Greenland is the largest island in the world. It is a self-governing territory of Denmark, but it lies about 1,300 miles (2,090 kilometers) away in the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans. Greenland lies northeast of Canada, and it is geographically part of North America. In the Greenlandic language, its name is Kalaallit Nunaat, which means Land of the Greenlanders. Its name in Danish is Gronland. The capital city is Nuuk, previously known by its Danish name, Godthab.
Australia, which is larger than Greenland, is surrounded by water—like an island. But geographers class Australia as a continent because of its great size.
Greenland is about 50 times as large as Denmark, but Denmark has about 100 times as many people. Most of Greenland lies north of the Arctic Circle, and thick ice covers about 80 percent of it. Cape Morris Jesup, the northernmost land in the world, is only about 440 miles (708 kilometers) from the North Pole. The southwest coast, where almost all Greenlanders live, is the warmest region. But even there, July temperatures average only 50 °F (10 °C).
Norse explorers from Iceland named the island Greenland to attract settlers. But during Greenland’s short summer, only coastal areas are green. Commercial fishing is the major industry. The United States has a military base, Pituffik Space Base (formerly called Thule Air Base), in northwestern Greenland.
Government.
Greenland is in a national union with Denmark with the constitutional right of home rule (local self-government). In 2009, Greenland gained complete responsibility for internal affairs. The Danish government, however, remains responsible for Greenland’s foreign affairs and defense, and the laws of Denmark’s Constitution are effective in Greenland. 
Greenland’s Home Rule government is headed by a parliament and a cabinet of ministers. The parliament, called the Landsting, has 31 members who are elected by the people. The parliament appoints a premier, who then appoints a cabinet of ministers. The cabinet, called the Landsstyre, is the executive branch of the government.
Greenland’s voters elect two representatives to the Danish parliament. Elected municipal councils handle local administrative affairs. Greenland has 18 local courts. Appeals of legal decisions are heard at the High Court, or Landsret, in Nuuk. The highest court is the Supreme Court of Denmark.
People.
Over 85 percent of the island’s people are Greenlanders. Most of the rest are Danish. Greenlanders call themselves Kalaallit. They have chiefly Inuit ancestry, but most of them also have European ancestors. They speak Kalaallisut (Greenlandic), a form of the Inuit language, and many also speak Danish. Their culture reflects both their Inuit and European ancestry.
Some Greenlanders in the far northwest and on the east coast follow a traditional way of life. Living in small, often remote settlements, they hunt seals, whales, and other animals. They eat the animals’ meat, and sometimes use the blubber for fuel and the skins for making clothes, kayaks, and summer tents. The ancestors of these Greenlanders built their winter houses of stone and earth, and many house ruins dot the coastline.
Since the early 1900’s, many Greenlanders have given up the traditional Inuit way of life and moved to urban areas. They now support themselves and their families by working in the commercial fishing industry. When they hunt, they often use motorboats instead of kayaks. Seal meat is still an important food, but urban Greenlanders also eat fish, mutton, potatoes, vegetables, and canned foods.
Most of Greenland’s people live in towns. The largest town is Nuuk, the capital. Other leading towns include Aasiaat, Ilulissat, Qaqortoq, and Sisimiut.
Children must go to school from the age of 6 to 15, and almost all the people can read and write. After elementary school, many Greenlanders attend vocational schools. Nuuk also has a university and a teacher-training school.
The land.
Greenland is a low inland plateau surrounded by coastal mountains. A sheet of permanent ice covers the plateau. Known as the sermersuaq (great ice) or inland ice, it covers 660,000 square miles (1,710,000 square kilometers), or about four-fifths of the island. The ice sheet averages more than 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) thick, and a thickness of over 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) has been measured. The highest point in Greenland, 12,139-foot (3,700-meter) Gunnbjorn Fjeld (Mount Gunnbjorn), rises east of the ice sheet. Thousands of small islands lie offshore.
Hundreds of long, narrow inlets of the sea called fiords cut through the coast between the mountains. Glaciers from the ice sheet flow down the coastal valleys and form giant icebergs that break off in the fiords.
Climate.
Greenland as a whole has an Arctic climate, but various regions of the island have certain differences in climate. The coldest region is the uninhabited ice sheet. There, temperatures average –53 °F (–47 °C) in February and 12 °F (–11 °C) in July. The lowest temperature ever recorded in North America was –87 °F (–66 °C), in northern Greenland, in 1954. The north and east coasts are warmer than the ice sheet, but they are still extremely cold. The sea freezes over during winter, preventing ships from reaching these coasts.
The warmest region is along the southwest coast, where most of Greenland’s people live. Temperatures there average 18 °F (28 °C) in February and 50 °F (10 °C) in July. The coastal areas near the southern tip of Greenland receive more rain, snow, and other forms of precipitation than any other part of the island.
Most of the island has long periods when the sun shines 24 hours a day during the summer, and not at all in winter. These periods of midnight sun and of continuous darkness lengthen toward the north above the Arctic Circle. See Midnight sun .
Economy.
Fishing and fish processing are Greenland’s chief economic activities. Leading catches include cod, crabs, halibut, mackerel, and shrimp. Most of the fish and shellfish is canned, frozen, or salted for export.
Many families in traditional hunting regions continue to make a living hunting seals, walruses, or whales. Local tanneries and workshops produce sealskin clothing, primarily for sale within Greenland.
Greenland’s harsh climate makes farming impossible except in some southwestern coastal areas. Agriculture there is limited to sheep raising and some reindeer herding. Hay, potatoes, and vegetables are grown during the short summer.
Tourism contributes a small amount to Greenland’s economy. Greenland has deposits of diamonds, iron, uranium, zinc, and other minerals, and a gold mine operates on the south coast. Some oil and gas deposits lie off the west coast. However, the Arctic conditions make drilling difficult.
History.
The ancestors of the Inuit arrived in Greenland between 2500 and 2000 B.C. They lived in small communities along the coast and survived by hunting and fishing. See Inuit (History).
Norse explorers from Iceland are believed to have sighted Greenland about A.D. 875. Erik the Red, a Norseman, sailed to the island about 982. He brought the first group of settlers from Iceland about 985. His son Leif Eriksson (also spelled Ericson, Ericsson, or Eiriksson) led what was probably the first voyage of Europeans to the mainland of America about 1000.
The Greenland colony grew to more than 3,000 people. The people voted in 1261 to join Norway, and Greenland united with that country. When Norway came under Danish rule in 1380, so did Greenland.
Travel between Europe and Greenland was difficult, and trade ships stopped making the journey in the 1400’s. The descendants of the Norse colonists slowly died out, probably because the climate grew too cold to sustain their crops and cattle. Explorers who arrived in the late 1500’s found only Inuit communities.
The colonization of Greenland began again after Hans Egede, a Norwegian missionary, established a mission and trading center near what is now Nuuk in 1721. The union between Denmark and Norway ended in 1814, and Greenland remained with Denmark.
In the early 1900’s, Norway disputed Denmark’s claim to part of northeastern Greenland. But in 1933, the Permanent Court of International Justice (World Court) upheld Denmark’s claim to all of Greenland.
In 1940, during World War II, German troops conquered and occupied Denmark. The United States agreed in 1941 to take over the defense of Greenland. The Germans set up weather stations on the island, but the stations were destroyed by American and Danish forces. The United States built and operated several military bases and weather stations in Greenland.
In 1951, a U.S.-Danish agreement placed Greenland’s defense under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The United States expanded its Thule Air Base (later renamed Pituffik Space Base) during the 1950’s. In 1961, a radar station was built there to warn of a surprise missile attack on North America.
In 1953, a new Danish constitution changed Greenland from a colony to a province. Denmark gave the people of Greenland the right to elect their own legislature, the Provincial Council. But the council had little real power, and Denmark continued to rule the island.
In 1966, the island’s first bank was established. Also in 1966, Denmark began a program that expanded and modernized Greenland’s fishing industry, education system, and housing. In addition, Denmark trained Greenlanders to take over local administrative and technical jobs previously held by Danes.
In the 1970’s, many Greenlanders began objecting to Denmark’s control over their governmental affairs. In 1979, Denmark granted Greenland home rule (local self-government). Greenland established a new local government responsible for the island’s internal affairs.
In 1973, Greenland became part of the European Community, an economic association of European countries, when Denmark joined the organization. Greenland withdrew from the European Community in 1985 because Greenlanders wanted to have more control of their economy, society, and culture.
In 2009, Greenland gained total responsibility for its internal affairs. International law began recognizing Greenlanders as a separate people from Danes.
