50 Fun Facts About Greenland

Besides Denmark proper and Greenland, what is the third constituent part of the Danish kingdom?

Greenlanders are Danish citizens and therefore EU citizens, even though Greenland itself is not part of the EU.

What is Greenland's capital and largest city?

With about 20,000 people, more than a third of the whole territory, it is one of the world's smallest capitals.

Geographically, Greenland is part of which continent?

Politically it was tied to Norway from 986 and later to Denmark, but it sits east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

Greenland shares a 1.2 km land border with Canada on which tiny piece of land in Nares Strait?

The 'whisky war' over the island ended in 2022 when the two countries agreed to split it roughly in half.

Which Norse explorer, exiled from Iceland, gave Greenland its name in the hope of attracting settlers?

The Saga of Erik the Red says he chose it 'as he said people would be attracted there if it had a favourable name'.

What is Greenland's name in the Greenlandic language?

It means 'land of the Kalaallit', the principal Inuit group of the west coast.

Norse settlement of Greenland's west coast began in which year, with a fleet of 14 boats?

The settlers formed the Eastern, Western and Middle Settlements on fjords near the island's southwestern tip.

The Norse abandoned Greenland in the 15th century partly because the price of which export collapsed?

Competition from higher-quality elephant ivory undercut Greenland's most valuable product.

The Thule people, ancestors of today's Greenlanders, migrated east from which region around 1000 AD?

They brought dog sleds and toggling harpoons and completely replaced the earlier Dorset culture.

Which Dano-Norwegian missionary arrived in Greenland in 1721 and founded what became its capital?

He came looking for surviving Norse Christians and found none; the colony was called Godthåb, 'Good Hope'.

The 1814 treaty dissolving the Denmark-Norway union was signed in which city?

Norway later tried to claim uninhabited eastern Greenland in 1931 and lost in court.

Which country occupied Greenland from April 1941 to protect it after Denmark fell to Germany?

Greenland paid for goods with mineral exports, and its bases were given a colour-coded name.

How much did Washington offer Denmark for Greenland in 1946?

Denmark firmly refused; the offer would be worth about $1.7 billion today.

What was the code name of the secret US plan to hide missile sites under the Greenland ice cap?

It was run from Camp Century between 1960 and 1966; Denmark only learned of it from declassified papers in 1997.

Camp Century, the US base dug into the ice sheet in 1959, was powered by what?

Its 21 tunnels stretched three kilometres and it operated until 1967.

In January 1968 a US B-52 carrying four nuclear bombs crashed on the sea ice near which air base?

The bomber was flying an Operation Chrome Dome mission when it attempted an emergency landing.

The northernmost US military installation, in northwest Greenland, was renamed what in 2023?

It sits 1,210 km north of the Arctic Circle and has the world's northernmost deep-water port.

Greenland's status as a Danish colony ended with the Danish constitution of which year?

It became an amt, a Danish county, and Greenlanders received Danish citizenship.

In which year did Greenland vote for home rule, gaining its own legislature?

The referendum was held on 17 January and the law took effect on 1 May.

Greenland left the European Economic Community in 1985 largely because of a dispute over what?

Its people remain EU citizens through Denmark even though the territory is outside the EU.

On 21 June 2009 Greenland gained self-rule. Which powers did Denmark keep?

Greenlanders were also recognised as a separate people under international law.

What is Greenland's parliament called?

The name means 'Legislators'; the government is the Naalakkersuisut.

Since 2009, what has been the sole official language of Greenland?

Also simply called Greenlandic, it has about 57,000 native speakers, making it the largest of the Eskaleut languages.

Roughly what share of Greenland's population is Greenlandic Inuit?

The rest is mostly Danish; genetics show modern Inuit descend from the Thule pioneers with about 25% European admixture.

With about 56,000 people, Greenland holds which world record?

Almost everyone lives on the ice-free southwest coast.

Roughly what proportion of Greenland is covered by its ice sheet?

The sheet covers 1.76 million square kilometres and holds around 2.85 million cubic kilometres of ice.

If the entire Greenland ice sheet melted, by roughly how much would global sea level rise?

Research suggests that would take at least 1,000 years even in the worst case.

What is Greenland's highest mountain, at about 3,700 m?

It stands in the Watkins Range of east Greenland; most of the island lies below 1,500 m.

Where was the Northern Hemisphere's record low of minus 69.6 °C measured in 1991?

The capital's average daily temperature, by contrast, ranges from about -5 °C to 10 °C through the year.

Which speck of land off Greenland's north coast is the world's northernmost undisputed land?

A 1969 Canadian survey found it lies 750 metres north of Cape Morris Jesup, long thought to be the tip of the world.

Northeast Greenland is home to the world's largest what?

The northeastern part of the island is not part of any municipality at all.

Which UNESCO-listed fjord holds the Northern Hemisphere's most productive glacier?

Its Jakobshavn glacier flows 20-35 metres a day, and its icebergs can be a kilometre tall.

The Greenland shark holds what record among vertebrates?

Estimates run from 272 to 510 years; it is also the slowest-swimming fish for its size.

What does the red-and-white flag of Greenland, adopted in 1985, feature?

Designed by Thue Christiansen, it is called Erfalasorput, 'our flag'.

Which rare mineral, essential for smelting aluminium, was mined at Ivittuut, Greenland, until 1987?

Danes learned of it in 1798 from Inuit who used it to wash hides.

The Kvanefjeld deposit in southern Greenland is one of the world's largest accumulations of what?

It also holds significant uranium and zinc, which has made mining it politically contentious.

What is by far Greenland's largest export industry?

Even so, Danish aid worth about 20% of GDP props up the economy.

Which airport was Greenland's main international gateway until Nuuk's expansion in 2024?

It began life as a wartime US air base, far from any large town.

Which municipality, seated at the capital, is the largest in the world by area?

It was formed in 2009 from five smaller municipalities and spans both the east and southwest coasts.

Why was Greenland's national football team unable to enter the 2026 World Cup?

It plays in CONIFA; a 2024 application to join CONCACAF was rejected.

In which year did William Seward first float buying Greenland, the same year as his famous Russian purchase?

The idea returned in 1910, secretly in 1946, and again under Donald Trump.

Which Danish prime minister firmly turned down Donald Trump's first-term attempt to buy Greenland?

Trump's renewed annexation threats in his second term have been described as an unprecedented challenge to NATO.

Blok P, demolished in the capital in 2012, was what?

It housed nearly 1% of all Greenlanders and symbolised the 1950s-60s policy of moving Inuit from villages into Danish-style urban housing.

Which Palaeo-Inuit culture, named for a Disko Bay site, lived in Greenland c. 2500–800 BC?

The Independence I culture lived in the far north at the same time; no Dorset genes survive in today's Greenlanders.

What was the Norse word for the Inuit, meaning 'wretches'?

The Icelandic Annals record that in 1379 they killed 18 Norse Greenlanders.

Roughly what share of Greenland's electricity comes from renewable sources, mainly hydropower?

Education and healthcare are free, and Greenland's LGBTQ rights are among the most extensive in the world.

What colour-based code name did the US military use for Greenland during the Second World War?

Bluie West-1 at Narsarsuaq is still an airport today.

In which year did rain first fall on record at the summit of the Greenland ice sheet?

The research station there had no rain gauges for the occasion.

Which Danish dog-sled patrol guarded northeast Greenland in WWII, spotting German weather stations?

American troops destroyed the facilities it detected.

A 1951 survey led by Paul-Emile Victor suggested that beneath the ice Greenland is actually what?

The idea is disputed; if true, narrow straits would reach the sea at Ilulissat and Greenland's Grand Canyon.