Greenland Arctic Flashpoint

Greenland is the world's largest island. It has long been considered a remote and isolated landmass, known for its breathtaking ice-covered landscapes. It became part of the Kingdom of Denmark with the Norse settlements in Greenland originating from Iceland. Erik the Red founded an early colony in 985 AD and the Norse rapidly established well-functioning pasture farming settlements. These Norse settlements vanished during the 14th and early 15th centuries, when the Inuit from Canada (Thule people) attacked and obliterated the Norse and then became the sole occupants of the island, expanding to the southern and western coasts.

The Danish king still sent his Royal ships every year to collect important treasure but a permanent presence was not re-established until 1721 with the mission of the Danish priest Hans Egede, which was followed by the Moravian missions. These established enduring settlements and-after failing to find the Norse peoples- Christianized the Inuit. There was a lot of intermarriages over the centuries and the Greenlanders are mostly not pure Inuit anymore. The new finance PM of Greenland Múte Egede bears the family name of Hans Egede.

As the Arctic has become a new theater of military and economic competition, Greenland's strategic value has skyrocketed and its geopolitical importance is well known for President Trump´s wish to simply buy the island, raising questions about the future of this vast, underdeveloped territory.