Greenland is located between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Canada and northwest of Iceland. The territory comprises the island of Greenland–the largest island in the world–and more than a hundred other smaller islands. As an island, Greenland has no land boundaries and 44,087 km of coastline. A sparse population is confined to small settlements along certain sectors of the coast. Greenland possesses the world's second largest ice sheet.
Being part of the Kingdom of Denmark, the foreign relations of Greenland are handled in cooperation with the Danish government and Government of Greenland.
Nuuk is the capital and largest city of Greenland. It is the seat of government and the country's largest cultural and economic centre. The major cities closest to the capital are Iqaluit and St. John's in Canada and Reykjavík in Iceland. Nuuk contains almost a third of Greenland's population and its tallest building. Nuuk is also the seat of government for the Sermersooq municipality. In January 2018, it had a population of 17,796.
Upernavik is a small town in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland, located on a small island of the same name. With 1,055 inhabitants as of 2017, it is the thirteenth-largest town in Greenland. Owing to the small size of the settlement, everything is within walking distance. It contains the Upernavik Museum. It is the northern-most town in Greenland with a population of over 1,000.
Hans Island is a small, uninhabited barren knoll measuring 1.3 km2 (0.5 sq mi), 1,290 m (4,230 ft) long and 1,199 m (3,934 ft) wide, in the centre of the Kennedy Channel of Nares Strait—the strait that separates Ellesmere Island from northern Greenland and connects Baffin Bay with the Lincoln Sea. Hans Island is the smallest of three islands in Kennedy Channel off the Washington Land coast; the others are Franklin Island and Crozier Island. The strait at this point is 35 kilometres (22 mi) wide, placing the island within the territorial waters of both Canada and Greenland. A theoretical line in the middle of the strait goes through the island.
Baffin Bay, located between Baffin Island and the southwest coast of Greenland, is a marginal sea of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is connected to the Atlantic via Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea. The narrower Nares Strait connects Baffin Bay with the Arctic Ocean. The bay is not navigable most of the year because of the ice cover and high density of floating ice and icebergs in the open areas. However, a polynya of about 80,000 km2 (31,000 sq mi), known as the North Water, opens in summer on the north near Smith Sound. Most of the aquatic life of the bay is concentrated near that region.
Davis Strait is a northern arm of the Labrador Sea. It lies between mid-western Greenland and Nunavut, Canada's Baffin Island. To the north is Baffin Bay. The strait was named for the English explorer John Davis (1550–1605), who explored the area while seeking a Northwest Passage. By the 1650s it was used for whale hunting.
Qeqertarsuaq is a port and town in Qeqertalik municipality, located on the south coast of Disko Island on the west coast of Greenland. Founded in 1773, the town is now home to a campus of the University of Copenhagen known as Arctic Station. "Qeqertarsuaq" is the Kalaallisut name for Disko Island and is also now used for several other islands on Greenland, including those formerly known as Upernavik and Herbert Island.
The Greenland national football team represents Greenland in international football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Greenland. Although it has the same status as the Faroe Islands within the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland is not, like the Faroe Islands national football team, a member of FIFA nor of any continental confederation and therefore is not eligible to enter the World Cup or other sanctioned tournaments. Most of the matches they have played have been against the Faroe Islands and Iceland, but neither of the two consider those games full internationals. The Greenland national team are to join FIFA in 2020 to play in the euro 2020.
The Greenland Sea is a body of water that borders Greenland to the west, the Svalbard archipelago to the east, Fram Strait and the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Norwegian Sea and Iceland to the south. The Greenland Sea is often defined as part of the Arctic Ocean, sometimes as part of the Atlantic Ocean. However, definitions of the Arctic Ocean and its seas tend to be imprecise or arbitrary. In general usage the term "Arctic Ocean" would exclude the Greenland Sea. In oceanographic studies the Greenland Sea is considered part of the Nordic Seas, along with the Norwegian Sea. The Nordic Seas are the main connection between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans and, as such, could be of great significance in a possible shutdown of thermohaline circulation. In oceanography the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas are often referred to collectively as the "Arctic Mediterranean Sea", a marginal sea of the Atlantic.
UTC−03:00 is a time offset that subtracts 3 hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
Nanortalik, formerly Nennortalik, is a town in Nanortalik Island, Kujalleq municipality, southern Greenland. With 1,337 inhabitants as of 2013, it is the tenth-largest town in the country. The name Nanortalik means "Place of Polar Bears" or "Place Where the Polar Bears Go". It is the southernmost town in Greenland, with a population of over 1,000.
Upernavik Kujalleq, formerly Søndre Upernavik, is an island settlement in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. Founded in 1855 as a trading station on Qeqertaq Island, the settlement had 204 inhabitants in 2010.
Greenland, an autonomous constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark is one of the EU countries’ overseas countries and territories (OCT). Greenland receives funding from the EU for sustainable development and has signed agreements increasing cooperation with the EU.
The term "the unity of the Realm" refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Greenlandic Inuit are the indigenous peoples and the most populous ethnic group in Greenland. Most speak Greenlandic and consider themselves ethnically Greenlandic. People of Greenland are citizens of Denmark.
Nutaarmiut is an island settlement in the Qaasuitsup municipality, in northwestern Greenland. It had 36 inhabitants in 2010.
