People in Greenland protest against Trump’s takeover plans – Image: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo/dpa/picture alliance
Greenland: After being inhabited only by Indigenous peoples for centuries, the Arctic island saw the Vikings in the 10th century and the Danes in 1721, and it attracted US interest back in 1867.
Before Donald Trump voiced his interest in this island in the Arctic Circle, it wasn’t exactly in the global spotlight. All that changed when the US president insisted, “We must have Greenland.” But this is not the first time that the world’s largest island has been so keenly coveted.
Early migration and Erik the Red
The first humans settled in Greenland around 4,500 years ago. They came from the North American continent. In the 12th century, they were gradually displaced by Asian immigrants, the Thule people, who arrived on the island from Siberia via the Bering Strait. Their descendants are the Inuit, from whom most of the 56,000 Greenlanders today are descended.
The island owes its name to the Viking explorer Erik the Red. According to the Icelandic sagas, he was banished from Iceland around 982 for manslaughter. He and his followers sailed west and reached the Arctic island. To encourage settlement, he named it Grœnland, or “green land.” While much of Greenland is covered in ice, parts of the coastal areas were relatively green during that period.
A historic map of Greenland shows the coastline in green; the name was chosen by viking Erik the Red to entice people to move there – Image: United Archives/picture alliance
The Norse settlements endured in Greenland for about 400 years before disappearing entirely. By the 15th century, the Inuit were once again the island’s sole inhabitants. Even so, legends persisted in the Nordic world about Greenland’s lost Norse settlers, said to have lived deep in the southern fjords and to possess great riches.
A priest paves the way for Danish colonization
Those stories reached Hans Egede — a Norwegian priest who believed that Norse settlers might be living in Greenland and in need of spiritual guidance. On July 3, 1721, after a two-month voyage, his ship dropped anchor off the Greenland coast.
Egede did not find any surviving Norse communities. Instead, he encountered Inuit populations who followed their own spiritual traditions. He began efforts to convert them to Christianity, which he viewed as his religious mission. To do so, he learned the Inuit language and studied local customs. Because bread was unknown in Greenland at the time, he adapted Christian texts to local realities — rewriting the line “Give us this day our daily bread” in the Lord’s Prayer to, “Give us this day our daily seal.”
Norwegian priest Hans Egede, depicted in this painting hanging in the Nuuk Cathedral, evangelized the Inuit in the 18th century – Image: Jürgen Sorges/akg-images/picture alliance
Three years after his arrival, Egede baptized the first Inuit child. He established a church and helped lay the foundations of what would later become Greenland’s capital, Nuuk. A statue of Egede has stood there since 1922. Today, his influence is fiercely debated, with many Inuit viewing him as an early symbol of Greenland’s colonial past.
Norwegian-Danish dispute: Who owns Greenland?
When Hans Egede arrived in Greenland in 1721, he raised the Danish flag, reflecting the political reality of the time: Denmark and Norway had been united under a single crown since 1380, a personal union that lasted until 1814. When that union ended, Greenland remained under Danish rule — a decision contested by Norway.
Tensions escalated in 1931, when Norway occupied parts of Greenland and declared the area “Eirik Raudes Land,” after Erik the Red. Denmark challenged the move, and the dispute was brought before the Permanent Court of International Justice in The Hague. In 1933, the court ruled that sovereignty over all of Greenland belonged to Denmark, bringing the territorial dispute to an end.
How the US entered the picture
During the 19th century, the United States pursued an expansionist foreign policy. It purchased Louisiana from France in 1803, Florida from Spain in 1819 and Alaska from Russia in 1867.
Secretary of State William H. Seward, the architect of the Alaska purchase, also expressed interest in acquiring Greenland, viewing it as strategically important in relation to Canada. Congress, however, was reluctant to take on what it saw as the high costs of an ice-covered and sparsely populated territory. Instead, in 1916, the United States purchased the Danish West Indies — now the US Virgin Islands — for $25 million . As part of the agreement, Washington formally recognized Danish sovereignty over Greenland.
After purchasing Alaska, William Seward (seated left in this painting) also wanted to acquire Greenland – Image: Picture History/newscom/picture alliance
When Nazi Germany occupied Denmark during World War II, Denmark’s direct control over Greenland was effectively severed. In 1941, Denmark’s ambassador to Washington, Henrik Kauffmann, signed an agreement with the United States. Under its terms, the US would supply and defend Greenland while gaining the right to establish weather stations and military bases on the island.
Greenland’s Inuit population was not consulted.
In 1946, a year after the war ended, the United States offered Denmark $100 million in gold to purchase Greenland, seeking to secure its strategic position at the outset of the Cold War. President Harry S. Truman’s administration viewed the island as geopolitically vital, given its location in North America and its importance for Arctic defense. This reflected the logic of the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine, which asserted US opposition to new European influence in the Western Hemisphere. Greenland’s mineral potential also added to its appeal.
Denmark rejected the offer. In 1951, however, the two countries reached an agreement that allowed the United States to establish and operate Thule Air Base, now known as Pituffik Space Base, which the US still uses today.
The Pituffik Space Base (formerly Thule Air Base) is used to monitor rocket launches and space activities, among other things – Image: Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix/AP
Colonial injustice – and the desire for independence
In 1953, Greenland’s status changed from a Danish colony to an integrated part of the Kingdom of Denmark. The island was granted two seats in the Danish Parliament, but decision-making power largely remained in Copenhagen.
Danish authorities pursued policies aimed at rapidly “modernizing” Greenland’s hunter-fisher society. This included promoting the Danish language, education and social norms. Nomadic ways of life were discouraged, and many Inuit were resettled in larger towns.
One of the most controversial policies took place in the early 1950s, when 22 Inuit children were taken from their families and sent to Denmark. The goal was to raise them “Danish” and have them later assume leading positions in Greenland.
At the same time, Danish officials viewed Greenland’s population growth as a financial burden. In the 1960s and 70s, thousands of Inuit women and girls were fitted with contraceptive devices — in some cases without informed consent.
In 1979, Greenland gained its own parliament and government, though it had limited authority. A major step followed in 2009, when control over most domestic affairs was handed to Greenland. Denmark retained responsibility primarily for foreign and security policy.
A peaceful image that belies the Greenlanders’ concerns – Image: Odd Andersen/AFP
Today, support for full independence from Denmark remains strong in Greenland. What Greenlanders overwhelmingly reject is becoming part of the United States. Recent polls have shown 85% oppose any US takeover. Thus far, that icy reception doesn’t seem to be deterring Donald Trump.
DW.com/NAN 23-1-26
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