} above preindustrial levels or lower (such as through large-scale [[carbon dioxide removal]]) would arrest the losses, but still cause greater ultimate sea level rise than if the threshold had never been exceeded.<ref name="Bochow2023">{{cite journal |last1=Bochow |first1=Nils |last2=Poltronieri |first2=Anna |last3=Robinson |first3=Alexander |last4=Montoya |first4=Marisa |last5=Rypdal |first5=Martin |last6=Boers |first6=Niklas |date=18 October 2023 |title=Overshooting the critical threshold for the Greenland ice sheet |journal=Nature |volume=622 |issue=7983 |pages=528–536 |bibcode=2023Natur.622..528B |doi=10.1038/s41586-023-06503-9 |pmc=10584691 |pmid=37853149}}</ref> Further, {{convert|1.5|C-change|F-change}} itself appears to commit the ice sheet to {{cvt|1.4|m|ft|frac=2}} of sea level rise.<ref name="Christ2023">{{Cite journal |last1=Christ |first1=Andrew J. |last2=Rittenour |first2=Tammy M. |last3=Bierman |first3=Paul R. |last4=Keisling |first4=Benjamin A. |last5=Knutz |first5=Paul C. |last6=Thomsen |first6=Tonny B. |last7=Keulen |first7=Nynke |last8=Fosdick |first8=Julie C. |last9=Hemming |first9=Sidney R. |last10=Tison |first10=Jean-Louis |last11=Blard | first11=Pierre-Henri |last12=Steffensen |first12=Jørgen P. |last13=Caffee |first13=Marc W. |last14=Corbett |first14=Lee B. |last15=Dahl-Jensen |first15=Dorthe |last16=Dethier |first16=David P. |last17=Hidy |first17=Alan J. |last18=Perdrial |first18=Nicolas |last19=Peteet |first19=Dorothy M. |last20=Steig |first20=Eric J. |last21=Thomas |first21=Elizabeth K. |date=20 July 2023 |title=Deglaciation of northwestern Greenland during Marine Isotope Stage 11 |journal=Science |volume=381 |issue=6655 |pages=330–335 |doi=10.1126/science.ade4248 |pmid=37471537 |bibcode=2023Sci...381..330C |s2cid=259985096 }}</ref>

===Geology===
The island was part of the very ancient Precambrian continent of [[Laurentia]], the eastern core of which forms the Greenland Shield, while the less exposed coastal strips become a plateau. On these ice-free coastal strips are sediments formed in the [[Precambrian]], overprinted by metamorphism and now formed by glaciers, which continue into the Cenozoic and Mesozoic in parts of the island.

In the east and west of Greenland there are remnants of flood [[basalts]] and igneous intrusions, such as the [[Skaergaard intrusion]]. Notable rock provinces ([[metamorphic]] igneous rocks, ultramafics, and anorthosites) are found on the southwest coast at Qeqertarsuatsiaat. East of Nuuk, the banded iron ore region of Isukasia, over three billion years old, contains the world's oldest rocks, such as greenlandite (a rock composed predominantly of hornblende and hyperthene), formed 3.8 billion years ago,<ref>{{Cite web|date=9 March 2013|title=Banded iron formation (BIF) deposits|url=http://www.geus.dk/minex/go_fs16.pdf|access-date=20 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309083735/http://www.geus.dk/minex/go_fs16.pdf|archive-date=9 March 2013}}</ref> and nuummite. In southern Greenland, the Illimaussaq alkaline complex consists of [[pegmatites]] such as nepheline, syenites (especially kakortokite or naujaite) and sodalite (sodalite-foya). In Ivittuut, where cryolite was formerly mined, there are [[fluoride]]-bearing pegmatites. To the north of Igaliku, there are the Gardar alkaline pegmatitic intrusions of augite syenite, gabbro, etc.

To the west and southwest are [[Palaeozoic]] carbonatite complexes at Kangerlussuaq (Gardiner complex) and Safartoq, and basic and ultrabasic igneous rocks at Uiffaq on Disko Island, where there are masses of heavy [[native iron]] up to {{convert|25|tonne|ST|abbr=on}} in the basalts.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mineralienatlas – Fossilienatlas|url=https://www.mineralienatlas.de/lexikon/index.php/Gr%C3%B6nland?lang=de|access-date=20 April 2021|website=www.mineralienatlas.de|language=de|archive-date=10 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610113248/https://www.mineralienatlas.de/lexikon/index.php/Gr%C3%B6nland?lang=de|url-status=live}}</ref>

The paleontology of East Greenland is specially rich, with some of the early tetrapods<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Marzola |first1=Marco |last2=Mateus |first2=Octávio |last3=Milàn |first3=Jesper |last4=Clemmensen |first4=Lars B. |date=2018-03-03 |title=A review of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic tetrapods from Greenland |journal=Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark |volume=66 |pages=21–46 |doi=10.37570/bgsd-2018-66-02 |issn=2245-7070|doi-access=free }}</ref> such as the Devonian [[Acanthostega]] and [[Ichthyostega]], and unique triassic animals such as the phytosaur [[Mystriosuchus|Mystriosuchus alleroq]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=López-Rojas |first1=Víctor |last2=Clemmensen |first2=Lars B. |last3=Milàn |first3=Jesper |last4=Wings |first4=Oliver |last5=Klein |first5=Nicole |last6=Mateus |first6=Octávio |date=2022-09-30 |title=A new phytosaur species (Archosauriformes) from the Upper Triassic of Jameson Land, central East Greenland |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |language=en |volume=42 |issue=3 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2023.2181086 |s2cid=257756028 |issn=0272-4634|doi-access=free |bibcode=2022JVPal..42E1086L }}</ref> and the dinosaurs [[Issi|Issi saaneq]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Beccari |first1=Victor |last2=Mateus |first2=Octávio |last3=Wings |first3=Oliver |last4=Milàn |first4=Jesper |last5=Clemmensen |first5=Lars B. |date=November 2021 |title=Issi saaneq gen. et sp. nov.—A New Sauropodomorph Dinosaur from the Late Triassic (Norian) of Jameson Land, Central East Greenland |journal=Diversity |language=en |volume=13 |issue=11 |pages=561 |doi=10.3390/d13110561 |issn=1424-2818 |doi-access=free |hdl=10362/128951 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> and tracks.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lallensack |first1=Jens |last2=Klein |first2=Hendrik |last3=Milán |first3=Jesper |last4=Wings |first4=Oliver |last5=Mateus |first5=Octávio |last6=Clemmensen |first6=Lars |date=2017 |title=Sauropodomorph dinosaur trackways from the Fleming Fjord Formation of East Greenland: evidence for Late Triassic sauropods |journal=Acta Palaeontologica Polonica |volume=62 |doi=10.4202/app.00374.2017 |s2cid=91179289 |issn=0567-7920|doi-access=free |hdl=10362/33146 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

==Biodiversity==
{{See also|Flora and fauna of Greenland|Reindeer hunting in Greenland|Fishing industry in Greenland|Whaling#Greenland}}
[[File:Greenland-musk-ox hg.jpg|thumb|[[Muskox]]en in Greenland]]
Greenland is home to two ecoregions: [[Kalaallit Nunaat high arctic tundra]] and [[Kalaallit Nunaat low arctic tundra]].<ref name="DinersteinOlson2017">{{cite journal|last1=Dinerstein|first1=Eric|last2=Olson|first2=David|last3=Joshi|first3=Anup|last4=Vynne|first4=Carly|last5=Burgess|first5=Neil D.|last6=Wikramanayake|first6=Eric|last7=Hahn|first7=Nathan|last8=Palminteri|first8=Suzanne|last9=Hedao|first9=Prashant|last10=Noss|first10=Reed|last11=Hansen|first11=Matt|last12=Locke|first12=Harvey|last13=Ellis|first13=Erle C|last14=Jones|first14=Benjamin|last15=Barber|first15=Charles Victor|last16=Hayes|first16=Randy|last17=Kormos|first17=Cyril|last18=Martin|first18=Vance|last19=Crist|first19=Eileen|last20=Sechrest|first20=Wes|last21=Price|first21=Lori|last22=Baillie|first22=Jonathan E. M.|last23=Weeden|first23=Don|last24=Suckling|first24=Kierán|last25=Davis|first25=Crystal|last26=Sizer|first26=Nigel|last27=Moore|first27=Rebecca|last28=Thau|first28=David|last29=Birch|first29=Tanya|last30=Potapov|first30=Peter|last31=Turubanova|first31=Svetlana|last32=Tyukavina|first32=Alexandra|last33=de Souza|first33=Nadia|last34=Pintea|first34=Lilian|last35=Brito|first35=José C.|last36=Llewellyn|first36=Othman A.|last37=Miller|first37=Anthony G.|last38=Patzelt|first38=Annette|last39=Ghazanfar|first39=Shahina A.|last40=Timberlake|first40=Jonathan|last41=Klöser|first41=Heinz|last42=Shennan-Farpón|first42=Yara|last43=Kindt|first43=Roeland|last44=Lillesø|first44=Jens-Peter Barnekow|last45=van Breugel|first45=Paulo|last46=Graudal|first46=Lars|last47=Voge|first47=Maianna|last48=Al-Shammari|first48=Khalaf F.|last49=Saleem|first49=Muhammad|title=An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm|journal=BioScience|volume=67|issue=6|year=2017|pages=534–545|issn=0006-3568|doi=10.1093/biosci/bix014|pmid=28608869|pmc=5451287|doi-access=free}}</ref> 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 hunting in Greenland#Three subspecies in Greenland|reindeer]] (introduced by Europeans), [[arctic fox]], [[arctic hare]], [[musk ox]], [[Northern collared lemming|collared lemming]], [[Stoat|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 [[Pinniped|seals]] and [[whale]]s 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.<ref name="wildlife">{{Cite web |year=2014 |title=Greenland Wildlife |url=http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Natur_og_miljø/Zoologi/Dyreliv:_Danmark,_Færøerne,_Grønland/Grønland_(Dyreliv) |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313204254/http://denstoredanske.dk/Natur_og_milj%C3%B8/Zoologi/Dyreliv:_Danmark,_F%C3%A6r%C3%B8erne,_Gr%C3%B8nland/Gr%C3%B8nland_(Dyreliv) |archive-date=13 March 2016 |access-date=8 October 2015 |website=Redaction |publisher=The Great Danish Encyclopedia}}</ref>

[[Phytogeography|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, such as [[flowering plant]]s, [[fern]]s, [[horsetail]]s and [[lycopodiophyta]]. Of the other groups, the [[lichen]]s are the most diverse, with about 950 species; there are 600–700 species of fungi; [[moss]]es and [[bryophyte]]s are also found. Most of Greenland's higher plants have [[wikt:Special:Search/circumpolar|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 [[Vicia cracca|cow vetch]].

[[File:Greenland 377 (34999131992).jpg|thumb|The [[Greenland Dog]] was brought from Siberia 1,000 years ago.]]
The terrestrial vertebrates of Greenland include the [[Greenland dog]], which was introduced by the [[Inuit]], as well as [[Ethnic groups in Europe|European]]-introduced species such as [[Greenlandic sheep]], [[goat]]s, [[cattle]], [[reindeer]], [[horse]], [[chicken]] and [[sheepdog]], all descendants of animals imported by Europeans.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} [[Marine mammals]] include the [[hooded seal]] (''Cystophora cristata'') as well as the [[grey seal]] (''Halichoerus grypus'').<ref name="brit1911">"Greenland". ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', Eleventh Edition.</ref> [[Whale]]s frequently pass very close to Greenland's shores in the late summer and early autumn. Whale species include the [[beluga whale]], [[blue whale]], [[bowhead whale|Greenland whale]], [[fin whale]], [[humpback whale]], [[minke whale]], [[narwhal]], [[pilot whale]], [[sperm whale]].<ref name="guide">{{Cite web |date=n.d. |title=Animal life in Greenland – an introduction by the tourist board |url=http://www.greenland-guide.gl/animal_life.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120427231950/http://www.greenland-guide.gl/animal_life.htm |archive-date=27 April 2012 |access-date=1 May 2012 |website=Greenland Guide |publisher=Narsaq Tourist Office}}</ref>

[[File:Tail_of_Humpback_Whale_Megaptera_novaeangliae_in_Disko_Bay_Greenland_-_Buiobuone_02.jpg|thumb|Humpback whale, ''Megaptera novaeangliae'', in Disko Bay near Ilulissat]]
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, such as [[Atlantic salmon]] and [[Salvelinus|charr]].<ref name="Moller2010">{{Cite journal |last1=Møller |first1=P. R. |last2=Nielsen |first2=J. |last3=Knudsen |first3=S. W. |last4=Poulsen |first4=J. Y. |last5=Sünksen |first5=K. |last6=Jørgensen |first6=O. A. |year=2010 |title=A checklist of the fish fauna of Greenland waters |journal=Zootaxa |volume=2378 |issue=1 |pages=1–84 |isbn=978-1-86977-468-4 |oclc=551668689}}</ref> The [[fishing industry]] is the primary industry of Greenland's economy, accounting for the majority of territory's total exports.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Economy and Industry in Greenland - Naalakkersuisut |url=https://naalakkersuisut.gl/en/About-government-of-greenland/About-Greenland/Economy-and-Industry-in-Greenland |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402143435/https://naalakkersuisut.gl/en/About-government-of-greenland/About-Greenland/Economy-and-Industry-in-Greenland |archive-date=2 April 2019 |access-date=17 August 2019 |website=naalakkersuisut.gl}}</ref>

Birds, particularly seabirds, are an important part of Greenland's animal life; they consist of both [[Palearctic realm|Palearctic]] and [[Nearctic realm|Nearctic]] species, breeding populations of [[auk]]s, [[puffin]]s, [[skua]]s, and [[kittiwake]]s are found on steep mountainsides.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Durinck|first1=Jan|last2=Falk|first2=Knud|date=1996|title=The distribution and abundance of seabirds off southwestern Greenland in autumn and winter 1988-1989|journal=[[Polar Research]]|volume=15|issue=1|pages=23–42|doi=10.3402/polar.v15i1.6634 |bibcode=1996PolRe..15...23D |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Mehlum|first=Fridtjof|journal=Skrifter|title=Summer distribution of seabirds in northern Greenland and Barents Seas|publisher=[[Norwegian Polar Institute|Norsk Polarinstitutt]]|isbn=82-90307-53-5|date=April 1989}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://peakvisor.com/adm/greenland-2184073.html#ecology|title=Greenland|publisher=PeakVisor|accessdate=October 2, 2023|archive-date=12 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231012113809/https://peakvisor.com/adm/greenland-2184073.html#ecology|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite report|url=https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/items/e2bbfd7c-6668-4b3e-aa1a-a7fc65497bfd|title=Seabird Harvest in the Arctic - Prepared by the Circumpolar Seabird Group (CBird)|publisher=Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna|date=September 2008|accessdate=October 2, 2023|archive-date=29 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230929122742/https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/items/e2bbfd7c-6668-4b3e-aa1a-a7fc65497bfd|url-status=live}}</ref> 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]], [[Rock ptarmigan|ptarmigan]], [[short-eared owl]], [[snowy owl]], [[gyrfalcon]] and [[white-tailed eagle]].<ref name="wildlife" />

==Politics==
{{Main|Politics of Greenland}}
{{See also|2021 Greenlandic general election|Greenland and the European Union|Politics of Denmark}}

{{multiple image
 | footer_align = center
 | caption_align = center
 | image1 = Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark in 2021.jpg
 | caption1 = [[Frederik X]], [[King of Denmark]]
 | image2 = Mette Frederiksen 20120501.jpg
 | caption2 = [[Prime Minister of Denmark|Prime Minister]] [[Mette Frederiksen]]
 | image3 = Múte Bourup Egede May 2021.jpg
 | caption3 = [[Premier of Greenland|Premier]]<br /> [[Múte Bourup Egede]]
 | total_width = 300
 }}

[[File:EU OCT and OMR map en.png|thumb|The [[Special member state territories and the European Union|special territories of the European Union]] (before 31 January 2020)]]
[[File:Nuuk-centrum.jpg|thumb|Nuuk is Greenland's capital and the seat of the government.]]
The Greenlandic government holds [[executive power]] in local government affairs. The head of the government is called ''[[Naalakkersuisut Siulittaasuat]]'' ("Premier") and serves as head of Greenlandic Government. Any other member of the cabinet is called a ''[[Minister (government)|Naalakkersuisoq]]'' ("Minister"). The Greenlandic parliament is called ''[[Inatsisartut]]'' ("Legislators"). The parliament currently has 31 members.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inatsisartut |url=https://ina.gl/organisation/sammensaetning-af-inatsisartut/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817182125/http://ina.gl/organisation/sammensaetning-af-inatsisartut/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 August 2018 |access-date=29 December 2020 |publisher=Inatsisartut.gl |language=kl }}</ref>

In contemporary times, elections are held at municipal, national (''[[Inatsisartut]]''), and kingdom (''[[Folketing]]'') levels.

Greenland is a self-governing entity within the [[constitutional monarchy]] of the Kingdom of Denmark, in which [[King Frederik X]] is the head of state. The monarch officially retains [[Executive (government)|executive power]] and presides over the [[Danish Council of State|Council of State]] ([[privy council]]).<ref>"The executive power is vested in the King." [http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/da00000_.html The Constitution of Denmark – Section 3.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710092702/http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/da00000_.html |date=10 July 2011 }}</ref><ref>"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..." [http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/da00000_.html The Constitution of Denmark – Section 17.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710092702/http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/da00000_.html |date=10 July 2011 }}</ref> However, following the introduction of a [[parliamentary system]] of government, the duties of the monarch have since become strictly representative and [[ceremonial]],<ref>[http://kongehuset.dk/english/the-monarchy-in-denmark/the-monarchy-today The Monarchy today] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215082552/http://kongehuset.dk/english/the-monarchy-in-denmark/the-monarchy-today |date=15 February 2015 }} – ''The Danish Monarchy'' (kongehuset.dk). Access date: 16 June 2012</ref> such as the formal appointment and dismissal of the [[Prime Minister of Denmark|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.<ref>"The King shall not be answerable for his actions; his person shall be sacrosanct." [http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/da00000_.html The Constitution of Denmark – Section 13.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710092702/http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/da00000_.html |date=10 July 2011 }}</ref>

===Political system===
The party system was dominated by the social-democratic [[Forward (Greenland)|Forward]] Party, and the democratic socialist [[Inuit Community]] Party, both of which broadly argue for greater independence from Denmark. While the [[2009 Greenlandic parliamentary election|2009 election]] saw the unionist [[Democrats (Greenland)|Democrat]] Party (two&nbsp;MPs) decline greatly, the [[2013 Greenlandic parliamentary election|2013 election]] consolidated the power of the two main parties at the expense of the smaller groups, and saw the [[Eco-socialism|eco-socialist]] [[Inuit Party]] elected to the [[Parliament of Greenland|Parliament]] for the first time. The dominance of the Forward and Inuit Community parties began to wane after the snap [[2014 Greenlandic general election|2014]] and [[2018 Greenlandic general election|2018]] elections.

The non-binding [[2008 Greenlandic self-government referendum|2008 referendum on self-governance]] favouring increased self-governance and autonomy was passed winning 76.22% of the vote.

In 1985, [[Greenland–European Union relations|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 through its associated relationship with the EU. However, EU law largely does not apply to Greenland except in the area of trade. Greenland is designated as a member of the [[Special member state territories and the European Union|Overseas Countries and Territories]] (OCT) and is thus officially not a part of the [[European Union]], though Greenland can and does receive support from the [[European Development Fund]], [[Multiannual Financial Framework]], [[European Investment Bank]] and EU Programmes.<ref name="euprofile">{{Cite web |title=EU Relations with Greenland |url=http://www.eeas.europa.eu/greenland/index_en.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609050531/http://eeas.europa.eu/greenland/index_en.htm |archive-date=9 June 2011 |access-date=3 October 2020 |publisher=European Union}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) |url=http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/development/overseas_countries_territories/index_en.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813192112/http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/development/overseas_countries_territories/index_en.htm |archive-date=13 August 2011 |access-date=3 October 2020 |publisher=European Union}}</ref>

===Government===
{{Main|Politics of Greenland}}
[[File:Greenland-municipalities-2018.svg|thumb|upright|Municipalities of Greenland]]
Greenland's [[head of state]] is [[King Frederik X]]. The King's [[politics of Denmark|government in Denmark]] appoints a [[List of Danish High Commissioners in Greenland|high commissioner]] (''Rigsombudsmand'') to represent it on the island. The commissioner is [[Julie Præst Wilche]].

The Greenland constituency elect two [[List of members of the Folketing|MP]] representatives to the Kingdom Parliament (''[[Folketing]]et'') in Denmark, out of a total of 179. The current representatives are [[Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam]] of the [[Siumut]] Party and [[Aaja Chemnitz Larsen]] of the [[Inuit Community]] Party.<ref>[http://www.ft.dk/ Folketinget – Folketinget.dk] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150628025221/http://www.ft.dk/ |date=28 June 2015 }}. Ft.dk. Retrieved on 21 June 2016.</ref>

Greenland has national [[Parliament of Greenland|Parliament]] that consists of [[List of members of the parliament of Greenland|31 representatives]]. The government is the [[Naalakkersuisut]] whose members are appointed by the premier. The [[head of government]] is the [[List of Premiers of Greenland|premier]], usually the leader of the majority party in Parliament. The premier is [[Múte Bourup Egede]] of the [[Inuit Ataqatigiit]] party.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Múte Egede er ny formand for Naalakkersuisut|url=https://knr.gl/da/nyheder/m%C3%BAte-egede-er-ny-formand-naalakkersuisut|access-date=23 April 2021|website=KNR|language=da|archive-date=25 April 2022|archive-url=https://archive.today/20220425182002/https://knr.gl/da/nyheder/m%C3%BAte-egede-er-ny-formand-naalakkersuisut|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Military===
{{main article|Military of Greenland}}
Several American and Danish military bases are located in Greenland, including [[Pituffik Space Base]] (previously Thule Air Base), which is home to the [[United States Space Force]]'s global network of sensors providing missile warning, space surveillance and space control to [[North American Aerospace Defense Command]] (NORAD). Elements of the sensor systems are commanded and controlled variously by Space Deltas [[Space Delta 2|2]], [[Space Delta 4|4]], and [[Space Delta 6|6]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=16 August 2019 |title=Trump reportedly wants to 'buy' Greenland. This is what it's like at the US's Arctic base there |work=Business Insider |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/serve-at-thule-air-base-in-greenland-2019-8 |url-status=live |access-date=19 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190819203046/https://www.businessinsider.com/serve-at-thule-air-base-in-greenland-2019-8 |archive-date=19 August 2019}}</ref>

In 1995, a political scandal in Denmark occurred after a report revealed the government had given tacit permission for [[Nuclear weapons of the United States|nuclear weapons]] to be located in Greenland, in contravention of Denmark's 1957 [[nuclear-free zone]] policy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hansen |first=H. C. |author-link=H. C. Hansen |date=16 November 1957 |title=Danish Prime Minister Gives Tacit Go-Ahead For U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Greenland |url=http://www.nautilus.org/archives/library/security/foia/DKhansen57.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071106145717/http://www.nautilus.org/archives/library/security/foia/DKhansen57.html |archive-date=6 November 2007 |access-date=20 March 2009 |publisher=The Nautilus Institute }}</ref><ref name="h-bomb">{{Cite news |date=21 January 2018 |title=Cataclysmic cargo: The hunt for four missing nuclear bombs after a B-52 crash |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/01/21/cataclysmic-cargo-the-hunt-for-four-missing-nuclear-bombs-after-a-b-52-crash/?noredirect=on |access-date=20 August 2019 |archive-date=7 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607060100/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/01/21/cataclysmic-cargo-the-hunt-for-four-missing-nuclear-bombs-after-a-b-52-crash/?noredirect=on |url-status=live }}</ref> The United States built a secret nuclear powered base, called [[Camp Century]], in the Greenland ice sheet.<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 March 2019 |title=A Top-Secret US Military Base Will Melt Out of the Greenland Ice Sheet |work=VICE Magazine |url=https://www.vice.com/en_asia/article/d3wdb7/cold-war-era-nuclear-base-camp-century-melting-climate-change-greenland |url-status=live |access-date=20 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190820161848/https://www.vice.com/en_asia/article/d3wdb7/cold-war-era-nuclear-base-camp-century-melting-climate-change-greenland |archive-date=20 August 2019}}</ref> On 21 January 1968, a B-52G, with four nuclear bombs aboard as part of [[Operation Chrome Dome]], [[1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash|crashed on the ice]] of the North Star Bay while attempting an emergency landing at [[Pituffik Space Base|Thule Air Base]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=14 November 2008 |title=The Cold War's Missing Atom Bombs |work=Der Spiegel |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-nuclear-needle-in-a-haystack-the-cold-war-s-missing-atom-bombs-a-590513.html |url-status=live |access-date=20 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190627105727/https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-nuclear-needle-in-a-haystack-the-cold-war-s-missing-atom-bombs-a-590513.html |archive-date=27 June 2019}}</ref> The resulting fire caused extensive radioactive contamination.<ref>{{Cite news |date=3 June 2019 |title=US B-52 nuclear bomber crash in Greenland 51 years ago has ill Danes seeking compensation |work=Fox News |url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/us-b-52-nuclear-bomber-crash-in-greenland-51-years-ago-has-ill-danes-seeking-compensation |url-status=live |access-date=20 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608024754/https://www.foxnews.com/us/us-b-52-nuclear-bomber-crash-in-greenland-51-years-ago-has-ill-danes-seeking-compensation |archive-date=8 June 2019}}</ref> One of the [[Thermonuclear weapon|H-bombs]] remains lost.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Corera |first=Gordon |date=10 November 2008 |title=Mystery of lost US nuclear bomb |publisher=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7720049.stm |access-date=22 August 2019 |archive-date=23 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023165716/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7720049.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=11 November 2008 |title=US left nuclear weapon under ice in Greenland |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greenland/3439318/US-left-nuclear-weapon-under-ice-in-Greenland.html |url-status=live |access-date=20 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190820163632/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greenland/3439318/US-left-nuclear-weapon-under-ice-in-Greenland.html |archive-date=20 August 2019}}</ref>

===Administrative divisions===
{{Main|Administrative divisions of Greenland}}
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" ({{langx|kl|kommuneqarfiit}}, {{langx|da|kommuner}}): ''[[Sermersooq]]'' ("Much Ice") around the capital [[Nuuk]] and also including all [[Tunu|East Coast]] communities; ''[[Kujalleq]]'' ("South") around [[Cape Farewell, Greenland|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]]. [[Pituffik Space Base]] is also unincorporated, an enclave within Avannaata municipality. As a [[Concessions and leases in international relations|territorial concession]] granted to the United States in perpetuity, it is administered by the [[United States Space 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==
{{Main|Economy of Greenland}}
The Greenlandic economy is highly dependent on fishing. Fishing accounts for more than 90% of Greenland's exports.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Walsh |first=Maurice |date=28 January 2017 |title='You can't live in a museum': the battle for Greenland's uranium |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/28/greenland-narsaq-uranium-mine-dividing-town |url-status=live |access-date=28 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170129005150/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/28/greenland-narsaq-uranium-mine-dividing-town |archive-date=29 January 2017 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> The [[shrimp]] and [[fish]] industry is by far the largest income earner.<ref name="cia-factbook">{{Cite web |title=Greenland |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/greenland/ |access-date=15 May 2007 |website=[[The World Factbook|CIA World Factbook]] |archive-date=9 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109162939/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/greenland/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Greenland is abundant in minerals.<ref name=":0" /> 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]]. 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. Another state company, [[Nunaoil]], was created to help develop the hydrocarbon industry in Greenland. However, in July 2021, Greenland banned all new oil and gas exploration in its territory, with government officials stating that the environmental "price of oil extraction is too high".<ref>{{cite news |last1=COHEN |first1=LI |title=Greenland halts new oil exploration to combat climate change and focus on sustainable development |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/greenland-ends-oil-exploration-to-combat-climate-change-and-focus-on-sustainable-development/ |access-date=20 July 2021 |agency=CBC |date=16 July 2021 |archive-date=19 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210719173440/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/greenland-ends-oil-exploration-to-combat-climate-change-and-focus-on-sustainable-development/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

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 hydropower 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=12 October 2011 |title=Greenland's red hot labour market |url=http://www.nordiclabourjournal.org/i-fokus/in-focus-2011/boom-for-nordic-mining-industry/article.2011-10-12.8124853746 |url-status=live |journal=[[Nordic Labour Journal]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130201145836/http://www.nordiclabourjournal.org/i-fokus/in-focus-2011/boom-for-nordic-mining-industry/article.2011-10-12.8124853746 |archive-date=1 February 2013 |access-date=10 February 2013}}</ref>

The [[European Union]] has urged Greenland to restrict development by the People's Republic of China of [[rare-earth]] mineral projects, as China accounts for 95% of the world's current supply. However, in early 2013 the government of Greenland said that it had no plans to impose such restrictions.<ref>[http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-02-10/chinese-workers-in-greenland ''Chinese Workers—in Greenland?''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130213141927/http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-02-10/chinese-workers-in-greenland |date=13 February 2013 }} 10 February 2013 ''[[BusinessWeek]]''.</ref>

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. 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 [[Balance of payments|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 enhance the [[gemstone industry in Greenland]] and add a new export.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Greenland Rubies: What We Know At This Point {{!}} National Jeweler |url=https://www.nationaljeweler.com/blog/5818-greenland-rubies-what-we-know-at-this-point |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190817153630/https://www.nationaljeweler.com/blog/5818-greenland-rubies-what-we-know-at-this-point |archive-date=17 August 2019 |access-date=17 August 2019 |website=www.nationaljeweler.com}}</ref>

===Transport===
{{Main|Transport in Greenland|List of airports in Greenland}}
Air transport connects Greenland internally and with 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 {{convert|3|mi|order=flip|abbr=on}} length between [[Kangilinnguit]] and the now abandoned former [[cryolite]] mining town of [[Ivittuut]].<ref name="iExplore">{{Cite web |title=Greenland – Transportation |url=https://www.iexplore.com/articles/travel-guides/north-america/greenland/transportation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010134859/https://www.iexplore.com/articles/travel-guides/north-america/greenland/transportation |archive-date=10 October 2018 |access-date=10 October 2018 |website=www.iexplore.com}}</ref> In addition, the lack of agriculture, forestry and similar countryside activities has meant that very few country roads have been built. Greenland has no passenger railways.

A 1-lane dirt road designed primarily for [[all-terrain vehicle]]s (secondarily for [[Cycling|bicycles]] and hiking), is under construction between [[Kangerlussuaq Airport]] and the town of [[Sisimiut]]. As of June 2023, the road was scheduled for completion in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.qeqqata.gl/nyheder/2023/05/atv-aqqut?sc_lang=da|language=da|title=ATV-sporet mellem Sisimiut og Kangerlussuaq bliver færdig næste år|access-date=30 December 2023|date=25 May 2023|publisher=Qeqqata Kommunia|archive-date=30 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231230100929/https://www.qeqqata.gl/nyheder/2023/05/atv-aqqut?sc_lang=da|url-status=live}}</ref> A news report in [[Sermitsiaq (newspaper)|Sermitsiaq]] declared the road itself to be completed already in September 2021,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sermitsiaq.ag/node/232296|title=ATV-sporet mellem Kangerlussuaq og Sisimiut er færdig|language=da|date=25 September 2011|access-date=30 December 2023|publisher=Sermitsiaq|archive-date=22 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622065641/https://sermitsiaq.ag/node/232296|url-status=live}}</ref> but maintenance work and mud problems<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.verkis.is/frettir/honnun-vegar-a-milli-sisimiut-og-kangerlussuaq-verkfraedilegar-askoranir-i-obyggdum-graenlands/|title=Hönnun vegar á milli Sisimiut og Kangerlussuaq – verkfræðilegar áskoranir í óbyggðum Grænlands|language=is|date=3 July 2023|access-date=30 December 2023|publisher=Verkís|archive-date=30 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231230100932/https://www.verkis.is/frettir/honnun-vegar-a-milli-sisimiut-og-kangerlussuaq-verkfraedilegar-askoranir-i-obyggdum-graenlands/|url-status=live}}</ref> have caused delays. There are plans to extend the road to a 2-lane gravel road, but a date for its construction start has not been announced.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sermitsiaq.ag/node/243327|title=Forslag: Naalakkersuisut bør punge ud til grusvej til omkring 500 mio. kr.|date=27 March 2023|access-date=30 December 2023|language=da|publisher=Sermitsiaq|archive-date=30 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231230100930/https://sermitsiaq.ag/node/243327|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Kangerlussuaq Airport]] (SFJ)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mittarfeqarfiit, Grønlands Lufthavne, Greenland Airports Today's Flights Airports Kangerlussuaq airport – mit.gl |url=http://www.mit.gl/en/todays-flights/airports/kangerlussuaq-airport/ |website=www.mit.gl |access-date=21 September 2019 |archive-date=22 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190922000640/http://www.mit.gl/en/todays-flights/airports/kangerlussuaq-airport/ |url-status=live }}</ref> is the largest airport and the main aviation hub for international passenger transport. It serves international and domestic airline operated flight.<ref>{{Cite web |title=tripsta |url=http://www.tripsta.co.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190921081552/https://www.tripsta.co.uk/ |archive-date=21 September 2019 |access-date=3 January 2020}}</ref> SFJ is far from the vicinity of the larger metropolitan capital areas, {{convert|317|km|abbr=on}} to the capital Nuuk, and airline passenger services are available.<ref>{{Cite web |title=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 |url=https://www.airgreenland.com/destinations/greenland/nuuk |website=www.airgreenland.gl |access-date=21 September 2019 |archive-date=21 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190921081545/https://www.airgreenland.com/destinations/greenland/nuuk |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Nuuk Airport]] (GOH)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nuuk Airport |url=http://www.mit.gl/en/todays-flights/airports/nuuk-airport/ |website=www.mit.gl |access-date=21 September 2019 |archive-date=3 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190903225808/http://www.mit.gl/en/todays-flights/airports/nuuk-airport/ |url-status=live }}</ref> is the second-largest airport, located just {{convert|6.0|km|abbr=on}} 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)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ilulissat Airport |url=http://www.mit.gl/en/todays-flights/airports/ilulissat-airport/ |website=www.mit.gl |access-date=21 September 2019 |archive-date=17 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190917071800/http://www.mit.gl/en/todays-flights/airports/ilulissat-airport/ |url-status=live }}</ref> 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 Airport]], 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, which is around {{convert|100|km|abbr=on}} 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.

[[Icelandair]] 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Perrin |first=Wendy |date=21 July 2015 |title=Greenland Day Trip from Iceland: Is it Worth It? |url=http://www.wendyperrin.com/greenland-day-trip-from-iceland-is-it-worth-it/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226025555/http://www.wendyperrin.com/greenland-day-trip-from-iceland-is-it-worth-it/ |archive-date=26 December 2017 |access-date=25 December 2017 |website=Wendy Perrin}}</ref>

There are no direct flights to the United States or Canada, although there have been flights Kangerlussuaq – [[Baltimore]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 May 2007 |title=Historical Maiden Flight US-Greenland – Official national guide by Greenland Tourism and Business Council |url=http://www.greenland.com/content/english/tourist/news/news_archive/historical_maiden_flight_us-greenland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006075245/http://www.greenland.com/content/english/tourist/news/news_archive/historical_maiden_flight_us-greenland |archive-date=6 October 2008 |access-date=6 September 2010 |publisher=Greenland.com}}</ref> and Nuuk – [[Iqaluit]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=7 June 2012 |title=Air Greenland teams with First Air for Iqaluit flights |work=CBC News |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/air-greenland-teams-with-first-air-for-iqaluit-flights-1.1290948 |url-status=live |access-date=19 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120610195403/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/story/2012/06/07/north-greenland-first-air.html |archive-date=10 June 2012}}</ref> which were cancelled because of too few passengers and financial losses.<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 June 2010 |title=The Baltimore route is to close |url=http://www.airgreenland.com/nyhed/?newsid=666 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518074701/http://www.airgreenland.com/nyhed/?newsid=666 |archive-date=18 May 2013 |website=Air Greenland}}</ref> An alternative between Greenland and the United States/Canada is [[Icelandair]] with a plane change in Iceland.<ref>{{Cite web |date=26 February 2014 |title=4 Ways to Get to Greenland |url=https://www.fodors.com/news/4-ways-to-get-to-greenland-7070 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226021456/https://www.fodors.com/news/4-ways-to-get-to-greenland-7070 |archive-date=26 December 2017 |access-date=25 December 2017 |website=Fodor's}}</ref>

Sea [[passenger]] transport is served by several coastal ferries. [[Arctic Umiaq Line]] makes a single round trip per week, taking 80 hours each direction.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Georg |last=Woodman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UK48DwAAQBAJ&q=Sea%2Bpassenger%2Btransport%2Bis%2Bserved%2Bby%2Bseveral%2Bcoastal%2Bferries.%2BArctic%2BUmiaq%2BLine%2Bmakes%2Ba%2Bsingle%2Bround%2Btrip%2Bper%2Bweek,%2Btaking%2B80%2Bhours%2Beach%2Bdirection&pg=PA394 |title=2033-The Century After: How the World Would Look/Be If Nazi Germany & Empire Japan Had Won World War II |date=18 October 2017 |publisher=Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Agency |isbn=978-1-68181-946-4 |language=en |access-date=18 September 2022 |archive-date=20 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920174342/https://books.google.com/books?id=UK48DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA394&q=Sea%2Bpassenger%2Btransport%2Bis%2Bserved%2Bby%2Bseveral%2Bcoastal%2Bferries.%2BArctic%2BUmiaq%2BLine%2Bmakes%2Ba%2Bsingle%2Bround%2Btrip%2Bper%2Bweek,%2Btaking%2B80%2Bhours%2Beach%2Bdirection |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Cargo|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===
{{For|statistics on demographics|Demographics of Greenland}}
{{See also|List of Greenlanders|Greenlandic Inuit|Danish people in Greenland}}
[[File:Kulusuk, Inuit couple (6822265499).jpg|thumb|[[Tunumiit]] [[Inuit]] couple from [[Kulusuk]]]]
In 2021, Greenland had a population of 56,421.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Greenland in Figures 2021|url=https://stat.gl/publ/en/GF/2021/pdf/Greenland%20in%20Figures%202021.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602212409/https://stat.gl/publ/en/GF/2021/pdf/Greenland%20in%20Figures%202021.pdf |archive-date=2021-06-02 |url-status=live|access-date=8 December 2021|website=Greenland in Figures 2021}}</ref> That year, 18,800 people resided in the capital city [[Nuuk]]. Nearly all Greenlanders live along the fjords in the south-west of the main island, which has a relatively mild climate, especially considering the high latitude upon which it lies.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Greenland |url=http://www.stalvik.com/Engelska/laegreenland.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923001626/http://www.stalvik.com/Engelska/laegreenland.htm |archive-date=23 September 2010 |access-date=6 September 2010 |publisher=Stalvik.com}}</ref> Whereas the majority of the population lives north of 64°N in colder coastal climates, Greenland's warmest climates such as the vegetated area around [[Narsarsuaq]] are sparsely populated.

The majority of the population is [[Church of Denmark|Lutheran]]. The historically important [[Moravian Church|Moravian Brothers]] (''Herrnhuters'') were a congregation of faith, in a Danish context based in [[Christiansfeld]] in [[Southern Jutland|South Jutland]], and partially of German origin, but their name does not signify they were ethnic [[Moravians]] ([[Czechs]]).

In terms of country of birth, the population is estimated to be of 89.7% [[Greenlanders|Greenlandic]] [[multi-ethnic|multiethnic]] [[Ethnic groups in Europe|European]]-[[Inuit]] origin, 7.8% [[Danish people in Greenland|Danish]], 1.1% other [[Nordic countries|Nordic]] and 1.4% other. The multi-ethnic population of [[Ethnic groups in Europe|European]]-[[Inuit]] represent people of [[Danish people in Greenland|Danish]], [[Norwegian people|Norwegian]] and to a lesser degree of [[Faroese people|Faroese]], [[Icelandic people|Icelandic]], [[Dutch people|Dutch]] ([[Whaling in the Netherlands#17th century|whalers]]), [[German people|German]]<ref name="cia.gov">{{Cite web |title=The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/greenland/ |access-date=3 October 2020 |website=cia.gov |archive-date=9 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109162939/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/greenland/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and American descent.

A 2015 wide genetic study of Greenlanders found modern-day Inuit in Greenland are direct descendants of the first Inuit pioneers of the [[Thule people|Thule culture]] who arrived in the 13th century, with approximately 25% admixture of the [[European colonization of the Americas|European colonizers]] from the 16th century. Despite previous speculations, no evidence of Viking settlers predecessors has been found.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Moltke |first1=Ida |last2=Fumagalli |first2=Matteo |last3=Korneliussen |first3=Thorfinn |date=2015 |title=Uncovering the Genetic History of the Present-Day Greenlandic Population |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=96 |issue=1 |pages=54–69 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.11.012 |pmc=4289681 |pmid=25557782}}</ref>

{{Largest cities
| country      = Greenland
| stat_ref     = 2020 estimate<ref>{{cite web |url=http://citypopulation.de/Greenland.html |title=Greenland |website=citypopulation.de |access-date=22 August 2021 |archive-date=30 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180830011206/http://citypopulation.de/Greenland.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
| list_by_pop  = 
| div_name     = 
| div_link     = Administrative divisions of Greenland{{!}}Municipality

| city_1 = Nuuk| div_1 = Sermersooq | pop_1 = 18,326 | img_1 = Nuuk city below Sermitsiaq.JPG
| city_2 = Sisimiut | div_2 = Qeqqata | pop_2 = 5,582 | img_2 = Sisimiut-centrum.jpg
| city_3 = Ilulissat | div_3 = Avannaata | pop_3 = 4,670 | img_3 = Ilulissat-port.jpg
| city_4 = Aasiaat | div_4 = Qeqertalik | pop_4 = 3,069 | img_4 = Aasiaat 2016 06.jpg
| city_5 = Qaqortoq | div_5 = Kujalleq | pop_5 = 3,050 
| city_6 = Maniitsoq | div_6 = Qeqqata | pop_6 = 2,534
| city_7 = Tasiilaq | div_7 = Sermersooq | pop_7 = 2,063
| city_8 = Uummannaq | div_8 = Avannaata | pop_8 = 1,407
| city_9 = Narsaq | div_9 = Kujalleq | pop_9 = 1,346
| city_10 = Paamiut | div_10 = Sermersooq | pop_10 = 1,308
| city_11 = Nanortalik | div_11 = Kujalleq | pop_11 = 1,185
| city_12 = Upernavik | div_12 = Avannaata | pop_12 = 1,092
| city_13 = Qasigiannguit | div_13 = Qeqertalik | pop_13 = 1,081
| city_14 = Qeqertarsuaq| div_14 = Qeqertalik | pop_14 = 839
| city_15 = Qaanaaq| div_15 = Avannaata | pop_15 = 646
| city_16 = Kangaatsiaq | div_16 = Qeqertalik | pop_16 = 520
| city_17 = Kangerlussuaq | div_17 = Qeqqata | pop_17 = 508
| city_18 = Kullorsuaq | div_18 = Avannaata | pop_18 = 453
| city_19 = Ittoqqortoormiit | div_19 = Sermersooq | pop_19 = 345
| city_20 = Kangaamiut | div_20 = Qeqqata | pop_20 = 293
}}

===Languages===
[[File:Parkverbot Grönland.jpg|thumb|A bilingual sign in Nuuk displays the Danish and Kalaallisut for "Parking forbidden for all vehicles".]]
[[Greenlandic language|Greenlandic]] (effectively [[West Greenlandic]]), spoken by nearly 50,000 people, became the official sole language in 2009.<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 November 2008 |title=Danish doubts over Greenland vote |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7752660.stm |url-status=live |access-date=10 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121207121546/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7752660.stm |archive-date=7 December 2012}}</ref> The majority of the population speak both [[Danish language|Danish]] and West Greenlandic Kalaallisut (the most populous [[Eskaleut language]]). They have been used in public affairs since the establishment of home rule in 1979. In practice, Danish is still widely used in administration, academics, and skilled trades and other professions. The orthography of Greenlandic, established in 1851,<ref>Kleinschmidt, Samuel 1968 (1851): Grammatik der grønlændischen Sprache : mit teilweisem Einschluss des Labradordialekts. Hildesheim : Olms, 1968.</ref> was [[Kalaallisut orthography|revised]] in 1973. The [[Literacy|literacy rate]] is 100%.<ref name="cia-factbook" />

About 12% of the population speak Danish as a first or sole language. These primarily are Danish immigrants, many of whom remain the first and only language for those in Nuuk and other larger towns. Debate about the roles of Greenlandic and Danish in the country's future is evolving. While Greenlandic was dominant in all smaller settlements, most of the multi ethnic Inuit ancestors spoke Danish as a second language. In larger towns, especially Nuuk, this Danish group was more important for social matters. English is another important language for Greenland now taught from the first school year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Travelling in Greenland |url=http://eu.nanoq.gl/Emner/About%20Greenland/Travelling%20in%20Greenland.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140516025948/http://eu.nanoq.gl/Emner/About%20Greenland/Travelling%20in%20Greenland.aspx |archive-date=16 May 2014 |publisher=Greenland Representation to the EU, Greenland Home Rule Government}}</ref>

West Greenland has long been the most populous area of the island and home to its de&nbsp;facto status as the official Greenlandic language. Although around 3,000 people speak [[Tunumiit dialect|East Greenlandic]] (Tunumiisut) and nearly 1,000 around northern [[Qaanaaq]] speak [[Inuktun]]. North Greenlandic is closer to the Inuit languages of Canada than it is to other Greenlandic.<ref>Mennecier, Philippe (1978). ''Le tunumiisut, dialecte inuit du Groenland oriental: description et analyse'', Collection linguistique, 78, Societé de linguistique de Paris.</ref> Each of these varieties is nearly unintelligible to the speakers of the others and some linguists consider Tunumiisut to be a separate language all together.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Atlas of the world's languages in danger |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000187026 |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=unesdoc.unesco.org |archive-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111222724/https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000187026 |url-status=live }}</ref> A [[UNESCO]] report labelled the other varieties as endangered, and measures are now considered to protect the East Greenlandic dialect.<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 January 2010 |title=Sermersooq will secure Eastern Greenlandic |url=http://www.knr.gl/index.php?id=6700&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=51930&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=6702&cHash=b321fb7a1d |url-status=live |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160516235314/http://www.knr.gl/index.php?id=6700&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=51930&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=6702&cHash=b321fb7a1d |archive-date=16 May 2016 |access-date=19 May 2010 |publisher=[[Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa]] |language=da}}</ref>

===Education===
Education is organized 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]] ({{langx|kl|Ilisimatusarfik}}) in Nuuk. Many [[Demographics of Greenland|Greenlanders]] attend universities in Denmark or elsewhere.

The public school system in Greenland is, as in Denmark, under the jurisdiction of the municipalities: they are therefore municipal schools. The legislature specifies the standards allowed for the content in schools, but the municipal governments decide how the schools under their responsibility are run. [[Education]] is free and [[Compulsory education|compulsory]] for children aged seven to 16. The financial effort devoted to education is now very important (11.3% of GDP). Section 1 of the Government Ordinance on Public Schools (as amended on 6 June 1997) requires Greenlandic as the language of instruction.

Education is governed by Regulation No. 10 of 25 October 1990 on primary and lower secondary education. This regulation was amended by Regulation No. 8 of 13 May 1993 and Regulation No. 1 of 1 March 1994. Under Regulation No. 10 of 25 October 1990, linguistic integration in primary and lower secondary schools became compulsory for all [[student]]s. The aim is to place Greenlandic-speaking and Danish-speaking pupils in the same classes, whereas previously they were placed in separate classes according to their mother tongue. At the same time, the government guarantees that Danish speakers can learn Greenlandic. In this way, the Greenlandic government wants to give the same linguistic, cultural and social education to all students, both those of Greenlandic and Danish origin. A study, which was carried out during a three-year trial period, concluded that this policy had achieved positive results. This [[bilingualism]] policy has been in force since 1994.

[[File:Ilimmarfik.jpg|thumb|The ''Ilimmarfik'' ([[University of Greenland]]) campus is in [[Nuuk]].]]
About 100 schools have been established. Greenlandic and Danish are taught there. Normally, Greenlandic is taught from kindergarten to the end of secondary school, but Danish is compulsory from the first cycle of primary school as a second language. As in Denmark with Danish, the school system provides for "Greenlandic 1" and "Greenlandic 2" courses. Language tests allow students to move from one level to the other. Based on the teachers' evaluation of their students, a third level of courses has been added: "Greenlandic 3". Secondary education in Greenland is generally vocational and technical. The system is governed by Regulation No. 16 of 28 October 1993 on Vocational and [[Technical Education]], Scholarships and Career Guidance. [[Danish language|Danish]] remains the main language of instruction. The capital, Nuuk, has a (bilingual) teacher training college and a (bilingual) university. At the end of their studies, all students must pass a test in the Greenlandic language.

Higher education is offered in Greenland: "university education" (regulation no. 3 of 9 May 1989); training of journalists, training of primary and lower secondary school teachers, training of social workers, training of social educators (regulation no. 1 of 16 May 1989); and training of nurses and nursing assistants (regulation no. 9 of 13 May 1990). Greenlandic students can continue their education in Denmark, if they wish and have the financial means to do so. For admission to Danish educational institutions, Greenlandic applicants are placed on an equal footing with Danish applicants. [[Scholarship]]s are granted to Greenlandic students who are admitted to Danish educational institutions. To be eligible for these scholarships, the applicant must be a [[Danish nationality law|Danish citizen]] and have had permanent residence in Greenland for at least five years. The total period of residence outside Greenland may not exceed three years.

===Religion===
{{Main|Religion in Greenland}}
{{Pie chart
|thumb = right
|caption = Religion in Greenland (2010):<ref name="ARDA">{{Cite web |date=21 June 2009 |title=Greenland, Religion and Social Profile &#124; National Profiles &#124; International Data |url=http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_94_1.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924211510/http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_94_1.asp |archive-date=24 September 2017 |access-date=18 June 2016 |website=Thearda.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=19 December 2011 |title=Table: Christian Population as Percentages of Total Population by Country &#124; Pew Research Center |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/table-christian-population-as-percentages-of-total-population-by-country/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511124911/http://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/table-christian-population-as-percentages-of-total-population-by-country/ |archive-date=11 May 2017 |access-date=27 September 2017}}</ref>
|label1 = [[Protestantism]]
|value1 = 95.5
|color1 = DodgerBlue
|label2 = [[Roman Catholicism]]
|value2 = 0.2
|color2 = DarkOrchid
|label3 = Other [[Christianity|Christian]]
|value3 = 0.4
|color3 = Turquoise
|label4 = [[Inuit spiritual beliefs]]
|value4 = 0.8
|color4 = Red
|label5 = [[Agnostic]]
|value5 = 2.3
|color5 = Honeydew
|label6 = [[Atheist]]
|value6 = 0.2
|color6 = Grey
|label7 = Other religion
|value7 = 0.6
|color7 = Yellow
}}

[[File:Nanortalik church.jpg|thumb|Most Greenlandic villages, including [[Nanortalik]], have their own church.]]
The nomadic [[Inuit]] were traditionally [[Shamanism|shamanistic]], with a well-developed [[Inuit religion|religion]] primarily concerned with appeasing a vengeful and [[Sedna (mythology)|fingerless sea goddess]] called Sedna who controlled the success of the [[seal hunting|seal]] and [[whaling|whale hunts]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gpCKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT169|title=Taboo, Personal and Collective Representations: Origin and Positioning Within Cultural Complexes|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2019|isbn=978-1-351-03988-8|access-date=18 September 2022|archive-date=20 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920174357/https://books.google.com/books?id=gpCKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT169|url-status=live}}</ref>

The first [[Norse colonization of Greenland|Norse colonists]] worshipped the [[Norse religion|Norse gods]], but [[Erik the Red]]'s son [[Leif Ericson|Leif]] was converted to Christianity by [[List of Norwegian monarchs|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, Greenland|Garðar]].

Rediscovering these colonists and spreading ideas of the [[Danish Reformation|Protestant Reformation]] among them was one of the primary reasons for the [[Danish colonization of Greenland|Danish recolonization]] in the 18th century. Under the patronage of the [[Royal Mission College]] in Copenhagen, Norwegian and Danish [[Church of Denmark|Lutherans]] and German [[Moravian missions in Greenland|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 Egede|Hans]] and [[Poul Egede]] and [[Matthias Stach]]. The [[New Testament]] was translated piecemeal from the time of the first settlement on Kangeq Island, but the first translation of the whole Bible was not completed until 1900. An improved translation using the [[Kalaallisut orthography|modern orthography]] was completed in 2000.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sørensen |first=Leif Kiil |date=29 November 2000 |title=Grønlandsk bibel præsenteret &#124; Kristeligt Dagblad |url=http://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/225350:Kirke---tro--Groenlandsk-bibel-praesenteret |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511084103/http://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/225350:Kirke---tro--Groenlandsk-bibel-praesenteret |archive-date=11 May 2011 |access-date=6 September 2010 |publisher=Kristeligt-dagblad.dk}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2022}}

The major religion is [[Protestant]] [[Christianity]], represented mainly by the [[Church of Denmark]], which is [[Lutheran]] in orientation. There are no official census data on religion in Greenland, but the [[Bishop of Greenland]] [[Sofie Petersen]]<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120325215706/http://www.oikoumene.org/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/bells-ring-a-wake-up-call.html "Bells ring a wake-up call for climate justice."] ''World Council of Churches''. 14 December 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2010</ref> estimates that 85% of the Greenlandic population are members of her congregation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grønland, Grundloven og Gejstligheden |url=http://www.groenlandsstift.dk/fileadmin/filer/Biskoppen/Groenland_GRUNDLOVEN_og_GEJSTLIGHEDEN_1005_2009_laast_til_ado.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425231654/https://www.groenlandsstift.dk/fileadmin/filer/Biskoppen/Groenland_GRUNDLOVEN_og_GEJSTLIGHEDEN_1005_2009_laast_til_ado.pdf |archive-date=25 April 2012 |access-date=30 April 2012 }}</ref> The Church of Denmark is the [[State religion|established church]] through the [[Constitution of Denmark]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Constitution of Denmark – Section IV |url=http://www.parliament.am/library/sahmanadrutyunner/dania.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160301205429/http://www.parliament.am/library/sahmanadrutyunner/dania.pdf |archive-date=1 March 2016 |access-date=22 September 2016 |quote=The Evangelical Lutheran Church shall be the Established Church of Denmark, and, as such, it shall be supported by the State.}}</ref>

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 Christianity|charismatic movements]] [[Proselytism|proselytizing]] fellow Christians.<ref name="jazbablog">{{Cite news |date=8 August 2011 |title=The only Muslim in Greenland who fasts for 21 hours |work=The Jazba Blog |url=http://jazbablog.com/2011/08/08/the-only-muslim-in-greenland-who-fasts-for-21-hours/ |access-date=26 January 2020 |archive-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801063031/http://jazbablog.com/2011/08/08/the-only-muslim-in-greenland-who-fasts-for-21-hours/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to [[Operation World]], just 4.7% of Greenlanders are [[Evangelical Christian]], although the Evangelical population is growing at an annual rate of 8.4%.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Greenland {{!}} Operation World |url=http://www.operationworld.org/country/grel/owtext.html |access-date=10 September 2020 |publisher=[[Operation World]] |archive-date=29 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929033510/https://www.operationworld.org/country/grel/owtext.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Social issues===
The rate of [[suicide in Greenland]] is very high. According to a 2010 census, Greenland holds [[List of countries by suicide rate|the highest suicide rate in the world]].<ref name="The Suicide Capital of the World">{{Cite journal |date=9 October 2009 |title=The Suicide Capital of the World |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/dispatches/2009/10/the_suicide_capital_of_the_world.single.html#pagebreak_anchor_2 |url-status=live |journal=Slate |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130304003350/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/dispatches/2009/10/the_suicide_capital_of_the_world.single.html#pagebreak_anchor_2 |archive-date=4 March 2013 |access-date=13 March 2013}}</ref><ref name="Rising suicide rate baffles Greenland">{{Cite web |title=Rising suicide rate baffles Greenland |url=http://blogs.aljazeera.com/blog/europe/rising-suicide-rate-baffles-greenland |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130323061827/http://blogs.aljazeera.com/blog/europe/rising-suicide-rate-baffles-greenland |archive-date=23 March 2013 |access-date=13 March 2013}}</ref> Another significant social issue faced by Greenland is a high rate of alcoholism.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18249474 "Greenland profile – Overview"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918032735/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18249474 |date=18 September 2018 }}. ''BBC News''.</ref> 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 [[List of countries by alcohol consumption per capita|has since fallen]]). However, at the same time, alcohol prices are far higher, meaning that consumption has a large social impact.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aage |first=H. |year=2012 |title=Alcohol in Greenland 1951–2010: consumption, mortality, prices |journal=International Journal of Circumpolar Health |volume=71 |page=18444 |doi=10.3402/ijch.v71i0.18444 |pmc=3525923 |pmid=23256091}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Madsen |first1=M. H. |last2=Grønbæk |first2=M. |last3=Bjerregaard |first3=P. |last4=Becker |first4=U. |year=2005 |title=Urbanization, migration and alcohol use in a population of Greenland Inuit |journal=International Journal of Circumpolar Health |volume=64 |issue=3 |pages=234–45 |doi=10.3402/ijch.v64i3.17987 |pmid=16050317 |doi-access=free}}</ref> 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, {{circa}} 0.13%,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bjorn-Mortensen |first1=K. |last2=Ladefoged |first2=K |last3=Obel |first3=N. |last4=Helleberg |first4=M. |year=2013 |title=The HIV epidemic in Greenland – a slow spreading infection among adult heterosexual Greenlanders |journal=Int J Circumpolar Health |volume=7232 |page=19558 |doi=10.3402/ijch.v72i0.19558 |pmc=3577920 |pmid=23431117}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=13 October 2019 |title=Nye tilfælde af HIV blandt unge |url=https://naalakkersuisut.gl/da/Naalakkersuisut/Nyheder/2018/11/1311_nye_tilfaelde_hiv |access-date=22 November 2019 |publisher=[[Naalakkersuisut]] |archive-date=23 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191123004132/https://naalakkersuisut.gl/da/Naalakkersuisut/Nyheder/2018/11/1311_nye_tilfaelde_hiv |url-status=dead }}</ref> below [[List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate|most other countries]]. In recent decades, the unemployment rates have generally been somewhat above those in Denmark;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Arbejde |url=https://europas-lande.dk/dan/Lande/Gr%C3%B8nland/Erhverv%20og%20%C3%B8konomi/Arbejde/Sv%C3%A6r/ |access-date=22 November 2019 |publisher=europas-lande.dk |archive-date=23 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191123004450/https://europas-lande.dk/dan/Lande/Gr%25C3%25B8nland/Erhverv%2520og%2520%25C3%25B8konomi/Arbejde/Sv%25C3%25A6r/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> in 2017, the rate was 6.8% in Greenland,<ref>{{Cite web |year=2017 |title=Unemployment rate |url=http://bank.stat.gl/pxweb/en/Greenland/Greenland__AR__AR40/ARXLED7.px/table/tableViewLayout1/?rxid=ARXLED222-11-2019%2020:30:33 |access-date=22 November 2019 |publisher=Statistics Greenland }}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> compared to 5.6% in Denmark.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Euro area unemployment at 8.7%, December 2017 |url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/8631691/3-31012018-BP-EN.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212201506/http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/8631691/3-31012018-BP-EN.pdf |archive-date=2018-02-12 |url-status=live |access-date=22 November 2019 |publisher=[[Eurostat]]}}</ref>

==== Fertility control====
{{main|Spiral case}}
In the 1960s and 1970s, at a time when the population was increasing, 4,500 Greenland Inuit women and girls (roughly half of all fertile females) were fitted with intrauterine devices (IUDs) by Danish doctors. Sometimes girls (as young as 12) were taken directly from school to have these devices inserted, without parents' permission being sought. The procedure was also carried out on some Inuit girls at boarding schools in Denmark. On 30 September 2022, the Danish Health Minister, Magnus Heunicke, confirmed that a two-year investigation would try to find out what decisions led to the practice and how it was carried out.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63049387|title=Inuit Greenlanders demand answers over Danish birth control scandal|work=BBC News|date=30 September 2022|access-date=1 October 2022|archive-date=1 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221001140536/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63049387|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://open.spotify.com/episode/2G6gLPPpQOpvIVXcMh0jMV|title=Spiralkampagnen 1:5 - 4500 spiraler|date=6 May 2022|via=open.spotify.com|access-date=1 October 2022|archive-date=1 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221001135608/https://open.spotify.com/episode/2G6gLPPpQOpvIVXcMh0jMV|url-status=live}}</ref> Greenlandic doctors also carried out the same illegal procedures on several Inuit women after Greenland took control of its health care system in 1991.<ref>{{cite news |title=Grønland har ansvar for 15 spiralsager |url=https://www.sermitsiaq.ag/samfund/gronland-har-ansvar-for-15-spiralsager/1292890 |access-date=20 October 2024 |publisher=Sermitsiaq}}</ref>

==Culture==
{{Main|Culture of Greenland|Music of Greenland}}
{{See also|Human rights in Denmark#Indigenous rights}}
[[File:Nive Nielsen Rudolstadt 01.jpg|thumb|[[Nive Nielsen]], Greenlandic singer and songwriter]]
[[File:Inuk Silis Høegh, Tommi Kainulainen - WOMEX 15, Budapest, 2015.10.22 (1).JPG|thumb|Greenlandic movie maker [[Inuk Silis Høegh]] held a panel discussion at the launch of his movie about groundbreaking Greenlandic band [[Sume (band)|Sumé]].]]
Greenlandic culture is a blending of traditional Inuit ([[Kalaallit]], [[Tunumiit]], [[Inughuit]]) 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''.<ref name="ingo20">[[#Hessel|Hessel]], p. 20</ref> [[Sperm whale]] ivory remains a valued medium for carving.<ref>[[#Hessel|Hessel]], p. 21</ref>

===Music===
{{Unreferenced |section|date=November 2024}}
Greenland has a successful, albeit small, music culture. Some popular [[Greenlandic language|Greenlandic]] bands and artists include [[Sume (band)|Sumé]] (classic rock), [[Chilly Friday]] (rock), [[Nanook (band)|Nanook]] (rock), [[Siissisoq]] (rock), [[Nuuk Posse]] (hip hop) and [[Rasmus Lyberth]] (folk), who performed in the [[Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979|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.

The [[drum]] is the traditional Greenlandic instrument. It was used to perform traditional drum dances. For this purpose, a round drum (qilaat) in the form of a frame made of driftwood or walrus ribs covered with a polar bear bladder, polar bear stomach or walrus stomach was used. The drumming was not done on the membrane, but with a stick from underneath the frame. Simple melodies were sung for this purpose.

The drum [[dance]] used to serve two functions. One was to drive away fear on long, dark winter nights by making faces and trying to make others laugh. Disputes were also settled with the drum. If someone had misbehaved, he was challenged with the drum. People would gather at certain powerful places and take turns beating the drum and singing to it. They tried to ridicule the other person as much as possible. The spectators expressed with their laughter who was the winner and who was therefore the guilty one.

The drum could also be used by shamans for ritual conjurations of spirits.

After the arrival of [[missionaries]] in the 18th century, the drum dance (still popular among Canadian Inuit) was banned as pagan and shamanistic and replaced by [[polyphonic]] singing of secular and [[Christian music|church songs]]. This choral singing is known for its special sound. Church hymns are partly of German origin due to the influence of the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeinde. Scandinavian, [[German people|German]] and Scottish whalers brought the fiddle, accordion and polka (kalattuut) to Greenland, where they are now played in intricate dance steps.

===Sport===
{{Main|Sport in Greenland}}
Sport is an important part of Greenlandic culture, as the population is generally quite active.<ref>[[#Wilcox|Wilcox and Latif]], p. 109</ref> Popular sports include [[association football]], [[track and field]], [[Team handball|handball]] and [[skiing]]. Handball is often referred to as the national sport,<ref name="handball">[[#Wilcox|Wilcox and Latif]], p. 110</ref> and the [[Greenland men's national handball team|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 ===
[[File:Pilersuisoq Supermarket, Kangerlussuaq (Quintin Soloviev).png|thumb|[[Pilersuisoq]] Supermarket in [[Kangerlussuaq]]]]
{{Main|Greenlandic cuisine}}
The national dish of Greenland is [[suaasat]], a soup made from [[seal meat]]. Meat from marine mammals, game, birds, and fish have a large role in the Greenlandic diet. Due to the glacial landscape, most ingredients come from the ocean.<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 April 2010 |title=Greenland – Greenlandic cuisine – Official Greenland Travel Guide |url=http://www.greenland.com/content/english/tourist/culture/greenlandic_cuisine |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414020510/http://www.greenland.com/content/english/tourist/culture/greenlandic_cuisine |archive-date=14 April 2010 |access-date=16 July 2019}}</ref> Spices are seldom used besides salt and pepper.<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 March 2010 |title=Greenland – Traditional Greenlandic food – Official Greenland Travel Guide |url=http://www.greenland.com/content/english/tourist/culture/greenlandic_cuisine/traditional_greenlandic_food |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327215022/http://www.greenland.com/content/english/tourist/culture/greenlandic_cuisine/traditional_greenlandic_food |archive-date=27 March 2010 |access-date=16 July 2019}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 March 2010 |title=Greenland – Greenlandic coffee – Official Greenland Travel Guide |url=http://www.greenland.com/content/english/tourist/culture/greenlandic_cuisine/greenlandic_coffee |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100330004520/http://www.greenland.com/content/english/tourist/culture/greenlandic_cuisine/greenlandic_coffee |archive-date=30 March 2010 |access-date=28 July 2019}}</ref>

===Media===
Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa (KNR) is the public [[Broadcasting|broadcasting company]] of Greenland. It is an associate member of Eurovision and an associate member of the Nordvision network. Nearly one hundred people are directly employed by this company, which is one of the largest in the territory.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa {{!}} KNR|url=https://knr.gl/da/om-knr/kalaallit-nunaata-radioa|access-date=19 April 2021|website=knr.gl|archive-date=28 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230128064050/https://knr.gl/da/om-knr/kalaallit-nunaata-radioa|url-status=live}}</ref> The city of Nuuk also has its own radio and [[television station]]. The city of Nuuk also has a local television channel, Nanoq Media, which was created on 1 August 2002. It is the largest local television station in Greenland, reaching more than 4,000 households as receiving members, which corresponds to about 75% of all households in the capital.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Nanoq Media|url=https://nanoqmedia.gl/?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=6&lang=ka_gl|access-date=19 April 2021|website=nanoqmedia.gl|archive-date=19 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419151126/https://nanoqmedia.gl/?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=6&lang=ka_gl|url-status=live}}</ref>

Only two newspapers are published in Greenland, both of which are distributed nationally. The Greenlandic weekly ''Sermitsiaq'' is published every [[Friday]], while the online version is updated several times a day. It was distributed only in [[Nuuk]] until the 1980s. It is named after the mountain Sermitsiaq, located about {{convert|15|km|round=0.5|abbr=on}} northeast of Nuuk. The bi-weekly ''Atuagagdliutit''/''Grønlandsposten'' (AG) is the other newspaper in Greenland, published every Tuesday and Thursday in Greenlandic as ''Atuagagdliutit'' and in Danish as ''Grønlandsposten''. The articles are all published in both languages.

===Fine arts===
The Inuit have their own arts and [[crafts]] tradition; for example, they carve tupilaks, sculptures of figures of avenging monsters practiced within shaman traditions.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The making of a tupilak and its consequences|url=https://www.museon.nl/en/globeitem/the-making-of-a-tupilak-and-its-consequenses|website=Museon|access-date=5 January 2022|archive-date=5 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105170919/https://www.museon.nl/en/globeitem/the-making-of-a-tupilak-and-its-consequenses|url-status=live}}</ref> This Kalaallisut word means soul or spirit of a deceased person and describes an artistic figure, usually no more than {{convert|20|cm|round=0.5}} tall, carved mainly from walrus ivory, with a variety of unusual shapes. This sculpture actually represents a mythical or spiritual being; usually, however, it has become a mere collector's item because of its grotesque appearance for Western visual habits. Modern artisans still use [[Indigenous (ecology)|indigenous]] materials such as musk ox and sheep wool, seal fur, shells, soapstone, reindeer antlers or gemstones.

The [[history]] of Greenlandic painting began with Aron von Kangeq, who depicted the old Greenlandic sagas and myths in his drawings and watercolours in the mid-19th century. In the 20th century, landscape and animal painting developed, as well as [[printmaking]] and book illustrations with sometimes expressive colouring. It was mainly through their landscape paintings that Kiistat Lund and Buuti Pedersen became known abroad. Anne-Birthe Hove chose themes from Greenlandic social life. There is a museum of fine arts in Nuuk, the Nuuk Art Museum.

==See also==
* [[Index of Greenland-related articles]]
* [[Outline of Greenland]]
* [[Faroe Islands]]
* [[Åland]] ([[Finland]])
* [[Svalbard]] ([[Norway]])

==Notes==
{{notelist}}
{{clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hessel |first=Ingo |title=Arctic Spirit |publisher=Douglas and McIntyre |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-55365-189-5 |location=Vancouver, BC |ref=Hessel}}
*Oldendow, Knud.(1958). "Printing in Greenland". ''Libri: International Journal of Libraries & Information Services'' 8 (3/4): 223–62.
* {{Cite book |last=Stern |first=Pamela |url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000ster |title=Historical Dictionary of the Inuit |publisher=The Scarecrow Press, Inc. |year=2004 |isbn=0-8108-5058-3 |location=Lanham, Maryland |oclc=54768167 |ref=Stern |url-access=registration }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Wilcox |first1=Jonathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=58ZHaTMk0j4C |title=Cultures of the World: Iceland |last2=Latif |first2=Zawiah Abdul |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7614-2074-3 |ref=Wilcox |access-date=18 September 2022 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610113222/https://books.google.com/books?id=58ZHaTMk0j4C |url-status=live }}
{{refend}}

===Works cited===
{{refbegin}}
* Bardarson, I. (ed. Jónsson, F.) "Det gamle Grønlands beskrivelse af Ívar Bárðarson (Ivar Bårdssön)", (Copenhagen, 1930) {{inlang|da}}.
* [[CIA World Factbook]], 2000.
* [[Philip Wheeler Conkling|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.
* {{Cite journal |last=Lund |first=S |year=1959 |title=The Marine Algae of East Greenland. 1. Taxonomical Part |journal=Meddr Gronland |volume=156 |issue=1 |pages=1–245}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Lund |first=S |year=1959 |title=The Marine Algae of East Greenland. 11. Geographic Distribution |journal=Meddr Gronland |volume=156 |pages=1–70}}
* [[Konrad Steffen|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).
* {{Cite journal |last=Sowa |first=F |year=2013 |title=Indigenous Peoples and the Institutionalization of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Greenland. |journal=Arctic Anthropology |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=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.&nbsp;184–198.[http://www.arcticyearbook.com/ay2013 www.arcticyearbook.com/ay2013] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219043852/http://www.arcticyearbook.com/ay2013 |date=19 February 2015 }}
* 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.&nbsp;312–316.
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{cite EB9 |wstitle = Greenland |volume= XI |last= Brown |first=Robert|author-link=Robert Brown (botanist, born 1842)| pages=166-171 |short=1 }}
* {{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Greenland |volume= 12 |last= Nansen  |first= Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg |author-link= 
Fridtjof Nansen |pages=542-548 |short=1}}
* [http://denmark.dk/en/society/greenland-the-faroes-and-the-german-minority/greenland Greenland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906153025/http://denmark.dk/en/society/greenland-the-faroes-and-the-german-minority/greenland |date=6 September 2018 }} entry at ''Denmark.dk''.
* [https://naalakkersuisut.gl/ The Government of Greenland Offices official website] (only in Danish or Kalaallisut) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160302180245/http://naalakkersuisut.gl/en/Naalakkersuisut |date=2 March 2016 }}
* [http://www.greenland.com/ Visit Greenland]&nbsp;– the official [[Tourism in Greenland|Greenlandic Tourist Board]]
* [http://www.inuit.org/ Inuit Circumpolar Council Greenland]

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