History is always capricious. If not, let them tell the inhabitants of Greenland, whose name actually arose from a kind of advertising operation.. Nordic tradition says that the name was given by a Viking, Erik the Red, who, exiled first from Norway and then from Iceland for a series of crimes, came to the largest island in the world to make a name for himself in his exile. Erik the Red wanted to discover and conquer the land that a few years before, around 700, a drifting navigator, Gunnbjörn Úlf-Krakuson, had sighted.
Once there, he decided to name it Greenland (green land). He called it that, tradition says, “thinking that people would be very eager to go there if the country had a beautiful name.” Erik the Red knew that what the country would be like if the idea of a rich land was sold. Better that than emphasizing that most of the land was frozen and uninhabitable.
Of course, then Erik the Red did not know that Under those immense blocks of ice a fortune was hidden. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) that Greenland hides “approximately an average of 31.4 billion barrels equivalent of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.” And not only that. The country also has , as this group of chemical elements essential for the development of technology is known. Here we leave you ten keys to get to know Greenland, now Donald Trump’s new objective.
1. The largest island in the world
With an area of more than two million square kilometers, Greenland is the largest island in the world, yet the population is just over 55,000 people, with the vast majority living in its capital, Nuuk. 80% of Greenland’s territory is covered by ice and is uninhabitable. Despite being rich in resources, the country’s economy is mainly based on fishing and annual Danish subsidies.
2. Control of the Kingdom of Denmark
A Danish colony since 1700, Greenland was included in the category of “non-self-governing territories” by the United Nations after the creation of this international body in 1945, forcing Denmark to account. After a vote in which the Greenlanders themselves did not participate, Greenland officially became a Danish region in 1953. In this way, Denmark was freed from having to participate in the decolonization processes of the time. Despite the absence of Greenlandic opinion, according to Lars-Emil Johansen, former Prime Minister of Greenland and one of the fathers of the island’s independence movement, it is likely that even they would have voted in favor of becoming part of Denmark, since then They thought that this would place them in the social and economic status of the Danes. But it wasn’t like that.
According to the United Nations, “the unequal power relationship between Danes and Greenlanders soon came under scrutiny.” “Salaries in Greenland were much lower than in Denmark due to different levels of productivity between the island and European Denmark, according to Danish authorities. However, Danish civil servants stationed in Greenland continued to receive Danish salaries, while their local counterparts were paid according to Greenlandic standards with the introduction of a place of birth criterion. This became a major source of discontent for Greenlanders with studies in the 1960s and fueled the first wave of Greenlandic nationalism, which focused on obtaining equality within the Kingdom of Denmark,” explains UNRIC (UN).
3. Self-government and Autonomous Territory
In November 2008, and after years of demands and struggle, Greenlanders were able to vote in a referendum to decide if they wanted a new statute of autonomy. More than 75% voted yes. In that way, Since 2009, Greenland is what is known as an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark..
Although still under Danish tutelage, Greenlanders have control over their resources and also the legal right to proclaim independence from Denmark, something most of the population wants. But it’s not that simple. Much of its economy still depends on Danish subsidies.
4. Danish brutalism over Greenland
As much as Greenlanders denounce Donald Trump’s colonizing attempts, that does not mean they want to remain under Danish control. From Denmark they have tried to sell the idea that their colonial imperialism was more attentive and benevolent than that of other countries in the world, but it is nothing more than propaganda. Danish authorities have always seen Greenlanders as second-class people.
In 2024 it emerged that Denmark had been inserting the IUD without their consent or knowledge in many Greenlandic women with the aim of reducing the island’s population. According to The Guardianalmost 150 Greenlandic women per violation of human rights. “4,500 women and girls are believed to have been affected between 1966 and 1970,” the newspaper says.
Years before that, in 1951, Denmark also carried out and which consisted of capturing more than 20 Inuit (Greenlandic) children to be re-educated in Danish culture and tradition. In 2022, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen apologized for that to the few who were still alive.
5. The shadows of Greenland
In Greenland There are hardly any people who don’t know someone who has committed suicide.. The island has one of the highest rates of alcoholism in the world. While there are those who try to reduce it to the isolation of the region or the extreme climate, for some time now the taboo of the effects of Danish colonialism has been broken.
Last year, in the newspaper The World who won the Nordic Council Prize for a novel that addresses suicides on the island from another perspective, ‘The Valley of Flowers’. “Beyond the geographical isolation and climate, my people carry very complex stories,” he said.
“For example, in the 1960s and 1970s Denmark implemented the so-called Spiraljampagnen (‘spiral campaign’), which sterilized more than 4,500 women. At that time there was also forced industrialization that uprooted people from their traditional lives and homes to work in city factories. If you look at the statistics, There was no suicide until the 1950s, but since then it has increased brutally“continued the Greenlandic author.
According to Korneliussen, total decolonization and real independence of the Greenlandic people are key to ending this epidemic: “Even I, who am 35, grew up thinking that the Danes were better than me. We really wanted to be light-skinned, thin, have blue eyes and blonde hair. In Denmark there are many jokes about our alcoholism, our idiocy and our violence. Although, finally, today we are on the way to decolonize our social elements, from health to education and politics, created and dominated by Danes until recently without taking into account our idiosyncrasy and convenience, and also most importantly, our minds, to find an identity, a way of life, that is not conflictive, especially for young people.
6. The geostrategic position and the melting of the Arctic
In addition to the resources that Greenland has, its geographical position is increasingly strategic for the great world powers, be it the United States, Russia or China. The environmental catastrophe caused by the melting of the Arctic represents a business opportunity for those who only think about the green bills.. The thaw allows the opening of new trade routes that would save costs and time involved in other routes through Suez and Panama.
concluded that the Arctic has gone “from being a secondary region with no geostrategic weight to a region of special relevance where current powers stake part of their influence and future status.” The “progressive and rapid warming that endangers this ecosystem so fundamental for our survival […] offers different opportunities, such as mining, fishing, tourism, maritime routes…”, states the report.
7. The interest of the United States
Although the reason for American interest in Greenland has already been made clear, the truth is that this is not new. In 1867, when the United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire, there was talk of the opportunity that the acquisition of Greenland would offer, an idea that reappeared with greater or lesser intensity over the years. In 1946, former President Harry S. Truman offered Denmark $100 million to buy Greenland. Then, after the Second World War, the interest was more military.
Although Denmark refused to sell the island, a few years later, in 1950, it allowed the United States to establish a military base in Greenland that could preempt the shipment of Soviet missiles. The then John Thule Base, now Pituffik Base, is the northernmost military installation that the United States has in the world.
8. China
Although President Donald Trump’s bluster often makes headlines, his country is not the only one interested in Greenland. China, for example, also considers the island a key geostrategic point, although they have never gone to the point of advocating its purchase, even less by its conquest through military force.
The way China wants to enter Greenland is, as in other parts of the world, through economic support. In 2018, Denmark prevented, for example, the Chinese government from financing the construction of airports on the island.
9. The thermometer of the world
In addition to now being the thermometer of imperialist disputes in the world, Greenland is also considered the thermometer of the world regarding the risks that climate change entails. According to scientific studies, the island loses 30 million tons of ice per hour and, while many think about the trade routes that could be opened thanks to this, it is not great news for anyone.
the thaw will cause “extreme weather events to be more common in the future, there will be a greater probability of suffering from heat waves, floods and very intense storms.” What happens in the Arctic, Greenpeace defends, “does not stay in the Arctic.”
10. A couple of curiosities
In many areas of Greenland It is easier to meet a polar bear than another personalthough these do not escape the consequences of the thaw either. Although a population of polar bears was recently discovered that do not need sea ice to survive, climate change threatens their existence.
Climate change too puts an Inuit tradition at riskthat of transportation by sleds driven by Greenlandic dogs, one of the oldest breeds in the world and, unfortunately, also in danger of extinction.
