🇬🇱 Greenland

National Flag

Geography & Borders

This country has no land borders.

Introduction & Background

Greenland (Template:Lang-kl, Template:IPA-kl; Template:Lang-da, Template:IPA-da) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.13 It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is the world's largest island.d It is one of three constituent countries that form the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark and the Faroe Islands; the citizens of these countries are all citizens of Denmark and the European Union.15 Greenland's capital is Nuuk.15

Though a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe (specifically Norway and Denmark, the colonial powers) for more than a millennium, beginning in 986.16 Greenland has been inhabited at intervals over at least the last 4,500 years by Arctic peoples whose forebears migrated there from what is now Canada.1718 Norsemen settled the uninhabited southern part of Greenland beginning in the 10th century, having previously settled Iceland. Inuit arrived in the 13th century. Though under continuous influence of Norway and Norwegians, Greenland was not formally under the Norwegian crown until 1261. The Norse colonies disappeared in the late 15thcentury after Norway was hit by the Black Death and entered a severe decline.