Greenland is a North American island autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the larger of two autonomous territories within the Kingdom, the other being the Faroe Islands; the citizens of both territories are full citizens of Denmark. As Greenland is one of the Overseas Countries and Territories of the European Union, citizens of Greenland are European Union citizens. The capital and largest city of Greenland is Nuuk. Greenland lies between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It is the world's largest island, and is the location of the northernmost point of land in the world – Kaffeklubben Island off the northern coast is the world's northernmost undisputed point of land, and Cape Morris Jesup on the mainland was thought to be so until the 1960s.
The history of Greenland is a history of life under extreme Arctic conditions: currently, an ice sheet covers about eighty percent of the island, restricting human activity largely to the coasts. The first humans are thought to have arrived in Greenland around 2500 BCE. Their descendants apparently died out and were succeeded by several other groups migrating from continental North America. There has been no evidence discovered that Greenland was known to Norsemen until the ninth century CE, when Norse Icelandic explorers settled on its southwestern coast. The ancestors of the Greenlandic Inuit who live there today appear to have migrated there later, around the year 1200, from northwestern Greenland.
Nuuk is the capital of and most populous city in Greenland, an autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the territory's largest cultural and economic center. Nuuk is also the seat of government for the Sermersooq municipality. In January 2024, it had a population of 19,872, - more than a third of the country’s population - making it one of the smallest capital cities in the world by population. Nuuk is considered a modernized city after the policy began in 1950.
Narsarsuaq is a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. It had 123 inhabitants in 2020. There is a thriving tourism industry in and around Narsarsuaq, whose attractions include a great diversity of wildlife, gemstones, tours to glaciers, and an airfield museum.
The music of Greenland is a mixture of two primary strands, Inuit and Danish, mixed with influences from the United States and United Kingdom.
Narsaq is a town in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. The name Narsaq is Kalaallisut for "Plain", referring to the shore of Tunulliarfik Fjord where the town is located.
Qaqortoq, formerly Julianehåb, is a city in, and the capital of, the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland, located near Cape Thorvaldsen. With a population of 3,050 in 2020, it is the most populous town in southern Greenland and the fourth or fifth-largest town on the island.
Alluitsup Paa is a village in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. Alluitsup Paa had 202 residents in 2020. Presently, the community's religious activities take place in Qaqortoq.
Qassiarsuk is a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality, in southern Greenland. Its population was 39 in 2020. Qassiarsuk is part of the Kujataa World Heritage Site, due to its historical importance as the homestead of Erik the Red and its unique testimony to Greenlandic farming.
Igaliku is a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. The town was founded as Igaliko in 1783 by the trader and colonial administrator Anders Olsen and Greenlandic wife Tuperna. In 2020, Igaliku had 21 inhabitants. The nearby Norse ruins of Garðar and the farms surrounding the town were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2017 as part of the Kujataa Greenland: Norse and Inuit Farming at the Edge of the Ice Cap site.
Arsuk is a village in the Sermersooq municipality in southwestern Greenland. It had 73 inhabitants in 2020. The name of the settlement means the beloved place in the Greenlandic language. The village is served by the communal all-purpose Pilersuisoq store.
Tourism in Greenland is a relatively young business area of the country. Since the foundation of the national tourist council, Greenland Tourism, in 1992, the Home Rule Government has been working actively with promoting the destination and helping smaller tourist providers to establish their services. Foreign travel agencies have increasingly been opening up sale of Greenland trips and tours, and the cruise industry has had a relatively large increase in routes to Greenland since about the turn of the century.
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 both citizens of Denmark and citizens of the European Union.
Hvalsey Church was a Catholic church in the abandoned Greenlandic Norse settlement of Hvalsey. The best preserved Norse ruins in Greenland, the church was also the location of the last written record of the Greenlandic Norse, a wedding in September 1408.
Tunulliarfik Fjord is a fjord near Qaqortoq in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. It is the inner section of Skovfjord (Skovfjorden). In times of the Norse settlement in southern Greenland, it was known as Eiriksfjord.
Aka Høegh is a Greenlandic artist. Born in Qullissat on Disko Island, she moved to Qaqortoq in her childhood, and has lived in southern Greenland ever since. As a painter, graphic artist, and sculptor, Høegh focuses on nationalistic expressionism, creating art which reflects local, traditional myths, and is steeped in heritage and local lore. She frequently incorporates legend, nature, and provincial mythos into her works, devising strong connections between her art and local tradition. During the 1970s, she was regularly cited as the main artist in establishing a Greenlandic artistic identity. In September 2013 she was honoured of Nersornaat order.
Inuk Silis Høegh is a Greenlandic artist and filmmaker. The son of artist Aka Høegh and photographer and film artist Ivars Silis, he grew up in an artistic environment, and his sister is Bolatta Silis Høegh, also an artist.
Kîstat Lund was a Greenlandic graphic artist, illustrator, painter and schoolteacher. Educated at GU Nuuk High School and Viborg Katedralskole, she began drawing and painting while she was in high school and she worked with the techniques of painting in airbrush, acrylic, graphics, oil, paper cuts, pastel paintings, reliefs, tapestry weave templates and watercolour. Lund created art that was commissioned by conference rooms, institutions and schools. She was also a teacher at Narsap Atuarfia in Narsaq from 1975 after training as a teacher. Lund received scholarships and awards for her work and she was appointed Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog in 1997.
Bolatta Silis-Høegh is a Greenlandic contemporary artist and children's book author and illustrator who lives in Denmark.
