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Greenland is the world's largest island, located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for more than a millennium. The majority of its residents are Inuit, whose ancestors migrated from Alaska through Northern Canada, gradually settling across the island by the 13th century.
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Greenland, including population density, ethnicity, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
The economy of Greenland can be characterized as small, mixed and vulnerable. Greenland's economy consists of a large public sector and comprehensive foreign trade. This has resulted in an economy with periods of strong growth, considerable inflation, unemployment problems and extreme dependence on capital inflow from the Kingdom Government.
The flag of Greenland was designed by Greenland native Thue Christiansen. It features two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red with a large disk slightly to the hoist side of centre. The top half of the disk is red, the bottom half is white. The top half of the flag bears a slight resemblance to the Flag of Japan as a result. The entire flag measures 18 by 12 parts; each stripe measures 6 parts; the disk is 8 parts in diameter, horizontally offset by 7 parts from the hoist to the centre of the circle, and vertically centered.
Knud Johan Victor Rasmussen was a Greenlandic–Danish polar explorer and anthropologist. He has been called the "father of Eskimology" and was the first European to cross the Northwest Passage via dog sled. He remains well known in Greenland, Denmark and among Canadian Inuit.
The history of Greenland is a history of life under extreme Arctic conditions: currently, an ice sheet covers about 80 percent of the island, restricting human activity largely to the coasts.
Denmark and the former political union of Denmark–Norway had a colonial empire from the 17th through the 20th centuries, large portions of which were found in the Americas. Denmark and Norway in one form or another also maintained land claims in Greenland since the 13th century.
Nuuk is the capital and largest city of Greenland. Nuuk is the seat of government and the country's largest cultural and economic centre. The major cities from other countries 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 2020, it had a population of 18,326.
Qeqertarsuatsiaat, formerly Fiskernæs or Fiskenæsset, is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in southwestern Greenland, located on an island off the shores of Labrador Sea. Its population was 169 in 2020.
The fall of Denmark in April 1940 left the Danish colony of Greenland an unoccupied territory of an occupied nation, under threat of seizure by the United Kingdom or Canada. To forestall this, the United States acted to guarantee Greenland's position. However, with the entrance of the United States into the war in December 1941, Greenland became a combatant.
Reindeer hunting in Greenland is of great importance to the Kalaallit and sporting hunters, both residents and tourists. Reindeer (caribou) are an important source of meat, and harvesting them has always played an important role in the history, culture, and traditions of the Greenland Inuit. Controlled hunting is important for the welfare of reindeer, the quality of life for Inuit, and the preservation of tundra grazing areas. Therefore, scientific research is regularly performed to determine the quotas needed to maintain a proper ecological balance.
Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Greenland, Canada and Alaska. The Inuit languages are part of the Eskimo–Aleut family. Inuit Sign Language is a critically endangered language isolate used in Nunavut.
The Greenlandic Inuit are the indigenous and most populous ethnic group in Greenland. Most speak Greenlandic and consider themselves ethnically Greenlandic. People of Greenland are citizens of Denmark.
Dr. Hinrich Johannes Rink was a Danish geologist, one of the pioneers of glaciology, and the first accurate describer of the inland ice of Greenland. Rink, who first came to Greenland in 1848, spent 16 winters and 22 summers in the Arctic region, and became notable for Greenland's development. Becoming a Greenlandic scholar and administrator, he served as Royal Inspector of South Greenland and went on to become Director of the Royal Greenland Trading Department. With "Forstanderskaber", Rink introduced the first steps towards Greelandic home rule.
KNI A/S or Greenland Trade is a trading conglomerate in Greenland. It is the successor to the Royal Greenland Trading Department, which controlled the government of Greenland itself from 1774 to 1908 and possessed a monopoly on Greenlandic trade from 1776 to 1950. Today, the company remains a major component of the Greenlandic economy and remains fully owned by the local government. The company is based in Sisimiut (Holsteinsborg), Greenland's second-largest city, located in mid-western Greenland's Qeqqata Municipality.
The Royal Greenland Trading Department was a Danish state enterprise charged with administering the realm's settlements and trade in Greenland. The company managed the government of Greenland from 1774 to 1908 through its Board of Managers in Copenhagen and a series of Royal Inspectors and Governors in Godthaab and Godhavn on Greenland. The company was headquartered at Grønlandske Handels Plads at Christianshavn.
The Greenland Provincial Council was the provincial government of Greenland between 1950, when it was formed from the union of the earlier North and South Greenland Provincial Councils, and 1 May 1979, when it was replaced by the Greenland Home Rule Government and its Parliament.
Danish Greenlanders are Danish immigrants in Greenland and their descendants.
The majority of the Greenlandic population is Christian and associates with the Church of Denmark via the Church of Greenland, which is Protestant in classification and Lutheran in orientation. The Church of Denmark is the established church through the Constitution of Denmark; this applies to all of the Kingdom of Denmark, except for the Faroe Islands, as the Church of the Faroe Islands became independent in 2007. But traditional Inuit spiritual beliefs remain strong in many of Greenland's remote communities.
Herjolfsnes was a Norse settlement in Greenland, 50 km northwest of Cape Farewell. It was established by Herjolf Bardsson in the late 10th century and is believed to have lasted some 500 years. The fate of its inhabitants, along with all the other Norse Greenlanders, is unknown. The site is known today for having yielded remarkably well-preserved medieval garments, excavated by Danish archaeologist Paul Norland in 1921. Its name roughly translates as Herjolf's Point or Cape.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sørensen, Axel Kjaer. "Denmark-Greenland in the Twentieth Century". Meddelelser om Grønland [Monographs on Greenland]: Man and Society, No. 34. The Commission for Scientific Research in Greenland (Copenhagen), 2006.
- ↑ Doody, Richard. The World at War. "GREENLAND 1721 - 1953 Archived January 4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine ". Accessed 28 Apr 2012.
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