View source for Greenland

{{Short description|Autonomous territory of Denmark}}
{{About|the Danish territory|the island itself|Geography of Greenland|other uses}}
{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2026}}
{{Infobox political division
| name                          = Greenland
| native_name                   = {{nobold|{{native name|kl|Kalaallit Nunaat}}}}
{{nobold|{{native name|da|Grønland}}}}
| settlement_type               = [[Danish Realm|Autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark]]
| image_flag                    = Flag of Greenland.svg
| flag_size                     = 130px
| flag_link                     = Flag of Greenland
| image_seal                    = Coat of arms of Greenland.svg
| seal_size                     = 75px
| seal_type                     = Coat of arms
| seal_link                     = Coat of arms of Greenland
| nickname                      = 
| nickname_link                 = 
| motto_link                    = 
| motto                         = 
| anthem_link                   = 
| anthem                        = <br />{{native name|kl|"[[Nunarput utoqqarsuanngoravit]]"|italics=off}}<br />{{native name|da|"Vort ældgamle land"}}<br />"Our Ancient Land"<br />
<div style="display:inline-block;margin-top:0.4em;">{{center|[[File:Nunarput.ogg]]}}</div><br />
{{parabr}}{{center| }}<!-- Self government and national anthem -->
| song_type                     = '''[[Kalaallit]] song'''
| song                          = <br />{{native name|kl|"[[Nuna asiilasooq]]"|italics=off}}<br />"The Land of Great Length"{{efn|1=''Nuna asiilasooq'' has equal status as a [[regional anthem]] but is generally used only in Greenland.<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 October 2003 |title=03EM/01.25.01-50 Spørgsmål til Landsstyret: Hvornår fremsætter Landsstyret beslutning om Grønlands |trans-title=03EM/01.25.01-50 Questions to the Home Rule Government: When does the Home Rule Government make a decision on Greenland |url=http://www.inatsisartut.gl/groenlands_landsting/landstingssamlinger/em_2003/dgopkt_behdato/spoergsmaal/50.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213120446/http://www.inatsisartut.gl/groenlands_landsting/landstingssamlinger/em_2003/dgopkt_behdato/spoergsmaal/50.html |archive-date=13 December 2014 |access-date=13 December 2014 |publisher=[[Inatsisartut|Government of Greenland]]}}</ref>}}

{{parabr}}{{center|}}<br/>'''Royal anthems:'''<br />{{native name|da|[[Der er et yndigt land]]|link=on}}<br />({{langx|en|"There is a lovely country"}})<div style="display:inline-block;margin-top:0.4em;">{{center|[[File:United States Navy Band - Der er et yndigt land.ogg]]}}</div><br />{{native name|da|[[Kong Christian stod ved højen mast]]|link=on}}<br />({{langx|en|"King Christian stood by the lofty mast"}})<br /><div style="display:inline-block;margin-top:0.4em;">{{center|[[File:United States Navy Band - Kong Kristian stod ved højen mast.ogg]]}}</div>
| image_map                     = Denmark-Greenland (orthographic projection).svg
| map_caption                   = {{map caption
  | location_color = dark green
  | region = the [[Danish Realm|Kingdom of Denmark]]
  | region_color = light green
  }}
| subdivision_type              = [[Sovereign state]]
| subdivision_name              = {{Flag|Kingdom of Denmark}}
| established_title             = [[Paleo-Eskimo|Paleo-Inuit]] settling
| established_date              = {{circa|2500&nbsp;BC}}
| established_title2            = [[Norse settlement of North America|Norse settling]]
| established_date2             = 986&nbsp;AD
| established_title3            = [[Kingdom of Norway (872–1397)|Greenland Norse union with Norway]]
| established_date3             = 1262
| established_title4            = [[Dano-Norwegian empire|Danish-Norwegian resettlement and colonization]]
| established_date4             = 1721
| established_title5            = [[Treaty of Kiel|Unification with Denmark]]
| established_date5             = 14 January 1814
| established_title6            = [[Home rule]]
| established_date6             = 1 May 1979
| established_title7            = Further [[autonomy]] and [[self rule]]
| established_date7             = 21 June 2009<ref name=selvstyre /><ref name="selfrule">{{Cite news |date=21 June 2009 |title=Self-rule introduced in Greenland |work=BBC News |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8111292.stm |url-status=live |access-date=4 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100425041746/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8111292.stm |archive-date=25 April 2010}}</ref>
| official_languages            = [[Greenlandic language|Greenlandic]]{{efn|name=languages|Greenlandic has been the sole official language of Greenland since 2009.<ref name = selvstyre /><ref name="Chogath Kog'sante law"/>
}}
| languages_type                = Recognized languages
| languages                     = [[Danish language|Danish]], English, and other languages if necessary{{efn|name=languages}}
| capital                       = [[Nuuk]]
| coordinates                   = {{Coord|64|10|N|51|44|W|type:city_region:GL-SM}}
| largest_city                  = capital
| ethnic_groups                 = {{ubli
|89.51% [[Greenlandic Inuit]]
|7.5% [[Danish people in Greenland|Danish]]
|1.1% other [[North Germanic peoples|Nordic]]
|1.9% [[Demographics of Greenland#Ethnic groups|others]]<ref name="cia.gov" />}}
| ethnic_groups_year            = 2020
| religion_year                 = 2010
| religion_ref                  = <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_94_1.asp |title=Greenland, Religion and Social Profile &#124; National Profiles |website=Association of Religion Data Archives |date=21 June 2009 |access-date=18 June 2016 |archive-date=24 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924211510/http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_94_1.asp }}</ref>
| religion                      = {{unbulleted list|
{{Tree list}}
* 96.1% Christianity
** 95.5% [[Church of Greenland|Lutheranism]] (official)
** 0.2% [[Catholic Church in Greenland|Catholicism]]
** 0.4% other [[List of Christian denominations|Christian]]
{{Tree list/end}}
|2.5% [[Irreligion|no religion]]
|1.4% [[Religion in Greenland|other]]}}
| demonym                       = {{hlist|Greenlandic|[[Greenlanders|Greenlander]]}}
| government_type               = [[Devolution|Devolved]] [[Parliamentary system|parliamentary government]] within a [[Unitary state|unitary]] [[constitutional monarchy]]
| leader_title1                 = [[Monarchy of Denmark|Monarch]]
| leader_name1                  = [[Frederik X]]
| leader_title2                 = [[Prime Minister of Denmark]]
| leader_name2                  = [[Mette Frederiksen]]
| leader_title3                 = {{nowrap|[[List of Danish High Commissioners in Greenland|High Commissioner]]}}
| leader_name3                  = [[Julie Præst Wilche]]
| leader_title4                 = [[Prime Minister of Greenland|Greenlandic Prime Minister]]
| leader_name4                  = [[Jens-Frederik Nielsen]]
| leader_title5                 = [[List of speakers of the Inatsisartut|Speaker of the Inatsisartut]]
| leader_name5                  = [[Kim Kielsen]]
| legislature                   = {{ubli|[[Folketing]]et (Kingdom of Denmark)
|[[Inatsisartut]] (Greenland)}}
| upper_house                   = 
| lower_house                   = 
| national_representation_type1 = [[Folketing]]<br />([[Greenland (Folketing constituency)|2 members]])
| national_representation1      = {{ubl|[[Aaja Chemnitz Larsen]] ([[Inuit Ataqatigiit|IA]])|[[Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam]] ([[Naleraq|N]])}}
| area_km2                      = 2,166,086<!-- (410,449 ice-free) -->
| area_rank                     = <!-- Area rank should match [[List of countries and dependencies by area]];should not be any here -->
| area_sq_mi                    = 836,109<!--Do not remove per [[WP:MOSNUM]]-->
| percent_water                 = 0{{efn|As of 2000: {{convert|410449|km2|abbr=on}} ice-free (18.9%); {{convert|1755637|km2|abbr=on}} ice-covered (81.1%).<br />Density: {{convert|0.14|/km2|abbr=on}} for ice-free areas.}}
| elevation_max_ft              = 
| elevation_max_m               = 3,700
| population_estimate           = {{increaseNeutral}} 56,831<ref>{{cite web |title=Population increased by 96 in second quarter of 2025 |url=https://stat.gl/publ/en/BE/202504/contents/Midyear%20Population.htm |website=stat.gl |publisher=Statistics Greenland |access-date=5 October 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Greenland in Figures 2025 |url=https://stat.gl/publ/en/gf/2025/pdf/Greenland%20in%20Figures%202025.pdf |website=stat.gl |publisher=Statistics Greenland |access-date=5 October 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Population of Greenland |url=https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/greenland-population |work=Greenlandic Population as of 2022 |access-date=12 August 2022 |archive-date=4 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804114047/https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/greenland-population |url-status=live}}</ref>
| population_census             = 
| population_estimate_year      = 2025
| population_estimate_rank      = 210th
| population_census_year        = 
| population_density_km2        = 0.028 <!-- (0.16 on ice-free areas) -->
| population_density_sq_mi = 0.069 <!--Do not remove per [[WP:MOSNUM]]-->
| population_density_rank       = 
| GDP_PPP                       = {{Increase}} $4.48&nbsp;billion<ref name="Greenland in Figures 2013">{{Cite book |url=http://www.stat.gl/publ/en/GF/2013/pdf/Greenland%20in%20Figures%202013.pdf |title=Greenland in Figures 2013 |publisher=[[Statistics Greenland]] |isbn=978-87-986787-7-9 |issn=1602-5709 |access-date=2 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054558/http://www.stat.gl/publ/en/GF/2013/pdf/Greenland%20in%20Figures%202013.pdf |archive-date=21 September 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>
| GDP_PPP_year                  = 2023
| GDP_PPP_rank                  = 
| GDP_PPP_per_capita            = {{Increase}} $78,840
| GDP_PPP_per_capita_rank       = 
| GDP_nominal                   = {{Increase}} $3.33&nbsp;billion<ref>{{Cite web |title=Greenland {{!}} Data |url=https://data.worldbank.org/country/GL |access-date=9 August 2021 |publisher=World Bank |archive-date=31 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230531211931/https://data.worldbank.org/country/GL |url-status=live}}</ref>
| GDP_nominal_year              = 2023
| GDP_nominal_rank              = 
| GDP_nominal_per_capita        = {{Increase}} $58,499<ref>{{cite web |url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=GL |title=GDP per capita (Current US$) – Greenland &#124; Data |publisher=World Bank |access-date=9 January 2025 |archive-date=27 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327131743/https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=GL |url-status=live}}</ref>
| GDP_nominal_per_capita_rank   = 
| Gini                          = 56.0 <!--number only-->
| Gini_year                     = 2023
| Gini_change                   = increase<!--increase/decrease/steady-->
| Gini_ref                      = <ref name="wb-gini">{{cite web |last1=Hasell |first1=Joe |last2=Arriagada |first2=Pablo |last3=Ortiz-Ospina |first3=Esteban |last4=Roser |first4=Max |date=2023 |title=Income inequality: Gini coefficient (before tax) |website=Our World in Data |url=https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/gini-coefficient-before-tax-wid?tab=chart&country=~GRL |access-date=23 March 2025}}</ref>
| HDI                           = 0.852 <!--number only-->
| HDI_year                      = 2023 <!-- Please use the year to which the data refers, not the publication year-->
| HDI_change                    = increase <!--increase/decrease/steady-->
| HDI_ref                       = <ref>{{cite web|title=Greenland Human Development Reports|author=Insightorium|date=4 January 2026 |url=https://archive.org/details/greenland-human-development-reports
|access-date=4 January 2026|language=en}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|reason=Zero indication of where this source comes from|date=January 2026}}
| HDI_rank                      = 52nd
| currency                      = [[Danish krone]]
| currency_code                 = DKK
| timezone                      = 
| utc_offset_list               = [[UTC±00:00]] to [[UTC-04:00]]
| date_format                   = dd-mm-yyyy
| drives_on                     = Right
| calling_code                  = [[Telephone numbers in Greenland|+299]]
| postal_code_type              = Postal codes
| postal_code                   = 39xx
| iso_code                      = [[ISO 3166-2:GL|GL]]
| cctld                         = [[.gl]]
}}
'''Greenland'''{{efn|{{langx|kl|Kalaallit Nunaat}}, {{IPA|kl|kalaːɬːit nʉnaːt|pron}}; {{langx|da|Grønland}}, {{IPA|da|ˈkʁɶnˌlænˀ|pron}}}} is an [[Autonomous administrative division|autonomous territory]]{{efn|{{langx|da|rigsdel}}, literally {{gloss|realm part}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Greenland and The Faroe Islands |url=https://um.dk/en/foreign-policy/the-arctic/greenland-and-the-faroe-islands |access-date=28 January 2025 |website=UM-ENEN |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Political system |url=https://japan.um.dk/en/about-denmark/greenland/political-system |access-date=28 January 2025 |website=Denmark in Japan |publisher=Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark |language=en}}</ref>}} of the [[Danish Realm|Kingdom of Denmark]]<ref>{{cite news |url=https://denmark.dk/people-and-culture/greenland |title=Greenland: The world's largest island |publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark |access-date=14 January 2024 |archive-date=20 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220232126/https://denmark.dk/people-and-culture/greenland |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Multiple sources: 
*{{cite book |first=Dallen J. |last=Timothy |date=6 November 2020 |title=Tourism in European Microstates and Dependencies: Geopolitics, Scale and Resource Limitations |publisher=CABI |pages=94ff |isbn=978-1-78924-310-9 |oclc=1162434605 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UYMIEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA94 |quote=This change in governance also resulted in Greenland becoming an autonomous 'constituent country' in the Danish realm&nbsp;... |access-date=18 September 2022 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610113252/https://books.google.com/books?id=UYMIEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA94#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}
*{{Cite web |last=Benedikter |first=Thomas |date=19 June 2006 |title=The working autonomies in Europe |url=http://www.gfbv.it/3dossier/eu-min/autonomy.html |publisher=[[Society for Threatened Peoples]] |quote=Denmark has established very specific territorial autonomies with its two island territories |access-date=3 June 2019 |archive-date=9 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080309063149/http://www.gfbv.it/3dossier/eu-min/autonomy.html |url-status=live}}
*{{Cite web |url=http://www.world-autonomies.info/tas/Greenland/Pages/default.aspx |title=Greenland |last=Ackrén |first=Maria |date=November 2017 |publisher=Autonomy Arrangements in the World |quote=Faroese and Greenlandic are seen as official regional languages in the self-governing territories belonging to Denmark. |access-date=30 August 2019 |archive-date=30 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830110832/http://www.world-autonomies.info/tas/Greenland/Pages/default.aspx }}
*{{Cite web |url=https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/countries/greenland_en |title=Greenland |date=3 June 2013 |website=International Cooperation and Development |publisher=[[European Commission]] |language=en |access-date=27 August 2019 |quote=Greenland [...] is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark |archive-date=16 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140916135422/https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/countries/greenland_en |url-status=live}}</ref> and is the largest of the kingdom's three constituent parts by land area, the others being [[Denmark]] proper and the [[Faroe Islands]]. Citizens of Greenland are [[Danish nationality law|citizens of Denmark]]. They are thus [[European Union citizenship|citizens of the European Union]] (EU), although Greenland is [[Special territories of members of the European Economic Area#Overseas countries and territories|not part of the EU]]. It is the [[List of islands by area|world's largest island]]{{efn|[[Afro-Eurasia]], the [[Americas]], [[Australia (continent)|Australia]], and [[Antarctica]] are all larger than Greenland, but they are generally considered [[continent]]s, not islands.<ref name="jc">{{Cite web |title=Joshua Calder's World Island Information |url=http://www.worldislandinfo.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110423173524/http://www.worldislandinfo.com/ |archive-date=23 April 2011 |access-date=6 September 2010 |publisher=Worldislandinfo.com}}</ref>{{nonspecific|date=January 2026}}}} and lies between the [[Arctic Ocean|Arctic]] and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian [[Arctic Archipelago]]. It shares a small {{convert|1.2|km|adj=on}} border with Canada on [[Hans Island]]. The capital and largest city is [[Nuuk]].<ref name="worldfactbook">{{cite web |url= https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/greenland/ |title=Greenland |work=The World Factbook |publisher=CIA |access-date=13 January 2021 |archive-date=9 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109162939/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/greenland/ }}</ref> [[Kaffeklubben Island]] off the northern coast is the world's [[Northernmost point of land|northernmost undisputed point of land]]{{efn|[[Stray Dog West]] is considered the most northerly competitor claim, although it is generally sunken at [[high tide]].}}{{snd}}[[Cape Morris Jesup]] on the main island was thought to be so until the 1960s. Economically, Greenland is heavily reliant on [[Block grant#Denmark|aid from Denmark]], which has averaged {{DKK|5.4{{nbsp}}billion|link=yes}} ({{Euro|724{{nbsp}}million|link=yes}}) annually in the period 2019–2023, amounting to more than 20% of the territory's gross domestic product.<ref>{{Cite news|date=20 January 2025 |title=Pressure on Greenland for more Danish aid, U.S. presence |url=https://www.financialmirror.com/2025/01/20/pressure-on-greenland-for-more-danish-aid-u-s-presence/ |access-date=13 January 2026 |website=Financial Mirror |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Though a part of the continent of North America, Greenland was politically and culturally associated with the European kingdom of [[Norway]] from 986 until the early 15th century. From the 18th century, following the union of [[Denmark–Norway|Denmark and Norway]] and [[Hans Egede|the establishment of the Nuuk settlement]], Greenland gradually became associated with Denmark.<ref name="Brown2000">{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Dale Mackenzie |date=28 February 2000 |title=The Fate of Greenland's Vikings |url=https://archive.archaeology.org/online/features/greenland/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110111090459/http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/greenland/ |archive-date=11 January 2011 |access-date=21 January 2026 |website=[[Archaeology (magazine)|Archaeology]] |publisher=[[Archaeological Institute of America]]}}</ref> Greenland has been inhabited at intervals over at least the last 4,500 years by [[circumpolar peoples]] whose forebears migrated there from what is now Canada.<ref name="natmus">{{Cite web |title=Saqqaq-kulturen kronologi |url=http://natmus.dk/forsknings-og-formidlingsafdelingen/etnografisk-samling/sila-arctic-centre/prehistory-of-greenland/saqqaq/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207035806/http://natmus.dk/forsknings-og-formidlingsafdelingen/etnografisk-samling/sila-arctic-centre/prehistory-of-greenland/saqqaq/ |archive-date=7 December 2013 |access-date=2 August 2013 |publisher=National Museum of Denmark}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Saillard J, Forster P, Lynnerup N, Bandelt HJ, Nørby S |year=2000 |title=mtDNA variation among Greenland Eskimos: the edge of the Beringian expansion |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=67 |issue=3 |pages=718–26 |doi=10.1086/303038 |pmc=1287530 |pmid=10924403 |issn=0002-9297}}</ref> [[Vikings|Norsemen]] from Norway settled the uninhabited [[Norse settlements in Greenland|southern part of Greenland]] beginning in the 10th century (having previously [[Settlement of Iceland|settled Iceland]]), and their descendants lived in Greenland for 400 years until disappearing in the late 15th century. From the late 15th century, the Portuguese attempted to find the northern route to Asia, which ultimately led to the earliest cartographic depiction of the coastline. In the 17th century, [[Denmark–Norway|Dano-Norwegian]] explorers reached Greenland again, finding their earlier settlement extinct and reestablishing a permanent Scandinavian presence.

When Denmark and Norway separated in 1814, Greenland was transferred from the Norwegian to the Danish crown. The 1953 [[Constitution of Denmark]] ended Greenland's status as a colony, integrating it fully into the Danish state. In the [[1979 Greenlandic home rule referendum]], Denmark granted [[home rule]] to Greenland. In the [[2008 Greenlandic self-government referendum]], Greenlanders voted for the Self-Government Act which transferred more power from the Danish government to the local [[Naalakkersuisut]] (Greenlandic government).<ref name="Greenland In Figures 2012">{{Cite book |url=http://www.stat.gl/publ/en/GF/2012/content/Greenland%20in%20Figures%202012.pdf |title=Greenland in Figures 2012 |publisher=Grønlands Statistik |isbn=978-87-986787-6-2 |issn=1602-5709 |access-date=10 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113160436/http://www.stat.gl/publ/en/GF/2012/content/Greenland%20in%20Figures%202012.pdf |archive-date=13 November 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> Under this structure, Greenland gradually assumed responsibility for governmental services and areas of competence. The Danish government retains control of citizenship, monetary policy, security policies, and foreign affairs. With the melting of the ice due to [[global warming]], its abundance of mineral wealth, and its strategic position between [[Eurasia]], North America, and the Arctic zone, Greenland holds strategic importance for the Kingdom of Denmark, [[NATO]], and the European Union. Since 2025, the United States has pursued threats to annex Greenland, triggering the [[Greenland crisis]].

Most residents of Greenland are [[Inuit]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Thule Culture |encyclopedia=Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Historica Canada |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/thule-culture/ |access-date=1 June 2015 |last=Mcghee |first=Robert |date=3 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120045928/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/thule-culture/ |archive-date=20 November 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> The population is concentrated mainly on the southwest coast, strongly influenced by climatic and geographical factors, and the rest of the island is sparsely populated. With a population of 56,583 (2022),<ref name="population">{{Cite web |title=Population of Greenland |website=World Population Review |url=https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/greenland-population |access-date=12 August 2022 |archive-date=4 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804114047/https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/greenland-population |url-status=live}}</ref> Greenland is the [[List of countries and dependencies by population density|least densely populated country]] in the world.<ref name="popden">{{Cite web |title=Population density (people per sq. km of land area) |url=http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.POP.DNST?order=wbapi_data_value_2010+wbapi_data_value+wbapi_data_value-last&sort=asc |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605122932/http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.POP.DNST?order=wbapi_data_value_2010+wbapi_data_value+wbapi_data_value-last&sort=asc |archive-date=5 June 2013 |access-date=3 November 2012 |publisher=The World Bank}}</ref> Greenland is socially progressive, like metropolitan Denmark; education and healthcare are free, and [[LGBTQ rights in Greenland]] are some of the most extensive in the world. Sixty-seven percent of its electricity production comes from renewable energy, mostly from [[hydropower]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Vedvarende energi |url=https://nukissiorfiit.gl/da/Produkter/Vedvarende-energi |publisher=Nukissiorfiit |access-date=28 March 2023 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610113257/https://nukissiorfiit.gl/da/Produkter/Vedvarende-energi |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The early [[Norsemen|Norse]] settlers named the island ''Greenland''. In the [[Sagas of Icelanders|Icelandic sagas]], the Norwegian [[Erik the Red]] was exiled from Iceland with his father, Thorvald, who had committed manslaughter. With his extended family and his [[thrall]]s {{gloss|mode=def|slaves or serfs}}, he set out in ships to explore an icy land known to lie to the northwest. After finding a habitable area and settling there, he named it {{lang|non|{{linktext|Grœnland}}}} (translated as "Greenland"), supposedly in the hope that the pleasant name would attract settlers.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17946/17946-h/17946-h.htm |title=Eirik the Red's Saga |date=8 March 2006 |publisher=Gutenberg.org |access-date=6 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511061916/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17946/17946-h/17946-h.htm |archive-date=11 May 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ancientstandard">[http://ancientstandard.com/2010/12/17/how-greenland-got-its-name/ "How Greenland got its name"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319050912/http://ancientstandard.com/2010/12/17/how-greenland-got-its-name/ |date=19 March 2012 }}. ''The Ancient Standard''. 17 December 2010.</ref><ref name="Grove">{{cite journal |last1=Grove |first1=Jonathan |title=The Place of Greenland in Medieval Icelandic Saga Narrative |journal=Journal of the North Atlantic |date=January 2009 |volume=201 |pages=30–51 |doi=10.3721/037.002.s206 }}</ref> The ''[[Saga of Erik the Red]]'' states: "In the summer, Erik left to settle in the country he had found, which he called Greenland, as he said people would be attracted there if it had a favourable name."<ref>Evans, Andrew. [https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/06/iceland-greenland-name-swap/ "Is Iceland Really Green and Greenland Really Icy?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171204222855/https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/06/iceland-greenland-name-swap/ |date=4 December 2017}}, ''[[National Geographic]]'' (30 June 2016).</ref> The name of the territory in the [[Greenlandic language]] is {{lang|kl|Kalaallit Nunaat}}, {{gloss|land of the Kalaallit}},<ref name="InuitDictionary">[[#Stern|Stern]], p. 89</ref> the [[Kalaallit]] being the principal group of [[Greenlandic Inuit]] who inhabit the territory's western region. The Greenlandic Inuit term ''Nunaat'' does not include waters and ice.<ref>{{cite web |title=Maps of Inuit Nunangat (Inuit Regions of Canada) |url=https://www.itk.ca/maps-of-inuit-nunangat/ |date=5 September 2008 |publisher=[[Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami]] |access-date=20 June 2019}}</ref>

==History==
{{Main|History of Greenland}}

{{For timeline|Timeline of Greenland}}

===Early Palaeo-Inuit cultures===
[[File:Independence-fjord.svg|thumb|upright|Areas of Independence I and Independence II cultures around Independence Fjord|left]]
In prehistoric times, Greenland was home to several successive [[Paleo-Eskimo|Palaeo-Inuit]] cultures known primarily through archaeological finds. The earliest entry of the Palaeo-Inuit into Greenland is thought to have occurred about 2500&nbsp;BC. From about 2500&nbsp;BC to 800&nbsp;BC, southern and western Greenland was inhabited by the [[Saqqaq culture]]. Most finds of remains from that period have been around [[Disko Bay]], including the site of Saqqaq, for which the culture is named.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grønnow |first=B. |year=1988 |title=Prehistory in permafrost: Investigations at the Saqqaq site, Qeqertasussuk, Disco Bay, West Greenland |journal=Journal of Danish Archaeology |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=24–39 |doi=10.1080/0108464X.1988.10589995}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Møbjerg |first=T. |year=1999 |title=New adaptive strategies in the Saqqaq culture of Greenland, c. 1600–1400 BC |journal=World Archaeology |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=452–65 |doi=10.1080/00438243.1999.9980423 |jstor=124963}}</ref>

From 2400&nbsp;BC to 1300&nbsp;BC, the [[Independence I culture]] existed in northern Greenland. It was a part of the [[Arctic small tool tradition|Arctic small-tool tradition]].<ref name="Greenland History">{{Cite web |title=The history of Greenland – From dog sled to snowmobile |url=http://www.greenland.com/en/about-greenland/kultur-sjael/historie.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927011214/http://www.greenland.com/en/about-greenland/kultur-sjael/historie.aspx |archive-date=27 September 2011 |access-date=10 September 2011 |publisher=Greenland.com}}</ref><ref name="Greenland Migration">{{Cite web |title=Migration to Greenland – the history of Greenland |url=http://www.greenland.com/en/about-greenland/kultur-sjael/historie/indvandringerne-til-groenland.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905074558/http://www.greenland.com/en/about-greenland/kultur-sjael/historie/indvandringerne-til-groenland.aspx |archive-date=5 September 2011 |access-date=10 September 2011 |publisher=Greenland.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rasch |first1=M. |last2=Jensen |first2=J. F. |year=1997 |title=Ancient Eskimo dwelling sites and Holocene relative sea-level changes in southern Disko Bugt, central West Greenland |journal=Polar Research |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=101–15 |bibcode=1997PolRe..16..101R |doi=10.3402/polar.v16i2.6629|doi-access=free }}</ref> Towns including [[Deltaterrasserne]] appeared. About 800&nbsp;BC the Saqqaq culture disappeared, and the Early [[Dorset culture]] emerged in western Greenland and the [[Independence II culture]] in northern Greenland.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ramsden |first1=P. |last2=Tuck |first2=J. A. |year=2001 |title=A Comment on the Pre-Dorset/Dorset Transition in the Eastern Arctic |url=https://www.academia.edu/231379 |url-status=live |journal=Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska |series=New Series |volume=1 |pages=7–11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408154010/https://www.academia.edu/231379 |archive-date=8 April 2022}}</ref> It is unknown whether the Dorset people ever encountered the later [[Thule people]]. The people of the Dorset culture lived mainly by [[Seal hunting|hunting seals]] and reindeer.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grønnow |first=B. |year=1986 |title=Recent archaeological investigations of West Greenland caribou hunting |journal=Arctic Anthropology |volume=23 |issue=1/2 |pages=57–80 |jstor=40316103}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rowley |first=G. |year=1940 |title=The Dorset culture of the eastern Arctic |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=490–99 |doi=10.1525/aa.1940.42.3.02a00080 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gulløv |first1=H. C. |title=The archaeology of shamanism |last2=Appelt |first2=M. |publisher=Routledge |year=2001 |isbn=0-415-25255-5 |page=146 |chapter=Social bonding and shamanism among Late Dorset groups in High Arctic Greenland}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gulløv |first=H. C. |title=In search of the Dorset culture in the Thule culture. The Paleoo Cultures of Greenland |publisher=Copenhagen: Danish Polar Center (Publication No. 1) |year=1996 |pages=201–14}}</ref>

===Norse settlement===
{{main|Norse settlements in Greenland}}

From 986, the west coast was settled by [[Icelanders]] and [[Norwegians]], through a contingent of 14 boats led by Erik the Red. They formed three settlements{{snd}}the [[Eastern Settlement]], the [[Western Settlement]], and the [[Ivittuut|Middle Settlement]]{{snd}}on fjords near the southwestern tip of the island.<ref name=Brown2000 /><ref>Kudeba, N. (19 April 2014). Chapter 5, "Norse Explorers from Erik the Red to Leif Erikson", in ''Canadian Explorers''.</ref> They shared the island with the late Dorset culture inhabitants, who occupied the northern and western parts, and later with those of the Thule culture who entered from the north. Norse Greenlanders submitted to Norwegian rule in 1261 under the [[Kingdom of Norway (872–1397)|Kingdom of Norway]].<ref name = Encyclopedia.com>{{cite web |title=Viking Settlers in Greenland |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/viking-settlers-greenland |website=Encyclopedia.com |access-date=18 December 2023 |language=en |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610113237/https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/viking-settlers-greenland |url-status=live}}</ref> The Kingdom of Norway entered a personal union with Denmark in 1380, and from 1397 was a part of the [[Kalmar Union]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boraas |first=Tracey |url=https://archive.org/details/sweden0000bora/page/24 |title=Sweden |publisher=Capstone Press |year=2002 |isbn=0-7368-0939-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/sweden0000bora/page/24 24]}}</ref>

Norse settlements such as [[Brattahlíð]] thrived for centuries before disappearing in the 15th century, perhaps at the onset of the [[Little Ice Age]].<ref name="Diamond">{{Cite book |last=Diamond |first=Jared |title=Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed |title-link=Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed |publisher=Penguin |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-14-303655-5 |location=Harmondsworth [Eng.] |author-link=Jared Diamond}}</ref> Except for some runic inscriptions, the only contemporary records or [[historiography]] that survive from the Norse settlements are of their contact with Iceland or Norway. Medieval Norwegian sagas and historical works mention Greenland's economy, the bishops of [[Garðar, Greenland|Gardar]], and the collection of tithes. A chapter in the ''[[Konungs skuggsjá]]'' (''The King's Mirror'') describes Norse Greenland's exports, imports, and grain cultivation.

[[File:Dorset, Norse, and Thule cultures 900-1500.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Estimated extent of Arctic cultures in Greenland from 900 AD to 1500 AD. Coloured areas on each map indicate the extent and migration patterns over time of the [[Dorset culture|Dorset]], [[Thule people|Thule]], and [[Norse colonization of North America#Norse Greenland|Norse]] cultures.|alt=]]

[[Sagas of Icelanders|Icelandic saga]] accounts of life in Greenland were composed in the 13th century and later but are not primary sources for the history of early Norse Greenland.<ref name=Grove /> Those accounts are closer to primary for more contemporaneous accounts of late Norse Greenland. Modern understanding therefore mostly depends on the physical data from archaeological sites. Interpretation of [[Ice core|ice-core]] and clam-shell data suggests that between AD 800 and 1300 the regions around the fjords of southern Greenland had a relatively mild climate, several degrees Celsius warmer than usual in the North Atlantic<ref name="Arnold">Arnold C. (June 2010) "Cold Did In the Norse", ''Earth Magazine''. p. 9.</ref> with trees<!--"mild is vague" it makes people believe the climate was temperate; This sentence also suggests that trees stopped growing after 1300 and that trees don't grow in cold climates --> and [[herbaceous plant]]s growing and livestock being farmed. [[Barley]] was grown as a crop up to the 70th&nbsp;parallel.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Behringer |first=Wolfgang |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VqjESAAACAAJ |title=Kulturgeschichte des Klimas: Von der Eiszeit zur globalen Erwärmung |language=de |location=Munich |publisher=Dt. Taschenbuch-Verlag |date=9 September 2009 |isbn=978-3-406-52866-8 |access-date=18 September 2022 |archive-date=24 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230624225857/https://books.google.com/books?id=VqjESAAACAAJ |url-status=live}}</ref> The ice cores show that Greenland has had dramatic temperature shifts many times in the past 100,000 years.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Alley |first1=R. |last2=Mayewski |first2=P. |last3=Peel |first3=D. |last4=Stauffer |first4=B. |title=Twin ice cores from greenland reveal history of climate change, more |journal=Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union |date=28 May 1996 |volume=77 |issue=22 |pages=209–210 |doi=10.1029/96EO00142 |bibcode=1996EOSTr..77R.209A }}</ref> Similarly the [[Landnámabók|Icelandic Book of Settlements]] records famines during the winters, in which "the old and helpless were killed and thrown over cliffs".<ref name=Arnold />

These Norse settlements vanished during the 14th and early 15th centuries.<ref>"[http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2003/07/17/2858655.htm Why societies collapse] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120802053920/http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2003/07/17/2858655.htm |date=2 August 2012 }}". ABC Science.</ref> The demise of the Western Settlement coincides with a decrease in summer and winter temperatures. A study of North Atlantic seasonal temperature variability during the Little Ice Age showed a significant decrease in maximum summer temperatures beginning about the turn of the 14th century{{snd}}as much as {{convert|6|to|8|C-change}} lower than modern summer temperatures.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Patterson |first1=W. P. |last2=Dietrich |first2=K. A. |last3=Holmden |first3=C. |last4=Andrews |first4=J. T. |date=23 March 2010 |title=Two millennia of North Atlantic seasonality and implications for Norse colonies |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=107 |issue=12 |pages=5306–5310 |bibcode=2010PNAS..107.5306P |doi=10.1073/pnas.0902522107 |pmc=2851789 |pmid=20212157 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The study also found that the lowest winter temperatures of the last 2,000 years occurred in the late 14th century and early 15th century. The Eastern Settlement was probably abandoned in the early to mid-15th century, during this cold period.

[[File:Hvalsey Church.jpg|thumbnail|right|The last written records of the [[Norse Greenlanders]] are from a 1408 marriage at [[Hvalsey Church]], which is now the best-preserved Norse ruin.]]
Theories drawn from archaeological excavations at [[Herjolfsnes]] in the 1920s suggest that the condition of human bones from this period indicates that the Norse population was malnourished, possibly because of soil erosion resulting from the Norsemen's destruction of natural vegetation in the course of farming, turf-cutting, and wood-cutting. Malnutrition may also have resulted from widespread deaths from [[pandemic]] plague;<ref name="IngstadIngstad2000">{{Cite book |last1=Ingstad |first1=Helge |url={{GBurl|Gj-I5hdpzGoC |p=28}} |title=The Viking Discovery of America: The Excavation of a Norse Settlement in L'Anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland |last2=Stine Ingstad |first2=Anne |publisher=Breakwater Books |year=2000 |isbn=1-55081-158-4 |pages=28–}}</ref> the decline in temperatures during the Little Ice Age; and armed conflicts with the ''[[Skræling]]s'' (Norse word for Inuit, meaning "wretches"<ref name="Diamond" />). The Icelandic Annals record that in 1379, the ''Skrælings'' killed 18 Norse Greenlanders.<ref name="Diamond" /> Recent archaeological studies somewhat challenge the general assumption that the Norse colonization had a dramatic negative environmental effect on the vegetation. Data support traces of a possible Norse soil amendment strategy.<ref>Bishop, Rosie R., et al. "A charcoal-rich horizon at Ø69, Greenland: evidence for vegetation burning during the Norse landnám?." ''Journal of Archaeological Science'' 40.11 (2013): 3890–902</ref> More recent evidence suggests that the Norse, who never numbered more than about 2,500, gradually abandoned the Greenland settlements over the 15th century as [[walrus ivory]],<ref name="LeoneKnauf2015">{{Cite book |last1=Leone |first1=Mark P. |url={{GBurl |id=zJy4CQAAQBAJ |p=211}} |title=Historical Archaeologies of Capitalism |last2=Knauf |first2=Jocelyn E. |date=2015 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-12760-6 |page=211}}</ref> the most valuable export from Greenland, decreased in price because of competition with other sources of higher-quality ivory, and that there was actually little evidence of starvation or difficulties.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Folger |first=Tim |title=Why Did Greenland's Vikings Vanish? |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-greenland-vikings-vanished-180962119/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317033211/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-greenland-vikings-vanished-180962119/ |archive-date=17 March 2017 |access-date=13 March 2017}}</ref>

Other explanations of the disappearance of the Norse settlements have been proposed:
# Lack of support from the homeland.<ref name="IngstadIngstad2000" />
# Ship-borne marauders (such as [[Basques|Basque]], English, or German pirates), rather than ''Skrælings'', could have plundered and displaced the Greenlanders.<ref name="TriggerWashburn1996">{{Cite book |last1=Trigger |first1=Bruce G. |url={{GBurl |id=CBLPX2ARjdgC |p=331}} |title=The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas |last2=Washburn |first2=Wilcomb E. |last3=Adams |first3=Richard E. W. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-57393-9 |page=331}}</ref>
# They were "the victims of hidebound thinking and of a hierarchical society dominated by the Church and the biggest land owners. In their reluctance to see themselves as anything but Europeans, the Greenlanders failed to adopt the kind of apparel that the Inuit employed as protection against the cold and damp or to borrow any of the Eskimo hunting gear."<ref name="Brown2000" />
# That portion of the Greenlander population willing to adopt Inuit ways and means intermarried with and assimilated into the Inuit community.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stefansson |first=Vilhjalmur |author-link=Vilhjalmur Stefansson |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.csl.5285 |title=Unsolved Mysteries of the Arctic |publisher=The Macmillan Company |year=1938 |isbn=978-1-878100-95-5 |pages=17–36 |access-date=21 January 2026}}</ref>
# The structure of Norse society created a conflict between the short-term interests of those in power, and the long-term interests of the society as a whole.<ref name="Diamond" />{{Page needed|date=January 2026}}

===Thule culture===
The Thule people are the ancestors of the current Greenlandic population. No genes from the Palaeo-Inuit Dorset culture have been found in the present population of Greenland.<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 August 2014 |title=Inuit were not the first people to settle in the Arctic |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/inuit-were-not-the-first-people-to-settle-in-the-arctic-1.2749691 |access-date=21 January 2026 |work=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]]}}</ref> The Thule culture [[Pre-modern human migration|migrated]] eastward from what is now known as Alaska around 1000 AD, reaching Greenland around 1300. The Paleo-Eskimos had been completely replaced by the Thule people (the ancestors of the Inuit), who were descended from people of the [[Birnirk culture]] of Siberia.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Raghavan |first1=Maanasa |last2=DeGiorgio |first2=Michael |last3=Albrechtsen |first3=Anders |last4=Moltke |first4=Ida |last5=Skoglund |first5=Pontus |last6=Korneliussen |first6=Thorfinn S. |last7=Grønnow |first7=Bjarne |last8=Appelt |first8=Martin |last9=Gulløv |first9=Hans Christian |last10=Friesen |first10=T. Max |last11=Fitzhugh |first11=William |last12=Malmström |first12=Helena |last13=Rasmussen |first13=Simon |last14=Olsen |first14=Jesper |last15=Melchior |first15=Linea |last16=Fuller |first16=Benjamin T. |last17=Fahrni |first17=Simon M. |last18=Stafford |first18=Thomas |last19=Grimes |first19=Vaughan |last20=Renouf |first20=M. A. Priscilla |last21=Cybulski |first21=Jerome |last22=Lynnerup |first22=Niels |last23=Lahr |first23=Marta Mirazon |last24=Britton |first24=Kate |last25=Knecht |first25=Rick |last26=Arneborg |first26=Jette |last27=Metspalu |first27=Mait |last28=Cornejo |first28=Omar E. |last29=Malaspinas |first29=Anna-Sapfo |last30=Wang |first30=Yong |last31=Rasmussen |first31=Morten |last32=Raghavan |first32=Vibha |last33=Hansen |first33=Thomas V. O. |last34=Khusnutdinova |first34=Elza |last35=Pierre |first35=Tracey |last36=Dneprovsky |first36=Kirill |last37=Andreasen |first37=Claus |last38=Lange |first38=Hans |last39=Hayes |first39=M. Geoffrey |last40=Coltrain |first40=Joan |last41=Spitsyn |first41=Victor A. |last42=Götherström |first42=Anders |last43=Orlando |first43=Ludovic |last44=Kivisild |first44=Toomas |last45=Villems |first45=Richard |last46=Crawford |first46=Michael H. |last47=Nielsen |first47=Finn C. |last48=Dissing |first48=Jørgen |last49=Heinemeier |first49=Jan |last50=Meldgaard |first50=Morten |last51=Bustamante |first51=Carlos |last52=O'Rourke |first52=Dennis H. |last53=Jakobsson |first53=Mattias |last54=Gilbert |first54=M. Thomas P. |last55=Nielsen |first55=Rasmus |last56=Willerslev |first56=Eske |title=The genetic prehistory of the New World Arctic |journal=Science |date=29 August 2014 |volume=345 |issue=6200 |doi=10.1126/science.1255832 }}</ref> The Thule culture was the first to introduce technological innovations such as [[dog sled]]s and [[toggling harpoon]]s to Greenland.{{Citation needed|date=January 2026}} There is an account of contact and conflict with the Norse population, as told by the Inuit. It is republished in ''The Norse Atlantic Sagas'', by Gwyn Jones. Jones reports that there is also an account of perhaps the same incident, of more doubtful provenance, told by the Norse side.

===European interest===
{{Multiple image |total_width = 450
| image1   = Cantino planisphere (1502).jpg
| image2   = I. E. C. Rasmussen - Sommernat under den Grønlandske Kyst circa Aar 1000.jpg
| caption1 = The [[Cantino planisphere]], completed by an unknown cartographer in 1502, depicts Greenland as a Portuguese territory claimed by [[Manuel I of Portugal|King Manuel I]]
| caption2 = ''Summer Night Off the Greenland Coast Circa Year 1000'', by [[Carl Rasmussen]], 1875
}}

[[File:Hans Egede - Johan Horner.jpg|thumb|[[Hans Egede]] (1686–1758), Lutheran missionary, credited with revitalising [[Foreign relations of Greenland|Denmark's relationship with Greenland]]]]
In 1500, King [[Manuel&nbsp;I of Portugal]] sent [[Gaspar Corte-Real]] to Greenland in search of a [[Northwest Passage]] to Asia which, according to the [[Treaty of Tordesillas]], was part of Portugal's sphere of influence. In 1501, Corte-Real returned with his brother, [[Miguel Corte-Real]]. Finding the sea frozen, they headed south and arrived in [[Labrador]] and [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]]. Upon the brothers' return to Portugal, the cartographic information supplied by Corte-Real was incorporated into a map of the world which was presented to [[Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara|Ercole I d'Este]], [[Duke of Ferrara and of Modena|Duke of Ferrara]], by Alberto Cantino in 1502. The [[Cantino planisphere|''Cantino'' planisphere]], made in Lisbon, accurately depicts the southern coastline of Greenland.<ref>Nebenzahl, Kenneth. ''Rand McNally Atlas of Columbus and The Great Discoveries'' (Rand McNally & Company; Genoa, Italy; 1990); ''The Cantino Planisphere, Lisbon, 1502'', pp. 34–37.</ref>

In 1605–1607, King [[Christian IV of Denmark and Norway]] sent a [[Christian IV's expeditions to Greenland|series of expeditions]] to Greenland and Arctic waterways to locate the lost eastern Norse settlement and assert [[Denmark-Norway|Danish-Norwegian]] sovereignty over Greenland. The expeditions were mostly unsuccessful, partly due to leaders who lacked experience with the difficult Arctic ice and weather conditions, and partly because the expedition leaders were given instructions to search for the Eastern Settlement on the east coast of Greenland just north of [[Cape Farewell, Greenland|Cape Farewell]], which is almost inaccessible due to southward [[Drift ice|drifting ice]]. The pilot on all three trips was English explorer [[James Hall (explorer)|James Hall]].

After the Norse settlements died off the various Inuit groups prevailed, but the Dano-Norwegian government never forgot or relinquished the claims to Greenland that it had inherited from the Norse. When it re-established access to Greenland in the early 17th&nbsp;century, Denmark-Norway asserted its sovereignty claims over the island. In 1721 a joint mercantile and clerical expedition led by Dano-Norwegian missionary [[Hans Egede]] was sent to Greenland, not knowing whether a Norse civilization remained there. This expedition was part of the [[Danish colonization of the Americas|Dano-Norwegian colonization of the Americas]]. After 15&nbsp;years in Greenland, Hans Egede left his son [[Paul Egede]] in charge of the mission there and returned to Denmark, where he established a Greenland Seminary. The colony was centred at [[Nuuk|Godthåb]] ("Good Hope", today's Nuuk) on the southwest coast. Gradually, Greenland was opened up to Danish merchants but closed to those from other countries.

===Treaty of Kiel to World War II (1814–1945)===
{{See also|Greenland in World War II}}
{{Multiple image |total_width = 450
| image1   = Legende børn, ca. 1878 (8473597948).jpg
| image2   = Billeder fra Grønland 11441.tif
| caption1 = Godthåb in Greenland, {{circa|1878}}
| caption2 = Pictures of Greenland, {{circa|1863}}
}}
When the union between the crowns of Denmark and Norway was dissolved in 1814, the [[Treaty of Kiel]] severed Norway's former colonies and left them under the control of the Danish monarch. Norway occupied the uninhabited eastern Greenland as [[Erik the Red's Land]] in July 1931, claiming that it constituted ''[[terra nullius]]''. Norway and Denmark agreed to submit the matter in 1933 to the [[Permanent Court of International Justice]], which decided against Norway.<ref>[http://www.icj-cij.org/pcij/serie_AB/AB_53/01_Groenland_Oriental_Arret.pdf ''Legal Status of Eastern Greenland''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511135249/http://www.icj-cij.org/pcij/serie_AB/AB_53/01_Groenland_Oriental_Arret.pdf |date=11 May 2011 }}, PCIJ Series A/B No. 53 (1933)</ref>

Greenland's connection to Denmark was severed on 9 April 1940, early in [[History of Greenland during World War II|World War&nbsp;II]], after [[German invasion of Denmark (1940)|Denmark was occupied]] by [[Nazi Germany]]. On 8 April 1941, the United States occupied Greenland to defend it against a possible invasion by Germany.<ref>{{Cite book |author=America First Committee |editor-last=Doenecke |editor-first=Justus D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bhnf0fxI260C |title=In Danger Undaunted: The Anti-Interventionist Movement of 1940–1941 |date=1990 |orig-date=8 July 1941 |publisher=Hoover Institution Press |isbn=0-8179-8841-6 |access-date=18 September 2022 |archive-date=30 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630095753/https://books.google.com/books?id=Bhnf0fxI260C |url-status=live}}</ref> The United States' occupation of Greenland continued until 1945. Greenland was able to buy goods from the United States and Canada by selling [[cryolite]] from the mine at [[Ivittuut]]. The United States military used {{lang|en-US|[[Bluie]]|italics=yes}} as a code name for Greenland, where they kept several bases named "Bluie (East or West) (sequential numeral)".<ref name="sem">{{cite book |last=Morison |first=Samuel Eliot |year=1975 |title=History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume 1: The Battle of the Atlantic September 1939&nbsp;– May 1943 |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |location=Boston |page=62}}</ref> The major air bases were [[Bluie West-1]] at [[Narsarsuaq Airport|Narsarsuaq]] and [[Bluie West-8]] at [[Kangerlussuaq Airport|Søndre Strømfjord]] (Kangerlussuaq), both of which are still used as international airports.

[[File:80-G-225186 (21977996759).jpg|thumb|American sailors interacting with Greenlandic locals during World War II]]
During this war, the system of government changed: [[List of governors of Greenland|Governor]] [[Eske Brun]] ruled the island under a law of 1925 that allowed governors to take control under extreme circumstances; Governor Aksel Svane was transferred to the United States to lead the commission to supply Greenland. The Danish [[Slædepatruljen Sirius|Sirius Patrol]] guarded the northeastern shores of Greenland in 1942 using dog sleds. They detected several German [[weather station]]s and alerted American troops, who destroyed the facilities. After the collapse of the Third Reich, [[Albert Speer]] briefly considered escaping in a small aeroplane to hide out in Greenland but changed his mind and decided to surrender to the [[United States Armed Forces]].<ref>[[Albert Speer|Speer, Albert]]. ''Inside the Third Reich,'' 1971.</ref>

Greenland had a protected and very isolated society until 1940.<ref>{{cite web |date=24 November 2010 |title=Eske Brun – det moderne Grønlands ophavsmand? |url=http://sermitsiaq.ag/node/77393 |access-date=19 April 2012 |publisher=Sermitsiaq}}</ref> It was a colony, and it was believed that its society would be subject to exploitation or even eradication if the country was opened up. The [[Politics of Denmark|Danish government]] had maintained a strict monopoly of [[Economy of Greenland|Greenlandic trade]], allowing no more than small scale [[troaking|barter trading]] with British whalers. In wartime Greenland developed a sense of self-reliance through self-government and independent communication with the outside world. Despite this change, in 1946 a commission including the highest Greenlandic council, the ''[[Greenland Provincial Council|Landsrådene]]'', recommended patience and no radical reform of the system.

=== United States and the Cold War ===
The United States offered to [[Proposed United States acquisition of Greenland|buy Greenland]] from Denmark for {{US$|100}}{{nbsp}}million in 1946 (equivalent to {{USD|{{Inflation|US|{{#expr:100/10^3}}|1946|r=1}}{{nbsp}}[[1,000,000,000|billion]]}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}). Denmark firmly rejected the offer, as the island was seen as an integral part of the Danish kingdom, important to its history and national identity.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=27 January 1947 |title=Deepfreeze Defense |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,778870,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221020734/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,778870,00.html |archive-date=21 February 2009 |access-date=14 May 2008 |magazine=Time}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=John J. |date=7 May 2001 |title=Let's Buy Greenland! — A complete missile-defense plan |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/nr_comment/nr_comment050701b.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107010850/http://www.nationalreview.com/nr_comment/nr_comment050701b.shtml |archive-date=7 January 2010 |work=National Review}}</ref> In 1951 Denmark and the United States signed the Greenland Defense Agreement, which allowed the United States to keep its military bases in Greenland, and to establish new bases or "defence areas" if Denmark agreed,<ref>See article 2 of the 1951 Greenland Defence Agreement https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/den001.asp</ref> and if deemed necessary by [[NATO]]. The US military could freely use and move between these defence areas, but was not to infringe upon Danish sovereignty in Greenland.<ref name="auto">{{cite book |author1-last=Beukel |author1-first=Erik |title=Phasing Out the Colonial Status of Greenland, 1945–54: A Historical Study |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-87-635-2587-9 |editor1-last=Rytter |editor1-first=Jens Elo |series=Meddelelser om Grønland |volume=37 |pages=56–57 |chapter=The Greenland Issue |issn=0106-1062}}</ref>

The United States greatly expanded [[Thule Air Base]] between 1951 and 1953 as part of a unified NATO defence strategy. The local population of three nearby villages was moved more than {{convert|100|km|mi|abbr=in}} away in the winter. The United States tried to construct a subterranean network of secret [[Missile launch facility|nuclear missile launch sites]] in the Greenlandic ice cap, named [[Project Iceworm]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Weiss |first1=Erik D. |title=Cold War Under the Ice: The Army's Bid for a Long-Range Nuclear Role, 1959–1963 |journal=Journal of Cold War Studies |date=2001 |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=31–58 |jstor=26925134 }}</ref> According to documents declassified in 1996,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Petersen |first1=Nikolaj |title=THE ICEMAN THAT NEVER CAME: 'Project Iceworm', the search for a NATO deterrent, and Denmark, 1960–1962 |journal=Scandinavian Journal of History |date=March 2008 |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=75–98 |doi=10.1080/03468750701449554 }}</ref> this project was managed from [[Camp Century]] from 1960 to 1966 before abandonment as unworkable.<ref>{{Cite news |date=5 August 2016 |title=A Radioactive Cold War Military Base Will Soon Emerge From Greenland's Melting Ice |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/radioactive-cold-war-military-base-will-soon-emerge-greenlands-melting-ice-180960036/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190820163632/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/radioactive-cold-war-military-base-will-soon-emerge-greenlands-melting-ice-180960036/ |archive-date=20 August 2019 |access-date=20 August 2019 |work=Smithsonian}}</ref> The missiles were never fielded, and necessary consent from the Danish Government to do so was never sought. The Danish government was not aware of the programme's mission until 1997, when they discovered it while looking in the declassified documents for records related to the [[1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash|crash of a nuclear-equipped B-52 bomber]] near the Thule air base in 1968.<ref name="h-bomb" />

=== Home rule and self-rule (1945–present) ===
[[File:Margrethe II of Denmark 1966.jpg|thumb|[[Margrethe II|Queen Margrethe II of Denmark]], during whose reign (1972–2024) Greenland received home-rule in 1979 and self-rule in 2009. [[Queen Margrethe II Land]] is named after her.]]

The first step towards a change of government was initiated with the [[Greenland Commission]], which operated from 1948 to 1950. With its final report, the G-50, the first steps toward the modernization of Greenland were taken. The report recommended that Greenland become a modern [[welfare state]], modelled after Denmark proper and with Denmark's development as sponsor, and the trade monopoly was abolished.<ref>[https://danmarkshistorien.dk/vis/materiale/groenland Grønlands historie] danmarkshistorien.dk</ref>

With the 1953 Danish constitution, Greenland's colonial status ended, and the island was incorporated into the Danish realm as an {{lang|da|[[amt (country subdivision)|amt]]}} ({{gloss |county}}), and thus fully integrated into Denmark like all other Danish counties. Danish citizenship was extended to Greenlanders. Danish policies toward Greenland consisted of a strategy of cultural assimilation, fostered by a campaign of social modernization that included an large expansion of housing and intrastructure in the Danish mold to encourage the populace to move from traditional villages and trading posts into urban centers; the [[Greenland Provincial Council]] supported this expansion. One such project, the housing development [[Blok P]] in Nuuk, Denmark’s largest, came to house nearly 1% of the population before its unsuitability to its many Inuit residents led the government to demolish it in 2012.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BzilDAAAQBAJ&q=greenland+blok+p+population&pg=PA48|title=Exploring Greenland: Cold War Science and Technology on Ice|last1=Doel|first1=Ronald E.|last2=Harper|first2=Kristine C.|author2-link=Kristine C. Harper|last3=Heymann|first3=Matthias|date=2016-07-06|publisher=Springer|isbn=9781137596888|language=en}}</ref> The Danish government also allowed the introduction of the Danish custom of drinking [[alcoholic beverage|alcohol]], till then not sold in Greenland.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Aage |first=Hans |date=17 December 2012 |title=Alcohol in Greenland 1951–2010: consumption, mortality, prices |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3525923/ |journal=International Journal of Circumpolar Health |volume=71 |publisher=Co-Action Publishing |doi=10.3402/ijch.v71i0.18444 |access-date=27 March 2026}}</ref>

During this period, the Danish government promoted the exclusive use of the Danish language in official matters, and required Greenlanders to go to Denmark for their post-secondary education. Many Greenlandic children grew up in boarding schools in southern Denmark, and some lost their cultural ties to Greenland. While the policies "succeeded" in the sense of shifting Greenlanders from being primarily subsistence hunters into being urbanized wage earners, the Greenlandic elite began to reassert a Greenlandic cultural identity. A movement developed in favour of [[Greenlandic independence]], reaching its peak in the 1970s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Loukacheva |first=Natalia |year=2007 |url={{GBurl |id=HzPzwrUYdgkC |p=29}} |title=The Arctic Promise: Legal and Political Autonomy of Greenland and Nunavut |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413025807/https://books.google.com/books?id=HzPzwrUYdgkC&pg=PA25 |archive-date=13 April 2016 |url-status=live |publisher=University of Toronto Press |page=25 |isbn=978-0-8020-9486-5}}</ref> A spectrum of local political parties, broadly along European rightist-to-leftist lines, has also formed, at least one (the [[Inuit Ataqatigiit]]) asserting independence.<ref>{{cite web |title=Political Parties in Greenland |url=https://stat.gl/publ/en/sa/201001/contents/Political%20Parties.htm#:~:text=Siumut,Siumut%20at%20www.siumut.gl |website=Statistics Greenland |access-date=27 March 2026}}</ref>

In 1973, an amicable [[Whisky War|border dispute between Denmark and Canada]] arose over the ownership of [[Hans Island]], a small island in [[Nares Strait]] directly between Greenland and the Canadian [[Northwest Territories]] (in present-day [[Nunavut]]). The island remained in dispute until 2022, when both countries agreed to split the disputed island roughly in half.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Murphy |first1=Matt |title=Whisky Wars: Denmark and Canada strike deal to end 50-year row over Arctic island |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61801682 |website=BBC |access-date=10 January 2025 |date=14 June 2022}}</ref> Due to political complications in relation to Denmark's entry into the European Common Market in 1972, Denmark began to seek a different status for Greenland, resulting in the Home Rule Act of 1979. [[1979 Greenlandic home rule referendum|A referendum]] was held on 17 January 1979. This gave Greenland limited autonomy, with [[Parliament of Greenland|its own legislature]] taking control of some internal policies, while the [[Folketing|Parliament of Denmark]] maintained full control of external policies, security, and natural resources. The law came into effect on 1 May 1979. The [[List of Danish monarchs|Danish monarch]] remains Greenland's [[head of state]]. In 1985, Greenland [[Withdrawal of Greenland from the European Communities|left the European Economic Community]] (EEC), as it did not agree with the [[European Economic Community|EEC]]'s commercial fishing regulations and an EEC ban on [[pinniped|sealskin]] products.<ref>[[#Stern|Stern]], pp. 55–56</ref>

As in metropolitan Denmark, Greenland has seen significant expansion of the welfare state in the postwar era. Education and healthcare are free, and [[LGBTQ rights in Greenland]] are some of the most extensive in the Americas and the world. In 1987, the [[University of Greenland]] was founded to provide Greenlanders with higher education in their own language and country. [[File:Anika Brandt Sørensen & Jens-Frederik Nielsen by Christian Ursilva.jpg|thumb|Premier [[Jens-Frederik Nielsen]] at the 2025 opening of the Danish parliament in [[Copenhagen]]. Greenland has retained strong ties with Denmark since self-rule.]]
Greenland voters approved a [[2008 Greenlandic self-government referendum|referendum on greater autonomy]] on 25 November 2008.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cowell |first=Alan |date=26 November 2008 |title=Greenland Vote Favors Independence  |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/27/world/europe/27greenland.html |url-status=live |access-date=4 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417043301/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/27/world/europe/27greenland.html |archive-date=17 April 2009|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=26 November 2008 |title=Vejledende folkeafstemning om selvstyre ? 25-11-2008 |url=http://www.valg.gl/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208143857/http://www.valg.gl/ |archive-date=8 December 2008 |access-date=26 November 2008 |publisher=SermitValg |language=kl}}</ref> According to one study, the 2008 vote created what "can be seen as a system between home rule and full independence".<ref>{{Cite web |title=CIDOB – Secession and Counter-secession. An International Relations Perspective |url=https://www.cidob.org/en/publications/publication_series/monographs/monographs/secession_and_counter_secession_an_international_relations_perspective |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127014249/https://www.cidob.org/en/publications/publication_series/monographs/monographs/secession_and_counter_secession_an_international_relations_perspective |archive-date=27 January 2018 |access-date=19 May 2018 |website=CIDOB |page=70}}</ref> On 21 June 2009, Greenland gained self-rule with provisions for assuming responsibility for self-government of its [[judiciary|judicial affairs]], policing matters, and [[natural resource]]s. Also, Greenlanders were recognized as a separate people under [[international law]].<ref name="stm.dk">[http://www.stm.dk/_p_13090.html Description of the Greenlandic Self-Government Act on the webpage of the Danish Ministry of State] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140922104912/http://www.stm.dk/_p_13090.html |date=22 September 2014 }} "The Self-Government Act provides for the Self-Government authorities to assume a number of new fields of responsibility, such as administration of justice, including the establishment of courts of law; the prison and probation service; the police; the field relating to company law, accounting and auditing; mineral resource activities; aviation; law of legal capacity, family law and succession law; aliens and border controls; the working environment; as well as financial regulation and supervision, cf. Schedule I and II in the Annex to the Self-Government Act."</ref> Denmark maintains control of the territory's [[Foreign policy|foreign affairs]] and defence matters, and upholds an annual block grant of {{DKK|3.2{{nbsp}}billion|link=yes}}<!-- . --> As Greenland begins to collect revenues from its natural resources, this grant will gradually be diminished; this is generally considered to be a step toward the territory's eventual full independence from Denmark.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greenland/5594140/Greenland-takes-step-toward-independence-from-Denmark.html Greenland takes step toward independence from Denmark] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718214954/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greenland/5594140/Greenland-takes-step-toward-independence-from-Denmark.html |date=18 July 2018 }}. ''The Daily Telegraph'' (21 June 2009). Retrieved 29 September 2012.</ref> In 2009, [[Greenlandic language|Greenlandic]] was declared the sole official language of Greenland at a historic ceremony.<ref name="selvstyre">{{cite web |title=Grønland går over til selvstyre |publisher=TV 2 |date=21 June 2009 |url=https://nyheder.tv2.dk/2009-06-21-groenland-gaar-over-til-selvstyre |language=danish |access-date=21 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="Chogath Kog'sante law">{{in lang|da}} {{cite web |url= https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lov_om_Gr%C3%B8nlands_Selvstyre.pdf |title= Lov om Grønlands Selvstyre |author= Lars Løkke Rasmussen |date= 3 June 2009  |publisher= Christiansborg Slotsplads |access-date=7 January 2026 |url-status=live
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120208032617/http://www.stm.dk/multimedia/selvstyreloven.pdf |archive-date=8 February 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=20 June 2009 |title=Nearly independent day |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |url=http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13854765 |url-status=live |access-date=20 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090625014014/http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13854765 |archive-date=25 June 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=19 June 2009 |title=Greenland set for self-rule |url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25659553-26040,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090624151256/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0%2C25197%2C25659553-26040%2C00.html |archive-date=24 June 2009 |access-date=20 June 2009 |website=[[The Australian]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Boswell |first=Randy |date=19 June 2009 |title=Greenland takes big step towards full independence |url=http://www.canada.com/news/Greenland+takes+step+towards+full+independence/1713910/story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090624150211/http://www.canada.com/news/Greenland%2Btakes%2Bstep%2Btowards%2Bfull%2Bindependence/1713910/story.html |archive-date=24 June 2009 |access-date=20 June 2009 |website=Canwest News Services |publisher=Canada.com}}</ref>

=== Greenland crisis ===
{{Main|Greenland crisis}}
[[File:Jens-Frederik_Nielsen_&_Mette_Frederiksen_by_Christian_Ursilva_(3).jpg|thumb|Greenlandic leader [[Jens-Frederik Nielsen]] announcing "We choose Denmark" at a January 2026 press conference with [[Mette Frederiksen]] in response to [[Greenland crisis|Trump's threats to invade or annex]] the country<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-01-13 |title=Greenland chooses Denmark over US, island's PM Jens-Frederik Nielsen says |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g3kw5ezepo |access-date=2026-01-21 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-01-13 |title=Jens-Frederik Nielsen: Vi vælger Kongeriget Danmark |url=https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/groenland/jens-frederik-nielsen-vi-vaelger-kongeriget-danmark |access-date=2026-01-21 |website=DR |language=da-DK}}</ref>]]
During the [[Second presidency of Donald Trump|second presidency]] of [[Donald Trump]], the United States has pursued a campaign to annex Greenland by various means.<ref name="g383">{{cite web | last=Bryant | first=Miranda | title=Why is Donald Trump renewing calls for takeover of Greenland? | website=The Guardian | date=6 January 2026 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/06/why-is-donald-trump-renewing-calls-for-takeover-of-greenland | access-date=15 January 2026}}</ref> This followed a failed attempt by [[Proposed United States acquisition of Greenland|Trump to purchase Greenland]] during his [[First presidency of Donald Trump|first presidency]], that was firmly turned down by Danish Prime Minister [[Mette Frederiksen]].<ref name="g383" /> The [[Danish Defence Intelligence Service]] included the United States as a potential threat to national security alongside Russia and China in its threat assessment that year.<ref name="threat">{{cite news |title=Danish intelligence classifies Trump's America as a security risk |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/danish-intelligence-classifies-donald-trump-america-as-security-risk/ |access-date=6 January 2026 |work=Politico}}</ref><ref name="USAToday">{{cite news |title=Amid Greenland dust-up, Denmark says US is a national security risk |url=https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2025/12/11/denmark-intelligence-report-us/87713568007/ |access-date=13 January 2026 |work=USA Today}}</ref> On the international stage, Trump's threats against Greenland have been described as a new, potentially unprecedented challenge to NATO.<ref>{{cite news |last=Cook |first=Lorne |date=7 January 2026 |title=Trump threats against Greenland pose new, potentially unprecedented challenge to NATO |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/01/07/nato-greenland-trump-russia-deterrence-threat/70c538c2-ebeb-11f0-91a9-9928b22be817_story.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=21 January 2026 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>

==Geography==
{{Main|Geography of Greenland|Climate of Greenland}}

{{See also|Climate of the Arctic#Greenland|Administrative divisions of Greenland|Territorial claims in the Arctic}}[[File:Topographic map of Greenland bedrock.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|alt=Topographic map of Greenland|Elevation of Greenland bedrock]]

Greenland is the world's [[List of islands by area|largest non-continental island]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Island of Greenland |url=http://www.hiddenjourneys.co.uk/London-Vancouver/Greenland.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714184902/https://www.hiddenjourneys.co.uk/London-Vancouver/Greenland.aspx |archive-date=14 July 2014 |access-date=8 July 2014 |website=Hidden Journeys – explore the world from the air}}</ref> and the third largest area in North America after Canada and the United States.<ref>{{Cite journal |year=2008 |title=Demographic Yearbook – Table 3: Population by sex, rate of population increase, surface area, and density |url=http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2008/Table03.pdf |url-status=live |journal=[[United Nations Statistics Division]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101224062814/http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2008/Table03.pdf |archive-date=24 December 2010 |access-date=24 September 2010}}</ref> It lies between latitudes [[59th parallel north|59°]] and [[83rd parallel north|83°N]], and longitudes [[11th meridian west|11°]] and [[74th meridian west|74°W]], with over 80% of its land mass north of the [[Arctic Circle]]. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the [[Greenland Sea]] to the east, the North Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, the [[Davis Strait]] to the southwest, [[Baffin Bay]] to the west, and the [[Nares Strait]] and [[Lincoln Sea]] to the northwest. The nearest countries are Canada, with which it shares a [[Maritime boundary|maritime border]] to the west and southwest across Nares Strait and Baffin Bay, as well as a shared land border on [[Hans Island]];<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.canada.ca/en/global-affairs/news/2022/06/boundary-dispute.html |title=Boundary dispute |publisher=[[Global Affairs Canada]] |access-date=17 July 2023 |date=14 June 2022 |archive-date=16 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220616002309/https://www.canada.ca/en/global-affairs/news/2022/06/boundary-dispute.html |url-status=live}}</ref> and Iceland to the southeast. It is the [[list of countries and dependencies by area|largest constituent country]] by area in the world and is the [[List of the largest country subdivisions by area|fourth largest country subdivision in the world]] and largest in North America.

The total area is {{convert|2166086|km2|abbr=on}} (including other offshore minor islands), of which the [[Greenland ice sheet]] covers {{convert|1755637|km2|abbr=on}} (81%) and has a volume of approximately {{convert|2850000|km3|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=IPCC Climate Change 2001: Working Group I: The Scientific Basis |url=http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/412.htm#tab113 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071216235037/http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/412.htm |archive-date=16 December 2007 |access-date=6 September 2010 |publisher=Grida.no}}</ref> The highest point is [[Gunnbjørn Fjeld]] at {{convert|3700|m|abbr=on}} of the [[Watkins Range]] ([[East Greenland mountain range]]). The majority of Greenland, however, is less than {{convert|1500|m|abbr=on}} in elevation. The lowest temperature ever recorded in the [[Northern Hemisphere]] was recorded near the topographic summit of the Greenland ice sheet, on 22 December 1991, when the temperature reached {{convert|-69.6|C}}.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://public-old.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/wmo-verifies-696%C2%B0c-greenland-temperature-northern-hemisphere-record |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231218173115/https://public-old.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/wmo-verifies-696%C2%B0c-greenland-temperature-northern-hemisphere-record |archive-date=18 December 2023 |title=WMO verifies −69.6°C Greenland temperature as Northern hemisphere record |date=22 September 2020 |website=World Meteorological Organization}}</ref> In Nuuk, the average daily temperature varies over the seasons from {{convert|-5.1|to|9.9|C}}.<ref>{{Cite web |publisher=Yu Media Group |title=Nuuk, Greenland – Detailed climate information and monthly weather forecast |url=https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/greenland/nuuk-climate |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190817152132/https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/greenland/nuuk-climate |archive-date=17 August 2019 |access-date=17 August 2019 |website=Weather Atlas |language=en}}</ref>

Below the ice there is a series of canyons, the biggest called [[Grand Canyon (Greenland)|Greenland's Grand Canyon]] which was formed by flowing rivers of water from the repeated cycle of ice melting and new ice forming.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Keisling |first1=Benjamin A. |last2=Nielsen |first2=Lisbeth T. |last3=Hvidberg |first3=Christine S. |last4=Nuterman |first4=Roman |last5=DeConto |first5=Robert M. |title=Pliocene–Pleistocene megafloods as a mechanism for Greenlandic megacanyon formation |journal=Geology |date=July 2020 |volume=48 |issue=7 |pages=737–741 |doi=10.1130/G47253.1 |bibcode=2020Geo....48..737K }}</ref> Near the coast, elevations rise suddenly and steeply.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schneider |first=D. |year=2003 |title=American Scientist Online&nbsp;– Greenland or Whiteland? |url=http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/2003/9/greenland-or-whiteland |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510013154/http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/2003/9/greenland-or-whiteland |archive-date=10 May 2011 |access-date=3 March 2008 |publisher=Sigma Xi}}</ref> The ice [[Ice-sheet dynamics|flows]] generally to the coast from the centre of the island. A survey led by French scientist [[Paul-Emile Victor]] in 1951 concluded that under the ice sheet Greenland is composed of three large islands.<ref name="ellensburg">{{cite news |title=Find Greenland Icecap Bridges Three Islands |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=860&dat=19511024&id=pWwKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xEoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5335,4712968 |access-date=13 May 2012 |agency=[[The Associated Press]] |issue=97 |publisher=[[Ellensburg Daily Record]] |date=24 October 1951 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412192018/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=860&dat=19511024&id=pWwKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xEoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5335,4712968 |archive-date=12 April 2016 |page=6 |url-status=live}}</ref> This is disputed, but if it is so, they would be separated by narrow straits, reaching the sea at [[Ilulissat Icefjord]], at Greenland's Grand Canyon and south of [[Nordostrundingen]]. All [[List of cities and towns in Greenland|towns and settlements of Greenland]] are situated along the ice-free coast, with the population being concentrated along the west coast. The northeastern part of Greenland is not part of any municipality and is the site of the world's largest national park, [[Northeast Greenland National Park]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The National Park |url=http://www.greenland.com/en/about-greenland/natur-klima/nationalparken.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130627011801/http://www.greenland.com/en/about-greenland/natur-klima/nationalparken.aspx |archive-date=27 June 2013 |access-date=18 June 2013 |publisher=Greenland.com}}</ref>

{{Multiple image
| total_width       = 300
| image1            = Knud Rasmussen 01.jpg
| image2            = Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen by Marius Christensen 02 cropped.jpg
| caption1          = The polar explorer and anthropologist [[Knud Rasmussen]] (1879–1933), called the "father of [[Eskimology]]", was the first to explore the Greenland ice sheet by [[dog sled]].
| caption2          = [[Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen]] (1872–1907), who died while commander of the 1906–1908 [[Denmark expedition]], documenting vast areas of unexplored coastlines and fjords
}}

At least four scientific expedition stations and camps had been established on the ice sheet in the ice-covered central part of Greenland (indicated as pale blue in the adjacent map): [[Eismitte]], [[North Ice]], North GRIP Camp and Raven Skiway. There is a year-round station [[Summit Camp]] on the ice sheet, established in 1989. The radio station [[Jørgen Brønlund Fjord]] was, until 1950, the northernmost permanent outpost in the world. The extreme north of Greenland, [[Peary Land]], is not covered by an ice sheet because the air there is too dry to produce snow, which is essential in the production and maintenance of an ice sheet.

=== Northernmost land ===
{{Main|Northernmost point of land}}

The northernmost point of land on Earth was long thought to be [[Cape Morris Jesup]] at the northern tip of mainland Greenland. However, in 1969 a Canadian team surveyed [[Kaffeklubben Island]] (latitude 83°&nbsp;39′&nbsp;45″ N), which was first recorded in 1900 and first visited in 1921, and determined that its northernmost point is {{convert|750|m}} north of Cape Morris Jesup. It is thus the northernmost undisputed permanent land.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kaffeklubben Island {{!}} Island in Arctic Circle, History |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Kaffeklubben-Island |access-date=27 December 2024 |website=Britannica |language=en}}</ref>

Other points have been claimed to be the northernmost point, with dispute over the title arising from ice sheets, water movement and inundation, and storm activity that may build, shift, or destroy banks of gravelly [[moraine]] material. In 1978 Uffe Petersen, a member of the [[Danish Geodesic Institute|Danish Geodetic Institute]], discovered [[Oodaaq|Oodaaq Island]] at 83°&nbsp;40'&nbsp;32.5"&nbsp;N. Its last confirmed sighting was in 1979.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jancik |first=John |date=2004 |title=Jensenland, historical timeline of the search for the northernmost point of land on Earth |url=https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200425000/Jensenland-Historical-Timeline-of-the-Search-for-the-Northernmost-Point-of-Land-on-Earth |access-date=27 December 2024 |website=American Alpine Club}}</ref> In 2003, a small protrusion of rocks and boulders, {{convert|35|x|15|m|abbr=on}} in length and width, was discovered by Arctic explorer [[Dennis Schmitt]] and his team at latitude 83°&nbsp;42'&nbsp;N and unofficially named [[83-42]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Burress |first=Charles |date=17 June 2004 |title=BERKELEY / Romancing the north / Berkeley explorer may have stepped on ancient Thule |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/BERKELEY-Romancing-the-north-Berkeley-2748730.php |access-date=27 December 2024 |website=SFGATE |language=en}}</ref> Whether this land is permanent is uncertain; a 2022 bathymetric survey determined that it was likely ''not'' connected to the seafloor but rather rocky material on top of sea ice and thus not land.<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 September 2022 |title=The 'Northernmost Island in the World' is actually an iceberg |url=https://www.leister-group.com/en/Stories/2022-15-09-LAG-Greenland-Expedition-2022 |access-date=27 December 2024 |website=LeisterGroup |language=en |archive-date=15 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241115051136/https://www.leister-group.com/en/Stories/2022-15-09-LAG-Greenland-Expedition-2022 }}</ref>

===Climate change===
{{See also|Climate change in the Arctic|Sea level rise}}
{{Multiple image
| total_width       = 450
| image1            = Greenland Meltdown 08072012 12072012.jpg
| image2            = Höning 2023 GIS thresholds.jpg
| caption1          = 2012 NASA graphics show the extent of a then-record melting event
| caption2          = Potential equilibrium states of the ice sheet in response to different equilibrium carbon dioxide concentrations in parts per million, 2023<ref name="Höning2023">{{Cite journal |last1=Höning |first1=Dennis |last2=Willeit |first2=Matteo |last3=Calov |first3=Reinhard |last4=Klemann |first4=Volker |last5=Bagge |first5=Meike |last6=Ganopolski |first6=Andrey |date=27 March 2023 |title=Multistability and Transient Response of the Greenland Ice Sheet to Anthropogenic CO2 Emissions |journal=Geophysical Research Letters |volume=50 |issue=6 |article-number=e2022GL101827 |doi=10.1029/2022GL101827 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
}}

[[File:2002- Greenland ice mass change.svg|thumb|The mass of Greenland's ice sheet has declined an average 266&nbsp;billion metric tons per year since 2002.<ref name="NASA_ice_sheets">{{cite web |date=2026 |title=Ice Sheets – Earth Indicator |url=https://science.nasa.gov/earth/explore/earth-indicators/ice-sheets/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260103182748/https://science.nasa.gov/earth/explore/earth-indicators/ice-sheets/ |archive-date=3 January 2026 |access-date=7 January 2026 |publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)}}</ref>]]
The Greenland ice sheet continually loses some mass from [[ice calving]] at its coasts, but this used to be balanced by the accumulation of snowfall.<ref name="Noël2021">{{Cite journal |last1=Noël |first1=B. |last2=van Kampenhout |first2=L. |last3=Lenaerts |first3=J. T. M. |last4=van de Berg |first4=W. J. |last5=van den Broeke |first5=M. R. |date=19 January 2021 |title=A 21st Century Warming Threshold for Sustained Greenland Ice Sheet Mass Loss |journal=Geophysical Research Letters |volume=48 |issue=5 |article-number=e2020GL090471 |doi=10.1029/2020GL090471 |bibcode=2021GeoRL..4890471N |hdl=2268/301943 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> However, Greenland has been warming since around 1900,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kjeldsen |first1=Kristian K. |last2=Korsgaard |first2=Niels J. |last3=Bjørk |first3=Anders A. |last4=Khan |first4=Shfaqat A. |last5=Box |first5=Jason E. |last6=Funder |first6=Svend |last7=Larsen |first7=Nicolaj K. |last8=Bamber |first8=Jonathan L. |last9=Colgan |first9=William |last10=van den Broeke |first10=Michiel |last11=Siggaard-Andersen |first11=Marie-Louise |last12=Nuth |first12=Christopher |last13=Schomacker |first13=Anders |last14=Andresen |first14=Camilla S. |last15=Willerslev |first15=Eske |last16=Kjær |first16=Kurt H. |date=16 December 2015 |title=Spatial and temporal distribution of mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet since AD 1900 |journal=Nature |volume=528 |issue=7582 |pages=396–400 |doi=10.1038/nature16183 |pmid=26672555 |bibcode=2015Natur.528..396K |hdl=1874/329934 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> and from the 1980s the losses became larger than the gains.<ref name="Mouginot2019">{{cite journal |last1=Mouginot |first1=Jérémie |last2=Rignot |first2=Eric |last3=Bjørk |first3=Anders A. |last4=van den Broeke |first4=Michiel |last5=Millan |first5=Romain |last6=Morlighem |first6=Mathieu |last7=Noël |first7=Brice |last8=Scheuchl |first8=Bernd |last9=Wood |first9=Michael |title=Forty-six years of Greenland Ice Sheet mass balance from 1972 to 2018 |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]] |date=20 March 2019 |volume=116 |issue=19 |pages=9239–9244 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1904242116 |pmid=31010924 |pmc=6511040 |bibcode=2019PNAS..116.9239M |doi-access=free}}</ref> After 1996, Greenland has not had a single year when it did not lose ice mass on average.<ref name="CB2022">{{cite web |last1=Stendel |first1=Martin |last2=Mottram |first2=Ruth |date=22 September 2022 |title=Guest post: How the Greenland ice sheet fared in 2022 |url=https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-how-the-greenland-ice-sheet-fared-in-2022/ |website=[[Carbon Brief]] |access-date=22 October 2022 |archive-date=22 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221022153851/https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-how-the-greenland-ice-sheet-fared-in-2022/ |url-status=live}}</ref> In the 2010s, the Greenland ice sheet melted at its fastest rate for at least the past 12,000 years and it is on track to exceed that later in the 21st century.<ref name="Briner2020">{{cite journal |last1=Briner |first1=Jason P. |last2=Cuzzone |first2=Joshua K. |last3=Badgeley |first3=Jessica A. |last4=Young |first4=Nicolás E. |last5=Steig |first5=Eric J. |last6=Morlighem |first6=Mathieu |last7=Schlegel |first7=Nicole-Jeanne |last8=Hakim |first8=Gregory J. |last9=Schaefer |first9=Joerg M. |last10=Johnson |first10=Jesse V. |last11=Lesnek |first11=Alia J. |last12=Thomas |first12=Elizabeth K. |last13=Allan |first13=Estelle |last14=Bennike |first14=Ole |last15=Cluett |first15=Allison A. |last16=Csatho |first16=Beata |last17=de Vernal |first17=Anne |last18=Downs |first18=Jacob |last19=Larour |first19=Eric |last20=Nowicki |first20=Sophie |date=30 September 2020 |title=Rate of mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet will exceed Holocene values this century |journal=Nature |volume=586 |issue=7827 |pages=70–74 |doi=10.1038/s41586-020-2742-6 |pmid=32999481 |bibcode=2020Natur.586...70B }}</ref> In 2012, 2019 and 2021, so-called "massive melting events" occurred when practically the entire surface of the ice sheet was melting and no accumulation took place.<ref>{{cite web |date=23 September 2013 |title=Greenland enters melt mode |url=http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/342767/title/Greenland_enters_melt_mode |work=Science News |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-date=5 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805043523/http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/342767/title/Greenland_enters_melt_mode |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="phys-Greenland">{{cite news |title=Record melt: Greenland lost 586 billion tons of ice in 2019 |url=https://phys.org/news/2020-08-greenland-lost-billion-tons-ice.html |access-date=6 September 2020 |work=phys.org |language=en |archive-date=13 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200913083740/https://phys.org/news/2020-08-greenland-lost-billion-tons-ice.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="MeltEvents">{{Cite web |last=Barnes |first=Adam |date=9 August 2021 |title='Massive melting event' torpedoes billions of tons of ice the whole world depends on |url=https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/climate-change/566950-massive-melting-event-torpedoes-billions-of |work=The Hill |quote=Ice cores show that these widespread melt events were really rare prior to the 21st century, but since then, we have had several melt seasons. |access-date=24 August 2021 |archive-date=25 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210825031801/https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/climate-change/566950-massive-melting-event-torpedoes-billions-of |url-status=live}}</ref> During the 2021 event, rain fell at Greenland's highest point for the first time in recorded history, an event so unexpected that the research station at the summit had no [[rain gauge]]s for the occasion.<ref name="waPoRain">{{Cite news |last=Patel |first=Kasha |date=19 August 2021 |title=Rain falls at the summit of Greenland Ice Sheet for first time on record |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/08/19/greenland-melt-august-summit-rain/ |newspaper=Washington Post |quote=Rain fell on and off for 13 hours at the station, but staff are not certain exactly how much rain fell...there are no rain gauges at the summit because no one expected it to rain at this altitude. |access-date=24 August 2021 |archive-date=19 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819221317/https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/08/19/greenland-melt-august-summit-rain/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

As with the ice loss elsewhere in the world, the melting contributed and continues to contribute to [[sea level rise]]. Between 2012 and 2017, the Greenland melting added an average of {{convert|0.68|mm}} per year,<ref name="Shepherd2020">{{Cite journal |last1=Shepherd |first1=Andrew |last2=Ivins |first2=Erik |last3=Rignot |first3=Eric |last4=Smith |first4=Ben |last5=van den Broeke |first5=Michiel |last6=Velicogna |first6=Isabella |author-link6=Isabella Velicogna |last7=Whitehouse |first7=Pippa |last8=Briggs |first8=Kate |last9=Joughin |first9=Ian |last10=Krinner |first10=Gerhard |last11=Nowicki |first11=Sophie |date=12 March 2020 |title=Mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet from 1992 to 2018 |journal=Nature |volume=579 |issue=7798 |pages=233–239 |doi=10.1038/s41586-019-1855-2 |pmid=31822019 |hdl=2268/242139 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> equal to 37% of sea level rise from land ice sources (excluding thermal expansion of water from the continual increase in the [[ocean heat content]]).<ref name="Bamber2018">{{cite journal |last1=Bamber |first1=Jonathan L |last2=Westaway |first2=Richard M |last3=Marzeion |first3=Ben |last4=Wouters |first4=Bert |title=The land ice contribution to sea level during the satellite era |journal=Environmental Research Letters |date=1 June 2018 |volume=13 |issue=6 |page=063008 |doi=10.1088/1748-9326/aac2f0 |bibcode=2018ERL....13f3008B |doi-access=free |hdl=1983/58218615-dedd-43a8-a8ea-79fb83130613 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> By the end of the 21st century, the melting of Greenland alone is projected to add between ~{{cvt|6|cm|in|frac=2}} if the temperature change is kept below {{convert|2|C-change|F-change}}, to around {{cvt|13|cm|in|frac=2}} if the most intense [[climate change scenario]] with ever-increasing [[greenhouse gas emissions]] is assumed.<ref name="IPCC AR6 WG1 Ch.9">{{Cite book |last1=Fox-Kemper |first1=B. |last2=Hewitt |first2=H.T. |author2-link=Helene Hewitt |last3=Xiao |first3=C. |last4=Aðalgeirsdóttir |first4=G. |last5=Drijfhout |first5=S.S. |last6=Edwards |first6=T.L. |last7=Golledge |first7=N.R. |last8=Hemer |first8=M. |last9=Kopp |first9=R.E. |last10=Krinner |first10=G. |last11=Mix |first11=A. |date=2021 |editor-last=Masson-Delmotte |editor-first=V. |editor2-last=Zhai |editor2-first=P. |editor3-last=Pirani |editor3-first=A. |editor4-last=Connors |editor4-first=S.L. |editor5-last=Péan |editor5-first=C. |editor6-last=Berger |editor6-first=S. |editor7-last=Caud |editor7-first=N. |editor8-last=Chen |editor8-first=Y. |editor9-last=Goldfarb |editor9-first=L. |chapter=Chapter 9: Ocean, Cryosphere and Sea Level Change |title=Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |series=AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts |chapter-url=https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Chapter09.pdf |publisher=Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, US |access-date=22 October 2022 |archive-date=24 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221024162651/https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Chapter09.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|1302}} Under this scenario, the worst case for Greenland melting could reach {{cvt|33|cm|in|frac=2}} of sea level rise equivalent.<ref name="Aschwanden2019">{{Cite journal |last1=Aschwanden |first1=Andy |last2=Fahnestock |first2=Mark A. |last3=Truffer |first3=Martin |last4=Brinkerhoff |first4=Douglas J. |last5=Hock |first5=Regine |last6=Khroulev |first6=Constantine |last7=Mottram |first7=Ruth |last8=Khan |first8=S. Abbas |date=19 June 2019 |title=Contribution of the Greenland Ice Sheet to sea level over the next millennium |journal=Science Advances |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=218–222 |language=EN |doi=10.1126/sciadv.aav9396 |pmid=31223652 |pmc=6584365 |bibcode=2019SciA....5.9396A}}</ref> The large quantities of [[meltwater]] also affect the [[Atlantic meridional overturning circulation]] by diluting key currents, slowing it down.<ref name=PhysorgJan2016>{{cite web |date=22 January 2016 |title=Melting Greenland ice sheet may affect global ocean circulation, future climate |url=http://phys.org/news/2016-01-greenland-ice-sheet-affect-global.html |publisher=[[Phys.org]] |access-date=25 January 2016 |archive-date=19 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230819184753/https://phys.org/news/2016-01-greenland-ice-sheet-affect-global.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yang |first1=Qian |last2=Dixon |first2=Timothy H. |last3=Myers |first3=Paul G. |last4=Bonin |first4=Jennifer |last5=Chambers |first5=Don |last6=van den Broeke |first6=M. R. |last7=Ribergaard |first7=Mads H. |last8=Mortensen |first8=John |title=Recent increases in Arctic freshwater flux affects Labrador Sea convection and Atlantic overturning circulation |journal=[[Nature Communications]] |date=22 January 2016 |volume=7 |article-number=10525 |doi=10.1038/ncomms10525 |pmid=26796579 |pmc=4736158 |bibcode=2016NatCo...710525Y}}</ref> Due to this input of fresh meltwater, the circulation may even collapse outright with widespread detrimental effects, although research suggests this is likely only if the highest possible warming is sustained for multiple centuries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bakker |first1=P |last2=Schmittner |first2=A |last3=Lenaerts |first3=JT |last4=Abe-Ouchi |first4=A |last5=Bi |first5=D |last6=van den Broeke |first6=MR |last7=Chan |first7=WL |last8=Hu |first8=A |last9=Beadling |first9=RL |last10=Marsland |first10=SJ |last11=Mernild |first11=SH |last12=Saenko |first12=OA |last13=Swingedouw |first13=D |last14=Sullivan |first14=A |last15=Yin |first15=J |date=11 November 2016 |title=Fate of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation: Strong decline under continued warming and Greenland melting |journal=[[Geophysical Research Letters]] |volume=43 |issue=23 |pages=12,252–12,260 |doi=10.1002/2016GL070457 |bibcode=2016GeoRL..4312252B |hdl=10150/622754 |hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Canadell |first1=J.G. |last2=Monteiro |first2=P.M.S. |last3=Costa |first3=M.H. |last4=Cotrim da Cunha |first4=L. |last5=Cox |first5=P.M. |last6=Eliseev |first6=A.V. |last7=Henson |first7=S. |last8=Ishii |first8=M. |last9=Jaccard |first9=S. |last10=Koven |first10=C. |last11=Lohila |first11=A. |editor-last=Masson-Delmotte |editor-first=V. |editor2-last=Zhai |editor2-first=P. |editor3-last=Piran |editor3-first=A. |editor4-last=Connors |editor4-first=S.L. |editor5-last=Péan |editor5-first=C. |editor6-last=Berger |editor6-first=S. |editor7-last=Caud |editor7-first=N. |editor8-last=Chen |editor8-first=Y. |editor9-last=Goldfarb |editor9-first=L. |chapter=Global Carbon and Other Biogeochemical Cycles and Feedbacks |chapter-url=https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Chapter05.pdf |title=Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |series=AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts |year=2021 |pages=673–816 |doi=10.1017/9781009157896.007 |bibcode=2021AGUFM.U13B..05K |isbn=978-1-009-15789-6 |access-date=20 March 2024 |archive-date=6 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406183849/https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Chapter05.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

Greenland's ice sheet has a volume of ~{{convert|3000000|km3|cumi|-5}}. If it were all to melt, global sea level would increase by ~{{convert|7.5|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} from this cause alone.<ref name="BBC2017">{{cite web |title=How Greenland would look without its ice sheet |date=14 December 2017 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42260580 |publisher=[[BBC News]] |access-date=7 December 2023 |archive-date=7 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207201039/https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42260580 |url-status=live}}</ref> However, research shows that it will take at least 1,000 years for the ice sheet to disappear even with very high rates of global warming,<ref name="Aschwanden2019" /> and around 10,000 years under lower rates of warming (which still cross the threshold for the ice sheet's disappearance).<ref name="ArmstrongMcKay2022">{{Cite journal |last1=Armstrong McKay |first1=David |last2=Abrams |first2=Jesse |last3=Winkelmann |first3=Ricarda |last4=Sakschewski |first4=Boris |last5=Loriani |first5=Sina |last6=Fetzer |first6=Ingo |last7=Cornell |first7=Sarah |last8=Rockström |first8=Johan |last9=Staal |first9=Arie |last10=Lenton |first10=Timothy |date=9 September 2022 |title=Exceeding 1.5°C global warming could trigger multiple climate tipping points |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |language=en |volume=377 |issue=6611 |article-number=eabn7950 |doi=10.1126/science.abn7950 |pmid=36074831 |hdl=10871/131584 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref name="ArmstrongMcKay2022Explainer">{{Cite web |last=Armstrong McKay |first=David |date=9 September 2022 |title=Exceeding 1.5°C global warming could trigger multiple climate tipping points – paper explainer |url=https://climatetippingpoints.info/2022/09/09/climate-tipping-points-reassessment-explainer/ |access-date=2 October 2022 |website=climatetippingpoints.info |language=en |archive-date=18 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230718085705/https://climatetippingpoints.info/2022/09/09/climate-tipping-points-reassessment-explainer/ |url-status=live}}</ref> This threshold likely lies between {{convert|1.7|C-change|F-change}} and {{convert|2.3|C-change|F-change}}. Reducing the warming back to {{convert|1.5|C-change|F-change}} or lower above preindustrial levels (such as through large-scale [[carbon dioxide removal]]) would arrest the losses but still cause greater ultimate sea level rise than if the threshold had never been exceeded.<ref name="Bochow2023">{{cite journal |last1=Bochow |first1=Nils |last2=Poltronieri |first2=Anna |last3=Robinson |first3=Alexander |last4=Montoya |first4=Marisa |last5=Rypdal |first5=Martin |last6=Boers |first6=Niklas |date=18 October 2023 |title=Overshooting the critical threshold for the Greenland ice sheet |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=622 |issue=7983 |pages=528–536 |bibcode=2023Natur.622..528B |doi=10.1038/s41586-023-06503-9 |pmc=10584691 |pmid=37853149}}</ref> Further, {{convert|1.5|C-change|F-change}} appears to commit the Greenland ice sheet to {{cvt|1.4|m|ft|frac=2}} of sea level rise.<ref name="Christ2023">{{Cite journal |last1=Christ |first1=Andrew J. |last2=Rittenour |first2=Tammy M. |last3=Bierman |first3=Paul R. |last4=Keisling |first4=Benjamin A. |last5=Knutz |first5=Paul C. |last6=Thomsen |first6=Tonny B. |last7=Keulen |first7=Nynke |last8=Fosdick |first8=Julie C. |last9=Hemming |first9=Sidney R. |last10=Tison |first10=Jean-Louis |last11=Blard |first11=Pierre-Henri |last12=Steffensen |first12=Jørgen P. |last13=Caffee |first13=Marc W. |last14=Corbett |first14=Lee B. |last15=Dahl-Jensen |first15=Dorthe |last16=Dethier |first16=David P. |last17=Hidy |first17=Alan J. |last18=Perdrial |first18=Nicolas |last19=Peteet |first19=Dorothy M. |last20=Steig |first20=Eric J. |last21=Thomas |first21=Elizabeth K. |date=20 July 2023 |title=Deglaciation of northwestern Greenland during Marine Isotope Stage 11 |journal=Science |volume=381 |issue=6655 |pages=330–335 |doi=10.1126/science.ade4248 |pmid=37471537 |bibcode=2023Sci...381..330C |osti=1992577 }}</ref> A study published in January 2025 in the ''[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]]'' reports an "abrupt, coherent, climate-driven transformation" in the states of lakes in Greenland from "blue" (more transparent) to "brown" (less transparent) after [[2024 in Greenland|a season]] of both record heat and rainfall drove change in these systems, which may have reached a [[Tipping points in the climate system|tipping point]] .<ref name="PNAS_20250121" /> These changes are said to alter "numerous physical, chemical, and biological lake features", and are said to be unprecedented.<ref name="PNAS_20250121">{{cite journal |last1=Saros |first1=Jasmine E. |last2=Hazukova |first2=Vaclava |last3=Northington |first3=Robert M. |last4=McGowan |first4=Suzanne |title=Abrupt transformation of West Greenland lakes following compound climate extremes associated with atmospheric rivers |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] |date=21 January 2025 |volume=122 |issue=4 |article-number=e2413855122 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2413855122 |pmid=39835905 |pmc=11789078 |bibcode=2025PNAS..12213855S}}</ref>

In 2007, the existence of a new island was announced. Named ''{{langr |kl |[[Uunartoq Qeqertaq]]}}'' ({{gloss |warming island}}), this land mass was present off the coast of Greenland but was covered by [[List of glaciers in Greenland|a glacier]], and therefore presumed to be a peninsula. This glacier was discovered in 2002 to be shrinking rapidly, and by 2007 it had completely melted away, leaving the exposed island.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McCarthy |first=Michael |date=24 April 2007 |title=An island made by global warming |url=http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/climate_change/article2480994.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830030612/http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/climate_change/article2480994.ece |archive-date=30 August 2008 |access-date=4 May 2010 |work=[[The Independent]] |location=London}}</ref> In 2007, the island was named 'Place of the Year' by the Oxford Atlas of the World.<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 December 2007 |title=Place of the Year |url=http://blog.oup.com/2007/12/place_of_the_year |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091015151345/http://blog.oup.com/2007/12/place_of_the_year/ |archive-date=15 October 2009 |access-date=6 September 2010 |publisher=Blog.oup.com}}</ref> Ben Keene, the atlas's editor, commented:<ref>Publications, Usa Int'L Business. Denmark Company Laws and Regulations Handbook: Strategic Information and Basic Laws. Place of Publication Not Identified: Intl Business Pubns Usa, 2015. 20–21. Print.</ref>

{{blockquote |text=In the last two or three decades, global warming has reduced the size of glaciers throughout the [[Arctic]] and earlier this year, news sources confirmed what climate scientists already knew: water, not rock, lay beneath this [[ice bridge]] on the east coast of Greenland. More islets are likely to appear as the sheet of frozen water covering the world's largest island continues to melt.}}

Some controversy surrounded the history of the island in 2008, specifically over whether the island might have been revealed during a brief warm period in Greenland during the mid-20th&nbsp;century.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Revkin |first=Andrew C. |date=28 April 2008 |title=Arctic Explorer Rebuts 'Warming Island' Critique |url=http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/arctic-explorer-rebuts-critique-of-warming-island/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100927055552/http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/arctic-explorer-rebuts-critique-of-warming-island/ |archive-date=27 September 2010 |access-date=6 September 2010 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] }}</ref>

===Geology===
Greenland was part of the [[Precambrian]] continent of [[Laurentia]], the eastern core of which forms the Greenland Shield, while the less exposed coastal strips became a plateau. On these ice-free coastal strips are sediments formed in the Precambrian, overprinted by metamorphism and now formed by glaciers, which continue into the [[Cenozoic]] and [[Mesozoic]] in parts of the island.

In the east and west of Greenland there are remnants of [[flood basalt]]s and [[igneous intrusion]]s, such as the [[Skaergaard intrusion]]. Notable rock provinces ([[metamorphic]] igneous rocks, [[Ultramafic rock|ultramafics]], and [[anorthosite]]s) are found on the southwest coast at [[Qeqertarsuatsiaat]]. East of Nuuk, the banded iron ore region of Isukasia, over three billion years old, contains the world's oldest rocks, such as greenlandite (a rock composed predominantly of [[hornblende]] and hyperthene), formed 3.8&nbsp;billion years ago,<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 March 2013 |title=Banded iron formation (BIF) deposits |url=http://www.geus.dk/minex/go_fs16.pdf |access-date=20 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309083735/http://www.geus.dk/minex/go_fs16.pdf |archive-date=9 March 2013}}</ref> and [[nuummite]]. In southern Greenland, the [[Ilimaussaq intrusive complex|Illimaussaq alkaline complex]] consists of [[pegmatites]] such as [[nepheline]], [[syenite]]s (especially kakortokite or naujaite) and [[sodalite]] (sodalite-foya). In [[Ivittuut]], where cryolite was formerly mined, there are [[fluoride]]-bearing pegmatites. To the north of [[Igaliku]], there are the Gardar alkaline pegmatitic intrusions of augite syenite, [[gabbro]], etc.

To the west and southwest are [[Palaeozoic]] carbonatite complexes at [[Kangerlussuaq]] (Gardiner complex) and [[Lucie Šafářová|Safartoq]], and basic and [[Ultramafic rock|ultrabasic]] igneous rocks at Uiffaq on Disko Island, where there are masses of heavy native iron up to {{convert|25|tonne|ST|abbr=on}} in the basalts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mineralienatlas – Fossilienatlas |url=https://www.mineralienatlas.de/lexikon/index.php/Gr%C3%B6nland?lang=de |access-date=20 April 2021 |website=www.mineralienatlas.de |language=de |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610113248/https://www.mineralienatlas.de/lexikon/index.php/Gr%C3%B6nland?lang=de |url-status=live}}</ref> The palaeontology of East Greenland is specially rich, with some of the early tetrapods such as the [[Acanthostega]] and [[Ichthyostega]] from the [[Devonian]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Marzola |first1=Marco |last2=Mateus |first2=Octávio |last3=Milàn |first3=Jesper |last4=Clemmensen |first4=Lars B. |date=3 March 2018 |title=A review of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic tetrapods from Greenland |journal=Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark |volume=66 |pages=21–46 |doi=10.37570/bgsd-2018-66-02 |issn=2245-7070 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2018BuGSD..66...21M}}</ref> and unique [[Triassic]] animals such as the phytosaur [[Mystriosuchus|''Mystriosuchus alleroq'']]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=López-Rojas |first1=Víctor |last2=Clemmensen |first2=Lars B. |last3=Milàn |first3=Jesper |last4=Wings |first4=Oliver |last5=Klein |first5=Nicole |last6=Mateus |first6=Octávio |date=30 September 2022 |title=A new phytosaur species (Archosauriformes) from the Upper Triassic of Jameson Land, central East Greenland |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |language=en |volume=42 |issue=3 |article-number=e2181086 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2023.2181086 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2022JVPal..42E1086L}}</ref> and the dinosaurs [[Issi|''Issi saaneq'']]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Beccari |first1=Victor |last2=Mateus |first2=Octávio |last3=Wings |first3=Oliver |last4=Milàn |first4=Jesper |last5=Clemmensen |first5=Lars B. |date=November 2021 |title=Issi saaneq gen. et sp. nov.—A New Sauropodomorph Dinosaur from the Late Triassic (Norian) of Jameson Land, Central East Greenland |journal=Diversity |language=en |volume=13 |issue=11 |page=561 |doi=10.3390/d13110561 |issn=1424-2818 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2021Diver..13..561B |hdl=10362/128951 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> and tracks.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lallensack |first1=Jens |last2=Klein |first2=Hendrik |last3=Milán |first3=Jesper |last4=Wings |first4=Oliver |last5=Mateus |first5=Octávio |last6=Clemmensen |first6=Lars |date=2017 |title=Sauropodomorph dinosaur trackways from the Fleming Fjord Formation of East Greenland: evidence for Late Triassic sauropods |journal=Acta Palaeontologica Polonica |volume=62 |doi=10.4202/app.00374.2017 |doi-access=free |hdl=10362/33146 |hdl-access=free}}</ref>

===Biodiversity===
{{See also|Flora and fauna of Greenland|Reindeer hunting in Greenland|Fishing industry in Greenland|Whaling#Greenland}}
{{Multiple image
| total_width       = 450
| image1            = Greenland-musk-ox hg.jpg
| image2            = Greenland 377 (34999131992).jpg
| caption1          = Greenlandic [[muskoxen]] at [[King Oscar Fjord]]
| caption2          = The [[Greenland Dog]] was brought from [[Siberia]] around 1000 AD.
| perrow            = 2/1
}}

Greenland is home to two ecoregions: [[Kalaallit Nunaat high arctic tundra]] and [[Kalaallit Nunaat low arctic tundra]].<ref name="DinersteinOlson2017">{{cite journal |last1=Dinerstein |first1=Eric |last2=Olson |first2=David |last3=Joshi |first3=Anup |last4=Vynne |first4=Carly |last5=Burgess |first5=Neil D. |last6=Wikramanayake |first6=Eric |last7=Hahn |first7=Nathan |last8=Palminteri |first8=Suzanne |last9=Hedao |first9=Prashant|last10=Noss|first10=Reed |last11=Hansen |first11=Matt |last12=Locke |first12=Harvey |last13=Ellis |first13=Erle C |last14=Jones |first14=Benjamin |last15=Barber |first15=Charles Victor |last16=Hayes |first16=Randy |last17=Kormos |first17=Cyril |last18=Martin |first18=Vance |last19=Crist |first19=Eileen|last20=Sechrest|first20=Wes |last21=Price |first21=Lori |last22=Baillie |first22=Jonathan E. M. |last23=Weeden |first23=Don |last24=Suckling |first24=Kierán |last25=Davis |first25=Crystal |last26=Sizer |first26=Nigel |last27=Moore |first27=Rebecca |last28=Thau |first28=David |last29=Birch |first29=Tanya|last30=Potapov|first30=Peter |last31=Turubanova |first31=Svetlana |last32=Tyukavina |first32=Alexandra |last33=de Souza |first33=Nadia |last34=Pintea |first34=Lilian |last35=Brito |first35=José C. |last36=Llewellyn |first36=Othman A. |last37=Miller |first37=Anthony G. |last38=Patzelt |first38=Annette |last39=Ghazanfar |first39=Shahina A.|last40=Timberlake|first40=Jonathan |last41=Klöser |first41=Heinz |last42=Shennan-Farpón |first42=Yara |last43=Kindt |first43=Roeland |last44=Lillesø |first44=Jens-Peter Barnekow |last45=van Breugel |first45=Paulo |last46=Graudal |first46=Lars |last47=Voge |first47=Maianna |last48=Al-Shammari |first48=Khalaf F. |last49=Saleem |first49=Muhammad |title=An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm |journal=BioScience |volume=67 |issue=6 |year=2017 |pages=534–545 |issn=0006-3568 |doi=10.1093/biosci/bix014 |pmid=28608869 |pmc=5451287 |doi-access=free}}</ref> There are approximately 700 known species of insects in Greenland, which is low compared with other countries (over one million species have been described worldwide). The sea is rich in fish and invertebrates, especially in the milder [[West Greenland Current]]; a large part of the Greenland fauna is associated with marine-based food chains, including large colonies of seabirds. The few native land mammals in Greenland include the [[polar bear]], [[Reindeer hunting in Greenland#Three subspecies in Greenland|reindeer]] (introduced by Europeans), [[arctic fox]], [[arctic hare]], [[musk ox]], [[Northern collared lemming|collared lemming]], [[Stoat|ermine]], and [[arctic wolf]]. The last four are found naturally only in [[East Greenland]], having immigrated from [[Ellesmere Island]]. There are dozens of species of [[Pinniped|seals]] and whales along the coast. Land fauna consists predominantly of animals which have spread from North America or, in the case of many birds and insects, from Europe. There are no native or free-living reptiles or [[amphibians]] on the island.<ref name="wildlife">{{Cite web |year=2014 |title=Greenland Wildlife |url=http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Natur_og_miljø/Zoologi/Dyreliv:_Danmark,_Færøerne,_Grønland/Grønland_(Dyreliv) |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313204254/http://denstoredanske.dk/Natur_og_milj%C3%B8/Zoologi/Dyreliv:_Danmark,_F%C3%A6r%C3%B8erne,_Gr%C3%B8nland/Gr%C3%B8nland_(Dyreliv) |archive-date=13 March 2016 |access-date=8 October 2015 |website=Redaction |publisher=The Great Danish Encyclopedia}}</ref>

[[Phytogeography|Phytogeographically]], Greenland belongs to the Arctic province of the [[Circumboreal Region]] within the [[Boreal Kingdom]]. The island is sparsely populated in vegetation; plant life consists mainly of grassland and small shrubs, which are regularly grazed by livestock. The most common tree native to Greenland is the European white birch (''[[Betula pubescens]]'') along with grey-leaf willow (''[[Salix glauca]]''), rowan (''[[Sorbus aucuparia]]''), common juniper (''[[Juniperus communis]]'') and other smaller trees, mainly willows. Greenland's flora consists of about 500 species of "higher" plants, such as [[flowering plant]]s, [[fern]]s, [[horsetail]]s and [[lycopodiophyta]]. Of the other groups, the [[lichen]]s are the most diverse, with about 950 species; there are 600–700 species of fungi; [[moss]]es and [[bryophyte]]s are also found. Most of Greenland's higher plants have [[wikt:Special:Search/circumpolar|circumpolar]] or [[circumboreal]] distributions; only a dozen species of [[saxifrage]] and [[hawkweed]] are [[endemic]]. A few plant species were introduced by the Norsemen, such as [[Vicia cracca|cow vetch]].

[[File:Tail of Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae in Disko Bay Greenland - Buiobuone 02.jpg|thumb|[[Humpback whale]] in [[Disko Bay]] near [[Ilulissat]] (Jacobshavn''')''']]
The terrestrial vertebrates of Greenland include the [[Greenland dog]], which was introduced by the [[Inuit]], as well as [[Ethnic groups in Europe|European]]-introduced species such as [[Greenlandic sheep]], goats, cattle, [[reindeer]], horse, chicken and [[sheepdog]], all descendants of animals imported by Europeans.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} [[Marine mammals]] include the [[hooded seal]] (''Cystophora cristata'') as well as the [[grey seal]] (''Halichoerus grypus'').<ref name="brit1911">"Greenland". ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', Eleventh Edition.</ref> Whales frequently pass very close to Greenland's shores in the late summer and early autumn. Whale species include the [[beluga whale]], [[blue whale]], [[bowhead whale|Greenland whale]], [[fin whale]], [[humpback whale]], [[minke whale]], [[narwhal]], [[pilot whale]], [[sperm whale]].<ref name="guide">{{Cite web |date=n.d. |title=Animal life in Greenland – an introduction by the tourist board |url=http://www.greenland-guide.gl/animal_life.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120427231950/http://www.greenland-guide.gl/animal_life.htm |archive-date=27 April 2012 |access-date=1 May 2012 |website=Greenland Guide |publisher=Narsaq Tourist Office}}</ref>

As of 2009, 269 species of fish from over 80 different families are known from the waters surrounding Greenland. Almost all are marine species with only a few in freshwater, such as [[Atlantic salmon]] and [[Salvelinus|charr]].<ref name="Moller2010">{{Cite journal |last1=Møller |first1=P. R. |last2=Nielsen |first2=J. |last3=Knudsen |first3=S. W. |last4=Poulsen |first4=J. Y. |last5=Sünksen |first5=K. |last6=Jørgensen |first6=O. A. |year=2010 |title=A checklist of the fish fauna of Greenland waters |url= https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.2378.1.1 |journal=Zootaxa |volume=2378 |issue=1 |pages=1–84 |isbn=978-1-86977-468-4 |oclc=551668689}}</ref> The [[fishing industry]] is the primary industry of Greenland's economy, accounting for the majority of the territory's total exports.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Economy and Industry in Greenland – Naalakkersuisut |url=https://naalakkersuisut.gl/en/About-government-of-greenland/About-Greenland/Economy-and-Industry-in-Greenland |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402143435/https://naalakkersuisut.gl/en/About-government-of-greenland/About-Greenland/Economy-and-Industry-in-Greenland |archive-date=2 April 2019 |access-date=17 August 2019 |website=naalakkersuisut.gl}}</ref> Birds, particularly seabirds, are an important part of Greenland's animal life; they consist of both [[Palearctic realm|Palearctic]] and [[Nearctic realm|Nearctic]] species, breeding populations of [[auk]]s, [[puffin]]s, [[skua]]s, and [[kittiwake]]s are found on steep mountainsides.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Durinck |first1=Jan |last2=Falk |first2=Knud |date=1996 |title=The distribution and abundance of seabirds off southwestern Greenland in autumn and winter 1988–1989 |journal=[[Polar Research]] |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=23–42 |doi=10.3402/polar.v15i1.6634 |bibcode=1996PolRe..15...23D |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mehlum |first=Fridtjof |title=Summer distribution of seabirds in northern Greenland and Barents Seas |series=Skrifter |volume=191 |publisher=[[Norwegian Polar Institute|Norsk Polarinstitutt]] |isbn=82-90307-53-5 |date=April 1989}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://peakvisor.com/adm/greenland-2184073.html#ecology |title=Greenland |publisher=PeakVisor |access-date=2 October 2023 |archive-date=12 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231012113809/https://peakvisor.com/adm/greenland-2184073.html#ecology |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite report |url=https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/items/e2bbfd7c-6668-4b3e-aa1a-a7fc65497bfd |title=Seabird Harvest in the Arctic – Prepared by the Circumpolar Seabird Group (CBird) |date=September 2008 |publisher=Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230929122742/https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/items/e2bbfd7c-6668-4b3e-aa1a-a7fc65497bfd |archive-date=29 September 2023 |url-status=live |access-date=2 October 2023}}</ref> Greenland's ducks and geese include [[common eider]], [[long-tailed duck]], [[king eider]], [[white-fronted goose]], [[pink-footed goose]] and [[barnacle goose]]. Breeding [[migratory birds]] include the [[snow bunting]], [[lapland bunting]], [[ringed plover]], [[red-throated loon]] and [[red-necked phalarope]]. Non-migratory land birds include the [[arctic redpoll]], [[Rock ptarmigan|ptarmigan]], [[short-eared owl]], [[snowy owl]], [[gyrfalcon]] and [[white-tailed eagle]].<ref name="wildlife" />{{Clear}}

==Government and politics==
{{Main|Politics of Greenland}}

{{See also|2025 Greenlandic general election|Greenland and the European Union|Politics of Denmark}}
{{multiple image
| footer_align      = center
| caption_align     = center
| image1            = King Frederik X in 2025.jpg
| caption1          = [[Frederik X]], [[King of Denmark]]
| image2            = Mette Frederiksen by Christian Ursilva (2026).jpg
| caption2          = [[Mette Frederiksen]], [[Prime Minister of Denmark]]
| image3            = Jens-Frederik Nielsen by Christian Ursilva.jpg
| caption3          = [[Jens-Frederik Nielsen]], [[Premier of Greenland]]
| total_width       = 300
}}

The Greenlandic government, [[Naalakkersuisut]], holds executive power in local government affairs. The head of the Greenlandic government is called ''[[Naalakkersuisut Siulittaasuat]]'' ("Premier"). Any other member of the cabinet is called a ''[[Minister (government)|Naalakkersuisoq]]'' ("Minister"). The Greenlandic parliament is called ''[[Inatsisartut]]'' ("Legislators"). The parliament currently has 31 members.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inatsisartut |url=https://ina.gl/organisation/sammensaetning-af-inatsisartut/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817182125/http://ina.gl/organisation/sammensaetning-af-inatsisartut/ |archive-date=17 August 2018 |access-date=29 December 2020 |publisher=Inatsisartut.gl |language=kl}}</ref>

In contemporary times, elections are held at municipal, national (''[[inatsisartut]]''), and kingdom (''[[folketing]]'') levels. Greenland is a self-governing entity within the [[constitutional monarchy]] of the Kingdom of Denmark, in which [[King Frederik X]] is the head of state. The monarch officially retains [[Executive (government)|executive power]] and presides over the [[Danish Council of State|Council of State]] ([[privy council]]).<ref>"The executive power is vested in the King." [http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/da00000_.html The Constitution of Denmark – Section 3.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710092702/http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/da00000_.html |date=10 July 2011 }}</ref><ref>"The body of Ministers shall form the Council of State, in which the Successor to the Throne shall have a seat when he is of age. The Council of State shall be presided over by the King..." [http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/da00000_.html The Constitution of Denmark – Section 17.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710092702/http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/da00000_.html |date=10 July 2011 }}</ref> However, following the introduction of a [[parliamentary system]] of government, the duties of the monarch have since become strictly representative and ceremonial,<ref>[http://kongehuset.dk/english/the-monarchy-in-denmark/the-monarchy-today The Monarchy today] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215082552/http://kongehuset.dk/english/the-monarchy-in-denmark/the-monarchy-today |date=15 February 2015 }} – ''The Danish Monarchy'' (kongehuset.dk). Access date: 16 June 2012</ref> such as the formal appointment and dismissal of the [[Prime Minister of Denmark|prime minister]] and other ministers in the executive government. The monarch is not answerable for their actions, and the monarch's person is sacrosanct.<ref>"The King shall not be answerable for his actions; his person shall be sacrosanct." [http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/da00000_.html The Constitution of Denmark – Section 13.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710092702/http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/da00000_.html |date=10 July 2011 }}</ref>
[[File:EU OCT and OMR map en.png|thumb|The [[Special member state territories and the European Union|special territories of the European Union]] (pre 31 January 2020)]]
Following World War II, the United Nations mandated that colonies should become independent, enter into [[associated state|free association]] with another country, or be fully integrated into the [[metropole]] (the former colonial power). Denmark opted in 1952 to integrate Greenland into the [[Danish Realm]]. In 1979, the Danish government and parliament introduced [[home rule]] for Greenland which meant that Naalakkersuisut could assume control over 17 different areas of government. Further devolution of power from Denmark to Greenland came with the "Greenland Self-Government Act" (GSGA) in 2009, that added 33 new areas of government to the pool, the Naalakkersuisut assume control over. The GSGA also resulted from a recognition in Denmark that the people of Greenland had a right to self-determination, and gave a legal section for Naalakkersuisut to trigger an independence process (Section 21, GSGA).<ref name="Jakobsen">{{Cite journal |last1=Jakobsen |first1=Uffe |last2=Larsen |first2=Henrik |date=2 January 2024 |title=The development of Greenland's self-government and independence in the shadow of the unitary state |journal=The Polar Journal |volume=14 |issue=1 |doi=10.1080/2154896X.2024.2342117 |issn=2154-896X |pages=9–10, 20–21 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2024PolJ...14....9J}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Statsministeriet |title=Lov om Grønlands hjemmestyre |date=29 November 1978 |url=https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/1978/577 |access-date=30 January 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Statsministeriet |title=Lov om Grønlands Selvstyre |date=6 December 2009 |url=https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2009/473 |access-date=30 January 2025}}</ref> [[Greenland membership in the Council of Europe]] through Denmark also shows activities at international level, with the last recorded activity in January 2025 concerning a visit from the [[Committee for the Prevention of Torture]].

===Political system===
{{See also|Nordic socialism}}
[[File:Christiansborg fra Nikolaj Kirken.jpg|thumb|[[Christiansborg Palace|Christiansborg]] in Copenhagen, seat of the [[Folketing|Danish Parliament]], from where Greenland's foreign, defence and security policy is decided<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jonatan Robbert |first=Larsen |date=7 January 2025 |title=OVERBLIK: Hvad bestemmer Grønland selv? |url=https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/udland/overblik-hvad-bestemmer-groenland-selv |access-date=7 January 2025 |work=[[DR (broadcaster)|DR]]}}</ref>]]
The party system was dominated by the social-democratic [[Siumut]] and the democratic socialist [[Inuit Ataqatigiit]], both of which broadly have argued for greater independence from Denmark.{{when|date=January 2025}} While the [[2009 Greenlandic parliamentary election|2009 election]] saw the unionist [[Democrats (Greenland)|Democrats]] (two&nbsp;MPs) decline greatly, the [[2013 Greenlandic parliamentary election|2013 election]] consolidated the power of the two main parties at the expense of the smaller groups, and saw the eco-socialist [[Inuit Party]] elected to the [[Parliament of Greenland|Parliament]] for the first time. The dominance of the Forward and Inuit Community parties began to wane after the snap [[2014 Greenlandic general election|2014]] and [[2018 Greenlandic general election|2018]] elections.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} The non-binding [[2008 Greenlandic self-government referendum|2008 referendum on self-governance]] favouring increased self-governance and autonomy was passed winning 76.22% of the vote.<ref name="bbc20081127">[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7749427.stm Greenland votes for more autonomy], [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7749427.stm] [[BBC News]], 26 November 2008</ref>

In 1985, [[Greenland–European Union relations|Greenland left the European Economic Community]] (EEC), unlike Denmark, which remained a member. The EEC later became the European Union (EU, renamed and expanded in scope in 1992). Greenland retains some ties through its associated relationship with the EU. However, EU law largely does not apply to Greenland except in the area of trade. Greenland is designated as a member of the [[Special member state territories and the European Union|Overseas Countries and Territories]] (OCT) and is thus officially not a part of the EU, though Greenland can and does receive support from the [[European Development Fund]], [[Multiannual Financial Framework]], [[European Investment Bank]] and EU programmes.<ref name="euprofile">{{Cite web |title=EU Relations with Greenland |url=http://www.eeas.europa.eu/greenland/index_en.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609050531/http://eeas.europa.eu/greenland/index_en.htm |archive-date=9 June 2011 |access-date=3 October 2020 |publisher=European Union}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) |url=http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/development/overseas_countries_territories/index_en.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813192112/http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/development/overseas_countries_territories/index_en.htm |archive-date=13 August 2011 |access-date=3 October 2020 |publisher=European Union}}</ref>

===Government===
[[File:Greenland-municipalities-2018.svg|thumb|upright|Municipalities of Greenland]]
Greenland's head of state is King Frederik X. The king's [[politics of Denmark|government in Denmark]] appoints a [[List of Danish High Commissioners in Greenland|high commissioner]] (''Rigsombudsmand'') to represent it on the island. The commissioner is [[Julie Præst Wilche]]. The Greenland constituency elects two [[List of members of the Folketing|MP]] representatives to the Kingdom Parliament (''[[Folketing]]et'') in Denmark, out of a total of 179. The current representatives are [[Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam]] of the [[Naleraq]] Party and [[Aaja Chemnitz Larsen]] of the [[Inuit Community]] Party.<ref>[http://www.ft.dk/ Folketinget – Folketinget.dk] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150628025221/http://www.ft.dk/ |date=28 June 2015 }}. Ft.dk. Retrieved on 21 June 2016.</ref> Greenland has a national [[Parliament of Greenland|Parliament]] that consists of [[List of members of the parliament of Greenland|31 representatives]]. The government is the [[Naalakkersuisut]], whose members are appointed by the [[List of Premiers of Greenland|premier]]. The premier is the [[head of government]], and is usually the leader of the majority party in Parliament.

===Administrative divisions===
{{Main|Administrative divisions of Greenland}}

Formerly consisting of three counties comprising a total of 18 municipalities, Greenland abolished these in 2009 and has since been divided into large territories known as "municipalities" ({{langx|kl|kommuneqarfiit}}, {{langx|da|kommuner}}): ''[[Sermersooq]]'' ("Much Ice") around the capital [[Nuuk]] and also including all [[Tunu|East Coast]] communities; ''[[Kujalleq]]'' ("South") around [[Cape Farewell, Greenland|Cape Farewell]]; ''[[Qeqqata]]'' ("Centre") north of the capital along the [[Davis Strait]]; ''[[Qeqertalik]]'' ("The one with islands") surrounding [[Disko Bay]]; and ''[[Avannaata]]'' ("Northern") in the northwest; the latter two having come into being as a result of the [[Qaasuitsup]] municipality, one of the original four, being partitioned in 2018. The northeast of the island composes the unincorporated [[Northeast Greenland National Park]]. [[Pituffik Space Base]] is also unincorporated, an enclave within Avannaata municipality. As a [[Concessions and leases in international relations|territorial concession]] granted to the United States in perpetuity, it is administered by the [[United States Space Force]]. During its construction, there were as many as 12,000 American residents but in recent{{clarify|date=January 2025}} years the number has been below 1,000.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

===Military===
{{Main|Military in  Greenland}}

[[File:Thule air base above.jpeg|thumb|The United States has operated [[Pituffik Space Base]], originally Thule Air Base, since the 1950s.]]
Greenland does not have its own military. As a territory of Denmark, the [[Danish military]] is responsible for Greenland's defence, and the island is within the area overseen by the [[NATO]] military alliance. The [[Joint Arctic Command]] is the Danish military branch responsible for Greenland. It includes several patrol ships, [[maritime patrol aircraft]], helicopters, and the elite [[Sirius Dog Sled Patrol]]. The Danish military has personnel based at Nuuk, [[Kangerlussuaq]], [[Daneborg]], [[Station Nord]], [[Mestersvig]], [[Grønnedal]], and a liaison detachment at [[Pituffik Space Base]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Arctic |url=https://www.fmn.dk/en/topics/national-tasks/arctic/ |website=[[Danish Ministry of Defence]] |date=19 February 2021}}</ref> Pituffik is home to the [[United States Space Force]]'s global network of sensors providing missile warning, space surveillance and space control to North American Aerospace Defence Command ([[NORAD]]). Elements of the sensor systems are commanded and controlled variously by Space Deltas [[Mission Delta 2|2]], [[Mission Delta 4|4]], and [[Space Delta 6|6]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=16 August 2019 |title=Trump reportedly wants to 'buy' Greenland. This is what it's like at the US's Arctic base there |work=Business Insider |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/serve-at-thule-air-base-in-greenland-2019-8 |url-status=live |access-date=19 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190819203046/https://www.businessinsider.com/serve-at-thule-air-base-in-greenland-2019-8 |archive-date=19 August 2019}}</ref> Formerly there had been several US bases in Greenland. The 1951 Greenland Defense Agreement allowed the United States to keep its military bases there, and to establish new bases with the consent of Greenland and Denmark, if deemed necessary by NATO.<ref name="auto" /><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Weber |editor1-first=Joachim |title=Handbook on Geopolitics and Security in the Arctic |date=2020 |publisher=Springer |page=79}}</ref>

In 1995, a political scandal in Denmark occurred after a report revealed the government had given tacit permission for [[Nuclear weapons of the United States|nuclear weapons]] to be located in Greenland, in contravention of Denmark's 1957 [[nuclear-free zone]] policy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hansen |first=H. C. |author-link=H. C. Hansen |date=16 November 1957 |title=Danish Prime Minister Gives Tacit Go-Ahead For U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Greenland |url=http://www.nautilus.org/archives/library/security/foia/DKhansen57.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071106145717/http://www.nautilus.org/archives/library/security/foia/DKhansen57.html |archive-date=6 November 2007 |access-date=20 March 2009 |publisher=The Nautilus Institute}}</ref><ref name="h-bomb">{{Cite news |date=21 January 2018 |title=Cataclysmic cargo: The hunt for four missing nuclear bombs after a B-52 crash |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/01/21/cataclysmic-cargo-the-hunt-for-four-missing-nuclear-bombs-after-a-b-52-crash/?noredirect=on |access-date=20 August 2019 |archive-date=7 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607060100/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/01/21/cataclysmic-cargo-the-hunt-for-four-missing-nuclear-bombs-after-a-b-52-crash/?noredirect=on |url-status=live}}</ref> The United States built a secret nuclear-powered base, called [[Camp Century]], in the Greenland ice sheet.<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 March 2019 |title=A Top-Secret US Military Base Will Melt Out of the Greenland Ice Sheet |work=VICE Magazine |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/cold-war-era-nuclear-base-camp-century-melting-climate-change-greenland/ |url-status=live |access-date=20 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190820161848/https://www.vice.com/en_asia/article/d3wdb7/cold-war-era-nuclear-base-camp-century-melting-climate-change-greenland |archive-date=20 August 2019}}</ref> On 21 January 1968, a [[Boeing B-52 Stratofortress|B-52G]] with four nuclear bombs aboard as part of [[Operation Chrome Dome]] [[1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash|crashed on the ice]] of the North Star Bay while attempting an emergency landing.<ref>{{Cite news |date=14 November 2008 |title=The Cold War's Missing Atom Bombs |work=Der Spiegel |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-nuclear-needle-in-a-haystack-the-cold-war-s-missing-atom-bombs-a-590513.html |url-status=live |access-date=20 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190627105727/https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-nuclear-needle-in-a-haystack-the-cold-war-s-missing-atom-bombs-a-590513.html |archive-date=27 June 2019}}</ref> The resulting fire caused extensive radioactive contamination.<ref>{{Cite news |date=3 June 2019 |title=US B-52 nuclear bomber crash in Greenland 51 years ago has ill Danes seeking compensation |work=Fox News |url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/us-b-52-nuclear-bomber-crash-in-greenland-51-years-ago-has-ill-danes-seeking-compensation |url-status=live |access-date=20 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608024754/https://www.foxnews.com/us/us-b-52-nuclear-bomber-crash-in-greenland-51-years-ago-has-ill-danes-seeking-compensation |archive-date=8 June 2019}}</ref> One of the [[Thermonuclear weapon|H-bombs]] remains lost.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Corera |first=Gordon |date=10 November 2008 |title=Mystery of lost US nuclear bomb |publisher=BBC News |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7720049.stm |access-date=22 August 2019 |archive-date=23 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023165716/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7720049.stm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=11 November 2008 |title=US left nuclear weapon under ice in Greenland |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greenland/3439318/US-left-nuclear-weapon-under-ice-in-Greenland.html |url-status=live |access-date=20 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190820163632/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greenland/3439318/US-left-nuclear-weapon-under-ice-in-Greenland.html |archive-date=20 August 2019}}</ref>

==Economy==
{{Main|Economy of Greenland}}

[[File:Unloading vestlandia upernavik 2007-06-03.jpg|thumb|Unloading the supply ship ''Vestlandia'' operated by [[Royal Arctic Line]] at the port in [[Upernavik]], Greenland (2007)]]

The single most important factor in the economy is financial aid from Denmark, mainly in the form of the ''{{lang|da|bloktilskud}}'' ([[block grant]]). In 2024, the ''{{lang|da|bloktilskud}}'' was 4.3&nbsp;billion kr, amounting to a third of the public revenue.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Winther |first=Bent |date=6 January 2025 |title=Selvstændighed? Mette Frederiksen har det stærkeste kort på hånden |url=https://www.berlingske.dk/analyse-og-perspektiv/selvstaendighed-mette-frederiksen-har-det-staerkeste-kort?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AVINqTyqqMvS7mPPC_Jy6jPHVLtP1N9Y5v4dHWfEGyNmEvmG_JWCuCPEbEGYqbev440%3D&gaa_ts=67801e50&gaa_sig=6DAG2sOi7-lGVauSmbz74qYbBkxUD_zGawG_pRCi23jZqEBMo3BZv4r5870rVRHuZxhyOs6QkvYRxQYPeFyHEA%3D%3D |url-access=subscription |access-date=6 January 2025 |work=[[Berlingske]]}}</ref> On top of this, the Danish state covered the expenses for i.a. judiciary and defence, which together were estimated to amount to over 1&nbsp;billion kr.<ref name="rede2024">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ft.dk/ripdf/samling/20231/redegoerelse/R10/20231_R10.pdf|title=Redegørelse om rigsfællesskabet 2024. Afgivet af statsministeren (Mette Frederiksen) den 28 February 2024. ft.dk.|access-date=20 November 2025}}</ref> For the period from 2019 to 2023 Danish financial aid to Greenland averaged {{DKK|5.4{{nbsp}}billion}} ({{Euro|724{{nbsp}}million}}) a year, amounting to more than 20% of the territory's GDP,<ref>{{Cite news|date=20 January 2025 |title=Pressure on Greenland for more Danish aid, U.S. presence |url=https://www.financialmirror.com/2025/01/20/pressure-on-greenland-for-more-danish-aid-u-s-presence/ |access-date=13 January 2026 |publisher=Financial Mirror |language=en-GB}}</ref> up from 3.6&nbsp;billion kr. in 2009.{{r|hannestad20140324}}

GDP in 2023 was DKK 22.9&nbsp;billion, and GDP per capita was DKK 405,000, equivalent to that of the average economies of Europe.<ref name=":3" /> The economy performed well in the early 2020s, despite the pandemic, energy crisis and war in Europe. The favourable economic conditions were the result of good conditions for industry and strong infrastructure investments.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bjerregaard |first=Søren |date=1 November 2023 |title=Mangel på arbejdskraft øger behovet for stram økonomisk politik i Grønland |url=https://www.nationalbanken.dk/da/viden-og-nyheder/publikationer-og-taler/analyse/2023/mangel-paa-arbejdskraft-oeger-behovet-for-stram-oekonomisk-politik-i-groenland |access-date=12 January 2026 |website=[[National Bank of Denmark]] |language=da}}</ref>[[File:20190626 Harbor 0308 (48480740237).jpg|thumb|[[Sermiligaaq]], one of more than 60 settlements ([[Danish language|Danish]]: ''{{lang|da|bygder}}'')]]

The economy is highly dependent on fishing. Fishing accounts for more than 90% of exports.<ref name="Walsh-2017">{{Cite news |last=Walsh |first=Maurice |date=28 January 2017 |title='You can't live in a museum': the battle for Greenland's uranium |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/28/greenland-narsaq-uranium-mine-dividing-town |url-status=live |access-date=28 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170129005150/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/28/greenland-narsaq-uranium-mine-dividing-town |archive-date=29 January 2017 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> The shrimp and fish industry is by far the largest income earner.<ref name="cia-factbook">{{Cite web |title=Greenland |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/greenland/ |access-date=15 May 2007 |website=[[The World Factbook|CIA World Factbook]] |archive-date=9 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109162939/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/greenland/ }}</ref> Shrimp fishing is quota-regulated based on the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources' (''Pinngortitaleriffik'') assessment of what constitutes a biologically sustainable level of fishing. Greenland is abundant in minerals,<ref name="Walsh-2017" /> but extraction has been limited. A state company, [[Nunaoil]], was created to help develop the hydrocarbon industry. However, in July 2021, Greenland banned all new oil and gas exploration in its territory after government officials said that the environmental "price of oil extraction is too high".<ref>{{cite news |last1=COHEN |first1=LI |title=Greenland halts new oil exploration to combat climate change and focus on sustainable development |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/greenland-ends-oil-exploration-to-combat-climate-change-and-focus-on-sustainable-development/ |access-date=20 July 2021 |agency=CBC |date=16 July 2021 |archive-date=19 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210719173440/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/greenland-ends-oil-exploration-to-combat-climate-change-and-focus-on-sustainable-development/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

80% of electricity in Greenland is generated supplied by [[hydropower]], which most larger towns have access to, the largest of which is [[Buksefjord hydroelectric power plant]] supplying Nuuk. Smaller villages and towns still rely on oil or diesel power plants, which also supply [[district heating]] services.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Galimova |first1=Tansu |last2=Satymov |first2=Rasul |last3=Keiner |first3=Dominik |last4=Breyer |first4=Christian |title=Sustainable energy transition of Greenland and its prospects as a potential Arctic e-fuel and e-chemical export hub for Europe and East Asia |journal=Energy |date=January 2024 |volume=286 |article-number=129605 |doi=10.1016/j.energy.2023.129605 }}</ref> There is major potential hydropower potential in Greenland, including plans to build a large aluminium smelter to create an exportable product. It is expected that much of the labour needed would be imported.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=12 October 2011 |title=Greenland's red hot labour market |url=http://www.nordiclabourjournal.org/i-fokus/in-focus-2011/boom-for-nordic-mining-industry/article.2011-10-12.8124853746 |url-status=live |journal=[[Nordic Labour Journal]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130201145836/http://www.nordiclabourjournal.org/i-fokus/in-focus-2011/boom-for-nordic-mining-industry/article.2011-10-12.8124853746 |archive-date=1 February 2013 |access-date=10 February 2013}}</ref>

The public sector, including publicly owned enterprises and the municipalities, plays a dominant role in the economy. About half the government revenues come from grants from the Danish government, an important supplement to the GDP. In 2022, the public sector in Greenland incurred expenses of DKK 12.8&nbsp;billion, while revenue amounted to DKK 13.5&nbsp;billion.<ref name=":3" />

Greenland suffered an economic contraction in the early 1990s. Since 1993, the economy has improved. The Greenland Home Rule Government (GHRG) has pursued a tight fiscal policy since the late 1980s, which has helped create surpluses in the public budget and low inflation. Since 1990, Greenland has registered a foreign-trade [[Balance of payments|deficit]] following the closure of the last remaining lead and [[zinc]] mine that year.

===Transport===
{{Main|Transport in Greenland|List of airports in Greenland}}

Air transport connects Greenland internally and with other nations. There is scheduled boat traffic, but the long distances lead to long travel times and low frequency. There are virtually no roads between cities because the coast has many fjords that would require ferry service to connect a road network. The only exception is a gravel road of {{convert|3|mi|order=flip|abbr=on}} length between [[Kangilinnguit]] and the former [[cryolite]] mining town of [[Ivittuut]].<ref name="iExplore">{{Cite web |title=Greenland – Transportation |url=https://www.iexplore.com/articles/travel-guides/north-america/greenland/transportation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010134859/https://www.iexplore.com/articles/travel-guides/north-america/greenland/transportation |archive-date=10 October 2018 |access-date=10 October 2018 |website=www.iexplore.com}}</ref> The lack of agriculture, forestry and similar countryside activities has meant that very few country roads have been built. Greenland has no passenger [[Rail transport|railways]].

A rudimentary dirt road designed primarily for [[all-terrain vehicle]]s was opened between the towns of [[Kangerlussuaq]] and [[Sisimiut]] in 2025.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sermitsiaq.ag/erhverv/atv-sporet-mellem-kangerlussuaq-og-sisimiut-er-faerdig/370470|title=ATV-sporet mellem Kangerlussuaq og Sisimiut er færdig|first=Nina-Vivi Møller|last=Andersen|date=25 September 2021|website=www.sermitsiaq.ag}}</ref> There are plans to upgrade the 150km track to a two-lane gravel road, but funding has not been secured.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://sermitsiaq.ag/node/243327 |title=Forslag: Naalakkersuisut bør punge ud til grusvej til omkring 500 mio. kr. |date=27 March 2023 |access-date=30 December 2023 |language=da |publisher=Sermitsiaq |archive-date=30 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231230100930/https://sermitsiaq.ag/node/243327 |url-status=live}}</ref>

There are 13 registered civil airports and 43 [[helipad]]s;<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |editor-last=Kleemann |editor-first=Naduk |title=Greenland in Figures 2025 |url=https://stat.gl/publ/en/gf/2025/pdf/Greenland%20in%20Figures%202025.pdf |website=stat.gl |publisher=Statistics Greenland |isbn=978-87-986787-9-3 |issn=1604-7397 |edition=22nd}}</ref> most of them are unpaved and located in rural areas. All civil aviation matters are handled by the [[Danish Transport Authority]] and operated by [[Greenland Airports]]. Most airports have short runways and can only be served by special fairly small aircraft on fairly short flights. Intercontinental flights connect mainly to [[Copenhagen]] or [[Keflavík International Airport|Reykjavík-Keflavík]].

[[File:Air Greenland A330 800neo OY-GKN nicknamed Tuukkaq (cropped).png|thumb|[[Air Greenland]] is the [[flag carrier]] of Greenland]]
[[Nuuk Airport]] (GOH) is the [[Airline hub|hub]] and international gateway for international and domestic airline passenger transport, after having undergone a major expansion in 2024. [[Air Greenland]] is the flag carrier of Greenland. [[Icelandair]] provides year-round services to Greenlandic airports. Seasonal and charter flights are offered by other airlines.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nuuk Airport |url=http://www.mit.gl/en/todays-flights/airports/nuuk-airport/ |website=www.mit.gl |access-date=21 September 2019 |archive-date=3 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190903225808/http://www.mit.gl/en/todays-flights/airports/nuuk-airport/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=tripsta |url=http://www.tripsta.co.uk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190921081552/https://www.tripsta.co.uk/ |archive-date=21 September 2019 |access-date=3 January 2020}}</ref> Prior to the expansion of Nuuk Airport in 2024, [[Kangerlussuaq Airport]] (SFJ) was the main international gateway to Greenland, but it is far from the vicinity of the larger towns.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mittarfeqarfiit, Grønlands Lufthavne, Greenland Airports Today's Flights Airports Kangerlussuaq airport – mit.gl |url=http://www.mit.gl/en/todays-flights/airports/kangerlussuaq-airport/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190922000640/http://www.mit.gl/en/todays-flights/airports/kangerlussuaq-airport/ |archive-date=22 September 2019 |access-date=21 September 2019 |website=www.mit.gl}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=City, high-rise apartments, cosy atmosphere, culture, rock, gourmet restaurants, cafés, fashion outlets, art, the national museum and the university – all the ingredients of a capital – Nuuk |url=https://www.airgreenland.com/destinations/greenland/nuuk |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190921081545/https://www.airgreenland.com/destinations/greenland/nuuk |archive-date=21 September 2019 |access-date=21 September 2019 |website=www.airgreenland.gl}}</ref> [[Ilulissat Airport]] (JAV) and [[Narsarsuaq Airport]] (UAK) are domestic airports serving limited international flights to Iceland and are both being reconstructed and expanded to enable larger aircraft to serve the airport by 2026, the latter in a new location closer to [[Qaqortoq]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 May 2024 |title="Delays in Ilulissat Airport Construction Project Push Opening to 2026" {{!}} en.365Nyt |url=https://en.365nyt.dk/2024/05/28/delays-in-ilulissat-airport-construction-project-push-opening-to-2026/ |access-date=14 October 2024 |language=en-US |archive-date=10 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910004908/https://en.365nyt.dk/2024/05/28/delays-in-ilulissat-airport-construction-project-push-opening-to-2026/ }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ilulissat Airport |url=http://www.mit.gl/en/todays-flights/airports/ilulissat-airport/ |website=www.mit.gl |access-date=21 September 2019 |archive-date=17 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190917071800/http://www.mit.gl/en/todays-flights/airports/ilulissat-airport/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Sea passenger transport is served by several coastal ferries. [[Arctic Umiaq Line]] makes a single round trip per week, taking 80 hours each direction.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Georg |last=Woodman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UK48DwAAQBAJ&q=Sea%2Bpassenger%2Btransport%2Bis%2Bserved%2Bby%2Bseveral%2Bcoastal%2Bferries.%2BArctic%2BUmiaq%2BLine%2Bmakes%2Ba%2Bsingle%2Bround%2Btrip%2Bper%2Bweek,%2Btaking%2B80%2Bhours%2Beach%2Bdirection&pg=PA394 |title=2033-The Century After: How the World Would Look/Be If Nazi Germany & Empire Japan Had Won World War II |date=18 October 2017 |publisher=Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Agency |isbn=978-1-68181-946-4 |language=en |access-date=18 September 2022 |archive-date=20 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920174342/https://books.google.com/books?id=UK48DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA394&q=Sea%2Bpassenger%2Btransport%2Bis%2Bserved%2Bby%2Bseveral%2Bcoastal%2Bferries.%2BArctic%2BUmiaq%2BLine%2Bmakes%2Ba%2Bsingle%2Bround%2Btrip%2Bper%2Bweek,%2Btaking%2B80%2Bhours%2Beach%2Bdirection |url-status=live}}</ref> Cargo freight by sea is handled by the shipping company [[Royal Arctic Line]] from, to and across Greenland. It provides trade and transport opportunities between Greenland, Europe, and North America.

===Tourism===
[[Tourism in Greenland]] increased significantly between 2015 and 2019, with the number of visitors increasing from 77,000 per year to 105,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tourismstat.gl/resources/reports/en/r31/Tourism%20Statistics%20Report%20Greenland%202019.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204015604/http://www.tourismstat.gl/resources/reports/en/r31/Tourism%20Statistics%20Report%20Greenland%202019.pdf |archive-date=4 February 2021 |url-status=live |title=Tourism Statistics Report 2019, Greenland |access-date=12 January 2022}}</ref> One source estimated that in 2019 the revenue from this aspect of the economy was about 450 million kroner (US$67&nbsp;million). Like many aspects of the economy, this slowed dramatically in 2020 and into 2021, due to restrictions required as a result of the [[COVID-19 pandemic]];<ref>{{cite web |url=https://naalakkersuisut.gl/~/media/Nanoq/Files/Attached%20Files/Finans/ENG/GOR_ny/G%C3%98R%20rapport%202020%20en.pdf |title=Greenland's Economy Autumn 2020, Summary |access-date=27 March 2021 |archive-date=17 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417155028/https://naalakkersuisut.gl/~/media/Nanoq/Files/Attached%20Files/Finans/ENG/GOR_ny/G%C3%98R%20rapport%202020%20en.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> one source describes it as being the "biggest economic victim of the coronavirus" (the overall economy did not suffer too severely as of mid-2020, thanks to the fisheries "and a hefty subsidy from Copenhagen").<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.arctictoday.com/greenlands-economy-is-poised-to-rebound-in-2021/ |title=Greenland's economy is poised to rebound in 2021, 2 June 2020 |date=2 June 2020 |access-date=27 March 2021 |archive-date=22 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522223557/https://www.arctictoday.com/greenlands-economy-is-poised-to-rebound-in-2021/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Greenland's goal for returning tourism is to develop it "right" and to "build a more sustainable tourism for the long run".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cntraveler.com/story/greenland-is-approaching-tourism-slowly-and-taking-lessons-from-iceland |author=Stephanie Vermillion |title=Greenland Is Approaching Tourism Slowly—And Taking Lessons from Iceland, 24 March 2021 |date=24 March 2021 |access-date=20 January 2022 |archive-date=16 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116105011/https://www.cntraveler.com/story/greenland-is-approaching-tourism-slowly-and-taking-lessons-from-iceland |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Mining===

Greenland is a very difficult place to extract natural resources for a number of reasons, including extreme weather conditions and a strong environmentalist community.<ref name="minerals">{{Cite news |last1=Gettleman |first1=Jeffrey |author1-link=Jeffrey Gettleman |last2=Tekeli |first2=Maya |last3=Buckley |first3=Chris |date=3 March 2025 |title=For Greenland's Minerals, the Harsh Reality Behind the Glittering Promise |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/03/world/europe/greenland-minerals-trump.html |access-date=5 March 2025 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported in March 2025 that despite dozens of exploratory projects, there are only two active mines.<ref name="minerals" /> In January 2025, Danish economics professor [[Torben Andersen|Torben M. Andersen]] assessed that mining would not play a significant role in the economy for at least the next ten years.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Winther |first=Bent |date=6 January 2025 |title=Selvstændighed? Mette Frederiksen har det stærkeste kort på hånden |url=https://www.berlingske.dk/analyse-og-perspektiv/selvstaendighed-mette-frederiksen-har-det-staerkeste-kort-paa-haanden |url-access=subscription |access-date=12 January 2026 |website=[[Berlingske]] |language=da}}</ref> Despite a legal framework for mining, some ventures and over 30 years of Greenlandic efforts to attract American investment, success has been limited, and the belief in a quick mineral bonanza is increasingly seen as a geopolitical mirage.<ref>{{cite news |title=Geologist warns prospect of a mineral bonanza in Greenland is a mirage |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/geologist-warns-prospect-mineral-bonanza-greenland-mirage-60-minutes/ |access-date=19 April 2025 |work=Cbs News}}</ref>

Greenland is often portrayed as rich in rare-earth minerals, but experts argue this promise is largely illusory, as mining remains limited due to high costs, lack of infrastructure, and minimal local refining capacity. Although the island does contain resources, similar minerals are more abundant and accessible in other countries like the US, Brazil, Vietnam, and China, making Greenland an uncompetitive option. The EU has urged Greenland to restrict development by the People's Republic of China of [[Rare-earth element|rare-earth]] mineral projects, as China accounts for 95% of the world's current supply. However, in early 2013 the government said that it had no plans to impose such restrictions.<ref>[http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-02-10/chinese-workers-in-greenland ''Chinese Workers—in Greenland?''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130213141927/http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-02-10/chinese-workers-in-greenland|date=13 February 2013}} 10 February 2013 ''[[BusinessWeek]]''.</ref>

Mining of [[ruby]] deposits began in 2007. In 2017, new sources of ruby have been discovered, promising to enhance the [[gemstone industry in Greenland]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Greenland Rubies: What We Know At This Point {{!}} National Jeweler |url=https://www.nationaljeweler.com/blog/5818-greenland-rubies-what-we-know-at-this-point |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190817153630/https://www.nationaljeweler.com/blog/5818-greenland-rubies-what-we-know-at-this-point |archive-date=17 August 2019 |access-date=17 August 2019 |website=www.nationaljeweler.com}}</ref> Other mineral prospects include iron, [[uranium]], aluminium, nickel, [[platinum]], [[tungsten]], [[titanium]], and copper. The state company Nunamineral has been launched on the [[Copenhagen Stock Exchange]] to raise more capital to increase the production of gold, started in 2007.

==Demographics==
{{For|statistics on demographics|Demographics of Greenland}}
{{See also|List of Greenlanders|Greenlandic Inuit|Danish people in Greenland}}

===Population===
[[File:Kulusuk, Inuit couple (6822265499).jpg|thumb|[[Tunumiit]] [[Inuit]] couple from [[Kulusuk]]]]
In 2025, Greenland had a population of 56,542.<ref name=":3" /> Of these, 49,738 people, or 88% of the population, were born in Greenland, while the remaining 6,804 were born outside Greenland. That year, 19,905 people resided in Nuuk. Nearly all Greenlanders live along the fjords in the south-west of the main island, which has a relatively mild climate, especially considering the high latitude upon which it lies.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Greenland |url=http://www.stalvik.com/Engelska/laegreenland.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923001626/http://www.stalvik.com/Engelska/laegreenland.htm |archive-date=23 September 2010 |access-date=6 September 2010 |publisher=Stalvik.com}}</ref> Whereas the majority of the population lives north of 64°N in colder coastal climates, Greenland's warmest climates such as the vegetated area around [[Narsarsuaq]] are sparsely populated.

In terms of ethnicity, the population is estimated to be 89.5% [[Greenlandic Inuit]], 7.5% [[Danish people in Greenland|Danish]], 1.1% other [[Nordic countries|Nordic]] and 1.9% other origins.<ref name="cia.gov">{{Cite web |title=The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/greenland/ |access-date=3 October 2020 |website=cia.gov |archive-date=9 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109162939/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/greenland/ }}</ref> Greenlanders of [[Ethnic groups in Europe|European]] ancestry include people of Danish, [[Norwegian people|Norwegian]] and to a lesser degree of [[Faroese people|Faroese]], [[Icelandic people|Icelandic]], [[Dutch people|Dutch]] ([[Whaling in the Netherlands#17th century|whalers]]), German and American descent.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

Each year, [[Statistics Greenland]] publishes the number of [[Greenlandic people in Denmark|Greenlanders living in Denmark]]. This includes all persons who were born in Greenland. In 2023, this number amounted to 17,079 people.<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 June 2023 |title=Grønlændere i Danmark |url=https://stat.gl/publ/da/GD/202301/pdf/Gr%C3%B8nl%C3%A6ndere%20i%20Danmark%202023.pdf |website=Statistics Greenland |language=da}}</ref> A 2015 wide genetic study of Greenlanders found modern-day Inuit in Greenland are direct descendants of the first Inuit pioneers of the Thule culture who arrived in the 13th century, with approximately 25% admixture of the European colonizers from the 16th century. Despite previous speculations, no evidence of Viking settlers predecessors has been found.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Moltke |first1=Ida |last2=Fumagalli |first2=Matteo |last3=Korneliussen |first3=Thorfinn |date=2015 |title=Uncovering the Genetic History of the Present-Day Greenlandic Population |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=96 |issue=1 |pages=54–69 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.11.012 |pmc=4289681 |pmid=25557782}}</ref>

{{Largest cities
| country     = Greenland
| stat_ref    = as of 1 January 2025<ref name=":3" />
| list_by_pop = 
| div_name    = 
| div_link    = Administrative divisions of Greenland{{!}}Municipality

| city_1  = Nuuk| div_1 = Sermersooq | pop_1 = 19,905
| city_2  = Sisimiut | div_2 = Qeqqata | pop_2 = 5,485
| city_3  = Ilulissat | div_3 = Avannaata | pop_3 = 5,087
| city_4  = Qaqortoq | div_4 = Kujalleq | pop_4 = 3,069
| city_5  = Aasiaat | div_5 = Qeqertalik | pop_5 = 2,992
| city_6  = Maniitsoq | div_6 = Qeqqata | pop_6 = 2,519
| city_7  = Tasiilaq | div_7 = Sermersooq | pop_7 = 1,758
| city_8  = Uummannaq | div_8 = Avannaata | pop_8 = 1,401
| city_9  = Narsaq | div_9 = Kujalleq | pop_9 = 1,258
| city_10 = Paamiut | div_10 = Sermersooq | pop_10 = 1,169
| city_11 = Nanortalik | div_11 = Kujalleq | pop_11 = 1,084
| city_12 = Upernavik | div_12 = Avannaata | pop_12 = 1,067
| city_13 = Qasigiannguit | div_13 = Qeqertalik | pop_13 = 961
| city_14 = Qeqertarsuaq| div_14 = Qeqertalik | pop_14 = 799
| city_15 = Qaanaaq| div_15 = Avannaata | pop_15 = 599
| city_16 = Kangaatsiaq | div_16 = Qeqertalik | pop_16 = 481
| city_17 = Kullorsuaq | div_17 = Avannaata | pop_17 = 444
| city_18 = Kangerlussuaq | div_18 = Qeqqata | pop_18 = 440
| city_19 = Ittoqqortoormiit | div_19 = Sermersooq | pop_19 = 325
| city_20 = Kangaamiut | div_20 = Qeqqata | pop_20 = 295
}}

===Languages===
[[File:Parkverbot Grönland.jpg|thumb|A bilingual parking sign in Nuuk in Danish and Greenlandic]]
[[Greenlandic language|Greenlandic]] (effectively [[West Greenlandic]]), spoken by nearly 50,000 people, became the sole official language in 2009.<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 November 2008 |title=Danish doubts over Greenland vote |work=BBC News |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7752660.stm |url-status=live |access-date=10 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121207121546/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7752660.stm |archive-date=7 December 2012}}</ref> The majority of the population speak both [[Danish language|Danish]] and West Greenlandic Kalaallisut (the most populous [[Eskaleut language]]). They have been used in public affairs since the establishment of home rule in 1979. In practice, Danish is still widely used in administration, academia, and skilled trades and other professions. The orthography of Greenlandic, established in 1851,<ref>Kleinschmidt, Samuel 1968 (1851): Grammatik der grønlændischen Sprache : mit teilweisem Einschluss des Labradordialekts. Hildesheim : Olms, 1968.</ref> was [[Kalaallisut orthography|revised]] in 1973. The [[Literacy|literacy rate]] was 100% in 2007.<ref name="cia-factbook" />

About 12% of the population speak Danish as their primary language. These are primarily Danish immigrants, many of whom speak Danish as their first and sometimes only language. Monolingual Danish speakers are concentrated in Nuuk and other larger towns. A debate about the roles of Greenlandic and Danish in the country's future is ongoing. While Greenlandic was dominant in all smaller settlements, most of the multi-ethnic Inuit ancestors spoke Danish as a second language. In larger towns, especially Nuuk, Danish was more important for social matters. English is growing in importance, and is now taught from the first school year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Travelling in Greenland |url=http://eu.nanoq.gl/Emner/About%20Greenland/Travelling%20in%20Greenland.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140516025948/http://eu.nanoq.gl/Emner/About%20Greenland/Travelling%20in%20Greenland.aspx |archive-date=16 May 2014 |publisher=Greenland Representation to the EU, Greenland Home Rule Government}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=February 2025}}

West Greenland has long been the most populous area of the island, and this has contributed to its variety of Greenlandic, Kalaallisut, becoming the de&nbsp;facto official language of Greenland. Around 3,000 people speak [[Tunumiit dialect|East Greenlandic]] (Tunumiisut) and nearly 1,000 around northern [[Qaanaaq]] speak [[Inuktun]]. North Greenlandic is closer to the Inuit languages of Canada than it is to other Greenlandic.<ref>Mennecier, Philippe (1978). ''Le tunumiisut, dialecte inuit du Groenland oriental: description et analyse'', Collection linguistique, 78, Societé de linguistique de Paris.</ref> Each of these varieties is nearly unintelligible to the speakers of the others and some linguists consider Tunumiisut to be a separate language altogether.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Atlas of the world's languages in danger |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000187026 |access-date=21 February 2023 |website=unesdoc.unesco.org |archive-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111222724/https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000187026 |url-status=live}}</ref> A [[UNESCO]] report labelled the other varieties as [[Endangered language|endangered]], and measures are now considered to protect the East Greenlandic dialect.<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 January 2010 |title=Sermersooq will secure Eastern Greenlandic |url=http://www.knr.gl/index.php?id=6700&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=51930&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=6702&cHash=b321fb7a1d |url-status=live |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160516235314/http://www.knr.gl/index.php?id=6700&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=51930&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=6702&cHash=b321fb7a1d |archive-date=16 May 2016 |access-date=19 May 2010 |publisher=[[Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa]] |language=da}}</ref>

===Religion===
{{Main|Religion in Greenland}}

{{Pie chart
| thumb = right
| caption = Religion in Greenland (2010):<ref name="ARDA">{{Cite web |date=21 June 2009 |title=Greenland, Religion and Social Profile &#124; National Profiles &#124; International Data |url=http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_94_1.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924211510/http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_94_1.asp |archive-date=24 September 2017 |access-date=18 June 2016 |website=Thearda.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=19 December 2011 |title=Table: Christian Population as Percentages of Total Population by Country &#124; Pew Research Center |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/table-christian-population-as-percentages-of-total-population-by-country/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511124911/http://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/table-christian-population-as-percentages-of-total-population-by-country/ |archive-date=11 May 2017 |access-date=27 September 2017}}</ref>
| label1 = [[Protestantism]]
| value1 = 95.5
| color1 = DodgerBlue
| label2 = [[Roman Catholicism]]
| value2 = 0.2
| color2 = DarkOrchid
| label3 = Other Christian
| value3 = 0.4
| color3 = Turquoise
| label4 = [[Inuit religion]]
| value4 = 0.8
| color4 = Red
| label5 = Agnostic
| value5 = 2.3
| color5 = Honeydew
| label6 = [[Atheist]]
| value6 = 0.2
| color6 = Grey
| label7 = Other religion
| value7 = 0.6
| color7 = Yellow
}}

The nomadic Inuit were traditionally [[Shamanism|shamanistic]], with a well-developed [[Inuit religion]] primarily concerned with appeasing a vengeful and [[Sedna (mythology)|fingerless sea goddess]] called Sedna who controlled the success of the [[seal hunting|seal]] and [[whaling|whale hunts]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gpCKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT169 |title=Taboo, Personal and Collective Representations: Origin and Positioning Within Cultural Complexes |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-351-03988-8 |access-date=18 September 2022 |archive-date=20 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920174357/https://books.google.com/books?id=gpCKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT169 |url-status=live}}</ref> The first [[Norse colonization of Greenland|Norse colonists]] worshipped the [[Norse religion|Norse gods]], but Leif Erikson was converted to Christianity by King [[Olaf Trygvesson]] on a trip to Norway in 999 and sent missionaries back to Greenland. These swiftly established 16 parishes, some monasteries, and a bishopric at [[Garðar, Greenland|Garðar]].

Rediscovering these colonists and spreading ideas of the [[Reformation in Denmark–Norway and Holstein|Protestant Reformation]] among them was one of the primary reasons for the [[Danish colonization of the Americas|Danish recolonization]] in the 18th century. Under the patronage of the [[Royal Mission College]] in Copenhagen, Norwegian and Danish Lutherans and German [[Moravian missions in Greenland|Moravian missionaries]] searched for the missing Norse settlements, but no Norse were found, and instead they began preaching to the Inuit. The principal figures in the Christianization of Greenland were [[Hans Egede|Hans]] and [[Poul Egede]] and [[Matthias Stach]]. The [[New Testament]] was translated piecemeal from the time of the first settlement on Kangeq Island, but the first translation of the whole Bible was not completed until 1900. An improved translation using the [[Kalaallisut orthography|modern orthography]] was completed in 2000.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sørensen |first=Leif Kiil |date=29 November 2000 |title=Grønlandsk bibel præsenteret &#124; Kristeligt Dagblad |url=http://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/225350:Kirke---tro--Groenlandsk-bibel-praesenteret |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511084103/http://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/225350:Kirke---tro--Groenlandsk-bibel-praesenteret |archive-date=11 May 2011 |access-date=6 September 2010 |publisher=Kristeligt-dagblad.dk}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2022}}

The majority of the population is [[Protestantism|Protestant Christianity]], represented mainly by the [[Church of Denmark]], which is [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] in orientation. The historically important [[Moravian Church|Moravian Brothers]] (''Herrnhuters'') were a congregation of faith, in a Danish context based in [[Christiansfeld]] in [[Southern Jutland|South Jutland]], and partially of German origin, but their name does not signify they were ethnic [[Moravians]] ([[Czechs]]). There are no official census data on religion in Greenland, but the [[Bishop of Greenland]] [[Sofie Petersen]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Bells ring a wake-up call for climate justice |url=https://www.oikoumene.org/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/bells-ring-a-wake-up-call.html |access-date=30 August 2010 |work=[[World Council of Churches]] |date=14 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325215706/http://www.oikoumene.org/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/bells-ring-a-wake-up-call.html |archive-date=25 March 2012}}</ref> estimates that 85% of the Greenlandic population are members of her congregation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grønland, Grundloven og Gejstligheden |url=http://www.groenlandsstift.dk/fileadmin/filer/Biskoppen/Groenland_GRUNDLOVEN_og_GEJSTLIGHEDEN_1005_2009_laast_til_ado.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425231654/https://www.groenlandsstift.dk/fileadmin/filer/Biskoppen/Groenland_GRUNDLOVEN_og_GEJSTLIGHEDEN_1005_2009_laast_til_ado.pdf |archive-date=25 April 2012 |access-date=30 April 2012}}</ref> The Church of Denmark is the [[State religion|established church]] through the [[Constitution of Denmark]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Constitution of Denmark – Section IV |url=http://www.parliament.am/library/sahmanadrutyunner/dania.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160301205429/http://www.parliament.am/library/sahmanadrutyunner/dania.pdf |archive-date=1 March 2016 |access-date=22 September 2016 |quote=The Evangelical Lutheran Church shall be the Established Church of Denmark, and, as such, it shall be supported by the State.}}</ref> In 2025, 91% of Greenland's population are members of the church. This applied to 96% of the population born in Greenland, and to 53% of immigrants.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Folkekirken, medlemmer 2012–2025 [BEDKIRK] |url=https://bank.stat.gl/pxweb/da/Greenland/Greenland__BE__BE01__BE0120/BEXKIRK.px/ |website=Statistikbanken |language=da}}</ref> A small [[Roman Catholic]] minority is pastorally served by the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Copenhagen]]. There are still Christian missionaries on the island, but mainly from [[Charismatic Christianity|charismatic movements]] [[Proselytism|proselytising]] fellow Christians. A small Muslim community exists in Greenland but has no formal mosque or religious buildings.<ref name="jazbablog">{{Cite news |date=8 August 2011 |title=The only Muslim in Greenland who fasts for 21 hours |work=The Jazba Blog |url=http://jazbablog.com/2011/08/08/the-only-muslim-in-greenland-who-fasts-for-21-hours/ |access-date=26 January 2020 |archive-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801063031/http://jazbablog.com/2011/08/08/the-only-muslim-in-greenland-who-fasts-for-21-hours/ }}</ref>

===Education===
{{unreferenced-section|date=March 2026}}

Education is organized in a similar way to Denmark. Students have 10 years of mandatory primary school. This is followed by secondary education, focused on either work training or preparation for university education. There is one institution of higher learning, the [[University of Greenland]] ({{langx|kl|Ilisimatusarfik}}) in Nuuk. Many Greenlanders attend universities in Denmark or elsewhere.

The public school system is, as in Denmark, under the jurisdiction of the municipalities. The legislature specifies the standards allowed for the content in schools, but the municipal governments decide how the schools under their responsibility are run. Education is free and [[Compulsory education|compulsory]] for children aged seven to 16. The financial outlay devoted to education is 11.3% of GDP. Section 1 of the Government Ordinance on Public Schools (amended in 1997) requires Greenlandic as the language of instruction.

Education is governed by a regulation adopted in 1990 and amended in 1993 and 1994. Under this legislation, linguistic integration in primary and lower secondary schools became compulsory for all students. The aim is to place Greenlandic-speaking and Danish-speaking pupils in the same classes, whereas previously they were placed in separate classes according to their mother tongue. At the same time, the government guarantees that Danish speakers can learn Greenlandic. In this way, the Greenlandic government wants to give the same linguistic, cultural and social education to all students, both those of Greenlandic and Danish origin. A study, which was carried out during a three-year trial period, concluded that this bilingual had achieved positive results.

[[File:Ilimmarfik.jpg|thumb|The ''Ilimmarfik'' ([[University of Greenland]]) campus is in [[Nuuk]].]]
About 100 schools exist, in which both Greenlandic and Danish are used. Generally, Greenlandic is taught from kindergarten to the end of secondary school, but Danish is compulsory from the first cycle of primary school as a second language. As in Denmark with Danish, the school system provides for "Greenlandic 1" and "Greenlandic 2" courses. Language tests allow students to move from one level to the other. Based on the teachers' evaluation of their students, a third level of courses has been added: "Greenlandic 3". Secondary education in Greenland is generally vocational and technical. The system is governed by Regulation No. 16 of 28 October 1993 on Vocational and Technical Education, Scholarships and Career Guidance. Danish remains the main language of instruction. Nuuk has a bilingual teacher training college and a bilingual university. At the end of their studies, all students must pass a test in the Greenlandic language.

Higher education is offered in Greenland: university education, training of journalists, training of primary and lower secondary school teachers, training of social workers, training of social educators and training of nurses and nursing assistants. Greenlandic students can continue their education in Denmark, if they wish and have the financial means to do so. For admission to Danish educational institutions, Greenlandic applicants are placed on an equal footing with Danish applicants. Scholarships are granted to Greenlandic students who are admitted to Danish educational institutions. To be eligible for these scholarships, the applicant must be a [[Danish nationality law|Danish citizen]] and have had permanent residence in Greenland for at least five years. The total period of residence outside Greenland may not exceed three years.

===Social issues===
The rate of [[suicide in Greenland]] is very high. According to a 2010 census, Greenland holds [[List of countries by suicide rate|the highest suicide rate in the world]].<ref name="The Suicide Capital of the World">{{Cite journal |date=9 October 2009 |title=The Suicide Capital of the World |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/dispatches/2009/10/the_suicide_capital_of_the_world.single.html#pagebreak_anchor_2 |url-status=live |journal=Slate |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130304003350/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/dispatches/2009/10/the_suicide_capital_of_the_world.single.html#pagebreak_anchor_2 |archive-date=4 March 2013 |access-date=13 March 2013}}</ref><ref name="Rising suicide rate baffles Greenland">{{Cite web |title=Rising suicide rate baffles Greenland |url=http://blogs.aljazeera.com/blog/europe/rising-suicide-rate-baffles-greenland |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130323061827/http://blogs.aljazeera.com/blog/europe/rising-suicide-rate-baffles-greenland |archive-date=23 March 2013 |access-date=13 March 2013}}</ref> In 2021, a study reported that there were 45 suicides, corresponding to a rate of 81 per 100,000 inhabitants annually. This was approximately eight times higher than in Denmark.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thulstrup |first=Kasper Mosholm |date=17 September 2023 |title=Grønland vil gøre op med rekordmange selvmord blandt børn og unge |url=https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/groenland-vil-goere-op-med-rekordmange-selvmord-blandt-boern-og-unge |access-date=12 January 2025 |website=[[DR (broadcaster)|Danish Broadcasting Corporation]] |language=da}}</ref> Another significant social issue is a high rate of alcoholism.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18249474 "Greenland profile – Overview"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918032735/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18249474 |date=18 September 2018 }}. ''BBC News''.</ref> The rate of alcohol consumption peaked in the 1980s, when it was twice as high as in Denmark; by 2010 it had fallen slightly below that of Denmark. Alcohol prices are far higher in Greenland than in Denmark, meaning that consumption has a large socio-economic impact.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aage |first=H. |year=2012 |title=Alcohol in Greenland 1951–2010: consumption, mortality, prices |journal=International Journal of Circumpolar Health |volume=71 |article-number=18444 |doi=10.3402/ijch.v71i0.18444 |pmc=3525923 |pmid=23256091}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Madsen |first1=M. H. |last2=Grønbæk |first2=M. |last3=Bjerregaard |first3=P. |last4=Becker |first4=U. |year=2005 |title=Urbanization, migration and alcohol use in a population of Greenland Inuit |journal=International Journal of Circumpolar Health |volume=64 |issue=3 |pages=234–45 |doi=10.3402/ijch.v64i3.17987 |pmid=16050317 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The prevalence of HIV/AIDS has been high, reaching a peak in the 1990s when the number of AIDS-related deaths was also relatively high. Through a number of initiatives, the prevalence (along with the death rate, through efficient treatment) has fallen and is now low, about 0.13% in the 2010s,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bjorn-Mortensen |first1=K. |last2=Ladefoged |first2=K |last3=Obel |first3=N. |last4=Helleberg |first4=M. |year=2013 |title=The HIV epidemic in Greenland – a slow spreading infection among adult heterosexual Greenlanders |journal=Int J Circumpolar Health |volume=7232 |article-number=19558 |doi=10.3402/ijch.v72i0.19558 |pmc=3577920 |pmid=23431117}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=13 October 2019 |title=Nye tilfælde af HIV blandt unge |url=https://naalakkersuisut.gl/da/Naalakkersuisut/Nyheder/2018/11/1311_nye_tilfaelde_hiv |access-date=22 November 2019 |publisher=[[Naalakkersuisut]] |archive-date=23 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191123004132/https://naalakkersuisut.gl/da/Naalakkersuisut/Nyheder/2018/11/1311_nye_tilfaelde_hiv }}</ref> below that of [[List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate|most other countries]]. In recent decades, unemployment has generally been somewhat above that of Denmark;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Arbejde |url=https://europas-lande.dk/dan/Lande/Gr%C3%B8nland/Erhverv%20og%20%C3%B8konomi/Arbejde/Sv%C3%A6r/ |access-date=22 November 2019 |publisher=europas-lande.dk |archive-date=23 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191123004450/https://europas-lande.dk/dan/Lande/Gr%25C3%25B8nland/Erhverv%2520og%2520%25C3%25B8konomi/Arbejde/Sv%25C3%25A6r/ }}</ref> in 2017, the rate was 6.8% in Greenland,<ref>{{Cite web |year=2017 |title=Unemployment rate |url=http://bank.stat.gl/pxweb/en/Greenland/Greenland__AR__AR40/ARXLED7.px/table/tableViewLayout1/?rxid=ARXLED222-11-2019%2020:30:33 |access-date=22 November 2019 |publisher=Statistics Greenland}}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> compared to 5.6% in Denmark.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Euro area unemployment at 8.7%, December 2017 |url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/8631691/3-31012018-BP-EN.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212201506/http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/8631691/3-31012018-BP-EN.pdf |archive-date=12 February 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=22 November 2019 |publisher=[[Eurostat]]}}</ref>

====Compulsory contraception of Inuit women====
{{main|Spiral case}}

In the 1960s and 1970s, at a time when the population was increasing, 4,500 Greenland Inuit women and girls (roughly half of all fertile females) were fitted with [[intrauterine device]]s (IUDs) by Danish doctors. Sometimes girls (as young as 12) were taken directly from school to have these devices inserted, without their parents' permission. The procedure was also carried out on some Inuit girls at boarding schools in Denmark. As a result, over eight years’ time, from 1966 to 1974, [[total fertility rate|fertility rates]] in Greenland fell from 7 to 2.3 children per woman, the fastest fertility transition on record in human history.<ref>{{cite web |last=Stone |first=Lyman |date=15 October 2019 |title=A ‘New’ Normal? An Updated Look at Fertility Trends Across the Globe |url=https://ifstudies.org/blog/a-new-normal-an-updated-look-at-fertility-trends-across-the-globe |website=Institute for Family Studies |access-date=27 March 2026}}</ref>

In 2022 Danish Health Minister [[Magnus Heunicke]] announced an investigation into the decisions leading to the practice and its implementation.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63049387 |title=Inuit Greenlanders demand answers over Danish birth control scandal |work=BBC News |date=30 September 2022 |access-date=1 October 2022 |archive-date=1 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221001140536/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63049387 |url-status=live}}</ref> Greenlandic doctors also carried out the same illegal procedures on several Inuit women after Greenland took control of its health care system in 1991.<ref>{{cite news |title=Grønland har ansvar for 15 spiralsager |url=https://www.sermitsiaq.ag/samfund/gronland-har-ansvar-for-15-spiralsager/1292890 |access-date=20 October 2024 |publisher=Sermitsiaq}}</ref>

====LGBTQ rights====
[[LGBTQ rights in Greenland]] are some of the most extensive in the world, relatively similar to those in Denmark. Transgender people may change the gender designation on their official identity documents. A law passed in 2016 by decree allows legal gender changes based on self-determination.<ref name="Royal assent KL">{{cite web |url=https://www.stm.dk/multimedia/A_449_23.5._for_Gr_nland_af_lov_om__ndring_af_lov_om_Det_Centrale_Personregister.pdf |title=§2, Imm. 3, Qitiusumik Inunnik Nalunaarsuiffik pillugu inatsisip (CPR pillugu inatsit) allanngortinneqarneranik inatsisit Kalaallit Nunaannut atuutilersinneqarnerannik peqqussut (Greenlandic) |access-date=1 September 2020}}</ref><ref name="Royal assent DA">{{cite web |url=https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2016/449/Pdf |title=§2, Stk 3., Anordning om ikrafttræden for Grønland af love om ændring af lov om Det Centrale Personregister (Danish) |access-date=1 September 2020}}</ref> Since 2010, Greenland has had laws prohibiting [[hate speech]] against LGBTQ+ persons. Parliament passed a Law on Equal Treatment and Anti-Discrimination in 2024, which prohibits all discrimination on the basis of "[[sexual orientation]], [[gender identity]], [[gender expression]], [and] gender characteristics", among other characteristics. The law also creates an Equal Treatment Board to manage discrimination complaints and an Equality Council to promote non-discrimination.<ref name=ilgagr>{{Cite web |title=Greenland (Denmark) |url=https://database.ilga.org/greenland-denmark-lgbti#:~:text=The%20law%20prohibits%20all%20forms,and%20services%20to%20the%20public. |access-date=30 December 2024 |website=database.ilga.org}}</ref>

==Culture==
{{See also|Human rights in Denmark#Indigenous rights}}
[[Culture of Greenland|Greenlandic culture]] is a blending of traditional Inuit ([[Kalaallit]], [[Tunumiit]], [[Inughuit]]) and Scandinavian culture. Inuit, or Kalaallit, culture has a strong artistic tradition, dating back thousands of years. The Kalaallit are known for an art form of figures called ''[[tupilak]]'' or a "spirit object". Traditional art-making practices thrive in the ''Ammassalik''.<ref name="ingo20">[[#Hessel|Hessel]], p. 20</ref> [[Sperm whale]] ivory remains a valued medium for carving.<ref>[[#Hessel|Hessel]], p. 21</ref>

===Fine arts===
The Inuit have their own arts and crafts tradition; for example, they carve tupilaks, sculptures of figures of avenging monsters practised within shaman traditions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The making of a tupilak and its consequences |url=https://www.museon.nl/en/globeitem/the-making-of-a-tupilak-and-its-consequenses |website=Museon |access-date=5 January 2022 |archive-date=5 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105170919/https://www.museon.nl/en/globeitem/the-making-of-a-tupilak-and-its-consequenses |url-status=live}}</ref> This Kalaallisut word means soul or spirit of a deceased person and describes an artistic figure, usually no more than {{convert|20|cm|round=0.5}} tall, carved mainly from walrus ivory, with a variety of unusual shapes. This sculpture actually represents a mythical or spiritual being; usually, however, it has become a mere collector's item because of its grotesque appearance for Western visual habits. Modern artisans still use indigenous materials such as musk ox and sheep wool, seal fur, shells, soapstone, reindeer antlers or gemstones.

The history of Greenlandic painting began with Aron von Kangeq, who depicted the old Greenlandic sagas and myths in his drawings and watercolours in the mid-19th century. In the 20th century, landscape and animal painting developed, as well as printmaking and book illustrations with sometimes expressive colouring. It was mainly through their landscape paintings that Kiistat Lund and Buuti Pedersen became known abroad. Anne-Birthe Hove chose themes from Greenlandic social life. There is a museum of fine arts in Nuuk, the [[Nuuk Art Museum]].

===Media===
[[Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa]] (KNR) is the public broadcasting company of Greenland. It is an associate member of the [[Eurovision (network|Eurovision]] and [[Nordvision]] networks. Nearly a hundred people are directly employed by the company, which is one of the largest in the territory.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa {{!}} KNR |url=https://knr.gl/da/om-knr/kalaallit-nunaata-radioa |access-date=19 April 2021 |website=knr.gl |archive-date=28 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230128064050/https://knr.gl/da/om-knr/kalaallit-nunaata-radioa |url-status=live}}</ref> Nuuk has its own radio and television station. The television channel [[Nanoq Media]], created in 2002, is the largest local television station in Greenland, reaching more than 4,000 households as receiving members, which corresponds to about 75% of all households in Nuuk.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nanoq Media |url=https://nanoqmedia.gl/?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=6&lang=ka_gl |access-date=19 April 2021 |website=nanoqmedia.gl |archive-date=19 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419151126/https://nanoqmedia.gl/?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=6&lang=ka_gl |url-status=live}}</ref>

Two newspapers are published in Greenland, both of which are distributed nationally. The weekly ''[[Sermitsiaq (newspaper)|Sermitsiaq]]'' is published every Friday, while the online version is updated several times a day. It is named after the mountain Sermitsiaq, located about {{convert|15|km|round=0.5|abbr=on}} northeast of Nuuk, and was distributed only in Nuuk until the 1980s. The bi-weekly ''[[Atuagagdliutit/Grønlandsposten]]'' is published every Tuesday and Thursday, in Greenlandic as ''Atuagagdliutit'' and in Danish as ''Grønlandsposten'', with all articles published in both languages.

===Music===
[[File:Nive Nielsen Rudolstadt 01.jpg|thumb|[[Nive Nielsen]] in 2016, Greenlandic singer and songwriter ]]
[[File:Inuk Silis Høegh, Tommi Kainulainen - WOMEX 15, Budapest, 2015.10.22 (1).JPG|thumb|Greenlandic filmmaker [[Inuk Silis Høegh]] with members of the Greenlandic band [[Sumé (band)|Sumé]], 2015]]
[[Music of Greenland|Greenland's musical heritage]] blends traditional Inuit forms with modern genres. The traditional Inuit drum dance and song, known as ''[[Qilaut|qilaatersorneq]]'', is a cornerstone of Greenlandic culture.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Drum dance and drum song – Trap Greenland |url=https://trap.gl/en/kultur/drum-dance-and-drum-song/ |access-date=15 May 2025 |language=en-GB}}</ref> The ''[[Qilaut|qilaat]]'', a frame drum made from [[driftwood]] or [[Walrus|walrus ribs]] and covered with animal stomach or bladder, is played by striking the rim from underneath with a stick. These performances served various purposes, including entertainment, spiritual ceremonies, and conflict resolution through song duels, where participants would satirize each other to settle disputes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Qilaat – The Greenlandic frame drum |url=https://greenlandicpopularmusic.com/en/qilaaat-the-greenlandic-frame-drum/ |access-date=15 May 2025 |website=greenlandicpopularmusic |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2021, [[UNESCO]] recognized Inuit drum dancing and singing as part of the [[UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists|Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inuit drum dancing and singing – UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage |url=https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/inuit-drum-dancing-and-singing-01696 |access-date=15 May 2025 |website=ich.unesco.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=15 December 2021 |title=UNESCO honours Inuit drum dancing |url=https://unric.org/en/unesco-honours-inuit-drum-dancing/ |access-date=15 May 2025 |website=United Nations Western Europe |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":2" />

The arrival of Christian missionaries in the 18th century led to the suppression of drum dances, deemed [[Paganism|pagan]]. They were replaced by [[Polyphony|polyphonic]] choral singing, influenced by German hymns from the [[Moravian Church|Herrnhuter Brüdergemeinde]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 February 2006 |title=Denmark.dk: Official website – Denmark – Greenland: an Overview |url=http://denmark.dk/portal/page?_pageid=374,520529&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060212174900/http://denmark.dk/portal/page?_pageid=374,520529&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL |archive-date=12 February 2006 |access-date=15 May 2025}}</ref> European whalers introduced instruments like the fiddle and accordion, leading to the development of ''kalattuut'', or Greenlandic polka, characterized by fast-paced dances performed during communal gatherings.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kalattuut – Greenlandic style – Trap Greenland |url=https://trap.gl/en/kultur/kalattuut-greenlandic-style/ |access-date=15 May 2025 |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Kalattuut – Greenlandic polka |url=https://greenlandicpopularmusic.com/en/kalattuut-greenlandic-polka/ |access-date=15 May 2025 |website=greenlandicpopularmusic |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Music in Greenland |url=https://visitgreenland.com/about-greenland/music-in-greenland/ |access-date=15 May 2025 |website=Visit Greenland |language=en-US}}</ref>

In contemporary times, Greenland has a vibrant music scene. The band [[Sumé (band)|Sumé]], active in the 1970s, pioneered Greenlandic rock music with politically charged lyrics advocating for cultural independence.<ref>Bours, Etienne (2000). "Sealskin Hits". In Broughton, Simon; Ellingham, Mark (eds.). ''World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East''. McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.). [[Rough Guides]]. p. –145. {{ISBN|1-85828-636-0}}</ref> [[Nanook (band)|Nanook]], formed in 2008, is a [[Pop rock|pop-rock]] band known for singing in [[Greenlandic language|Greenlandic]] and rejecting offers to switch to English, emphasizing cultural authenticity.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Roskilde-aktuelle Nanook: et fænomen fra Grønland |url=https://gaffa.dk/artikler/2019/juli/roskilde-aktuelle-nanook-et-faenomen-fra-gronland/ |access-date=15 May 2025 |website=gaffa.dk |date=7 January 2019 |language=da}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=25 April 2015 |title=Elsner bræður og Ísbjarnarguðinn |url=https://www.ruv.is/oflokka-eldra-efni/elsner-braedur-og-isbjarnargudinn |access-date=15 May 2025 |website=RÚV}}</ref> Other notable artists include [[Chilly Friday]] (rock), [[Siissisoq]] (rock), [[Nuuk Posse]] (hip hop), and [[Rasmus Lyberth]] (folk), who performed in the Danish national final for the [[Eurovision Song Contest 1979|1979 Eurovision Song Contest]] in Greenlandic. [[Simon Lynge]] stands out as the first Greenlandic solo artist to release an album across the United Kingdom.<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 January 2010 |title=Interview: Simon Lynge – singer/songwriter |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/interview-simon-lynge-singersongwriter-2462707 |access-date=15 May 2025 |website=The Scotsman |language=en}}</ref>

===Cuisine===
{{Main|Greenlandic cuisine}}

The national dish of Greenland is [[suaasat]], a soup made from [[seal meat]]. Meat from marine mammals, game, birds, and fish have a large role in the diet. Due to the glacial landscape, most ingredients come from the ocean.<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 April 2010 |title=Greenland – Greenlandic cuisine – Official Greenland Travel Guide |url=http://www.greenland.com/content/english/tourist/culture/greenlandic_cuisine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414020510/http://www.greenland.com/content/english/tourist/culture/greenlandic_cuisine |archive-date=14 April 2010 |access-date=16 July 2019}}</ref> Spices are seldom used besides salt and pepper.<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 March 2010 |title=Greenland – Traditional Greenlandic food – Official Greenland Travel Guide |url=http://www.greenland.com/content/english/tourist/culture/greenlandic_cuisine/traditional_greenlandic_food |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327215022/http://www.greenland.com/content/english/tourist/culture/greenlandic_cuisine/traditional_greenlandic_food |archive-date=27 March 2010 |access-date=16 July 2019}}</ref> Greenlandic coffee is a "flaming" dessert coffee (set alight before serving) made with coffee, whiskey, Kahlúa, Grand Marnier, and whipped cream. It is stronger than the familiar Irish dessert coffee.<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 March 2010 |title=Greenland – Greenlandic coffee – Official Greenland Travel Guide |url=http://www.greenland.com/content/english/tourist/culture/greenlandic_cuisine/greenlandic_coffee |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100330004520/http://www.greenland.com/content/english/tourist/culture/greenlandic_cuisine/greenlandic_coffee |archive-date=30 March 2010 |access-date=28 July 2019}}</ref>

===Sport===
{{Main|Sport in Greenland}}

Sport is an important part of Greenlandic culture, as the population is generally quite active.<ref>[[#Wilcox|Wilcox and Latif]], p. 109</ref> Popular sports include [[association football]], track and field, [[Team handball|handball]] and [[skiing]]. Handball is often referred to as the national sport,<ref name="handball">[[#Wilcox|Wilcox and Latif]], p. 110</ref> and the [[Greenland men's national handball team|men's national team]] was ranked among the top 20 in the world in 2001. Greenland has excellent conditions for skiing, fishing, [[snowboarding]], [[ice climbing]] and [[rock climbing]], although [[mountain climbing]] and hiking are preferred by the general public. Although the environment is generally ill-suited for golf, there is a golf course in Nuuk.

==See also==
* [[Åland]] (Finland)
* [[Outline of Greenland]]
* [[Svalbard]] (Norway)

==Notes==
{{notelist}}
{{clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
* Bardarson, I. (ed. Jónsson, F.) "Det gamle Grønlands beskrivelse af [[Ívar Bárðarson]] (Ivar Bårdssön)", (Copenhagen, 1930) {{in lang|da}}.
* {{Cite CIA World Factbook|year=2000}}
* [[Philip Wheeler Conkling|Conkling, P. W.]] ''et al.'' (2011). The Fate of Greenland: Lessons from Abrupt Climate Change, co-authored with Richard Alley, Wallace Broecker and George Denton, with photographs by Gary Comer, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
* {{Cite book |last=Hessel |first=Ingo |title=Arctic Spirit |publisher=Douglas and McIntyre |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-55365-189-5 |location=Vancouver, BC |ref=Hessel}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Lund |first=S. |year=1959 |title=The Marine Algae of East Greenland. 1. Taxonomical Part |journal=Meddr Gronland |volume=156 |issue=1 |pages=1–245}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Lund |first=S. |year=1959 |title=The Marine Algae of East Greenland. 11. Geographic Distribution |journal=Meddr Gronland |volume=156 |pages=1–70}}
* Oldendow, Knud.(1958). "Printing in Greenland". ''Libri: International Journal of Libraries & Information Services'' 8 (3/4): 223–62.
* {{Cite journal |last=Sowa |first=F. |year=2013 |title=Indigenous Peoples and the Institutionalization of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Greenland |journal=Arctic Anthropology |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=72–88 |doi=10.3368/aa.50.1.72 }}
* Sowa, F. (2013). ''Relations of Power & Domination in a World Polity: The Politics of Indigeneity & National Identity in Greenland.'' In: Heininen, L. ''Arctic Yearbook 2013. The Arctic of regions vs. the globalized Arctic.'' Akureyri: Northern Research Forum, pp.&nbsp;184–198. [http://www.arcticyearbook.com/ay2013 www.arcticyearbook.com/ay2013].{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219043852/http://www.arcticyearbook.com/ay2013 |date=19 February 2015 }}
* Sowa, F. (2014). ''Greenland.'' in: Hund, A. ''Antarctica and the Arctic Circle: A Geographic Encyclopedia of the Earth's Polar Regions.'' Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, pp.&nbsp;312–316.
* [[Konrad Steffen|Steffen, Konrad]], N. Cullen, and R. Huff (2005). "Climate variability and trends along the western slope of the Greenland Ice Sheet during 1991–2004", ''Proceedings of the 85th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting'' (San Diego, California).
* {{Cite book |last=Stern |first=Pamela |url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000ster |title=Historical Dictionary of the Inuit |publisher=The Scarecrow Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-8108-5058-3 |location=Lanham, Maryland |oclc=54768167 |ref=Stern |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Wilcox |first1=Jonathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=58ZHaTMk0j4C |title=Cultures of the World: Iceland |last2=Latif |first2=Zawiah Abdul |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7614-2074-3 |ref=Wilcox |access-date=18 September 2022 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610113222/https://books.google.com/books?id=58ZHaTMk0j4C |url-status=live}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [https://naalakkersuisut.gl/ Government of Greenland] official website (in Danish and Kalaallisut only)
* [https://denmark.dk/people-and-culture/greenland Greenland] at ''Denmark.dk'', the official website of Denmark.
* [https://visitgreenland.com/ Visit Greenland]&nbsp;– the official [[Tourism in Greenland|Greenlandic Tourist Board]]
* [https://inuit.org Inuit Circumpolar Council Greenland]

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