Greenland, Born and Raised, Part 0 — Colonization
Hi, my name is Nikolaj (pronounced Nee-co-lie), I’m 33 years old, and I’m from Greenland.
There are only about 56,000 people in Greenland and it seems to me there’s surprisingly little about modern Greenlandic culture.
This is going to be an article series of my experiences of being born and raised in Greenland. With a Greenlandic father and a Danish mother, and the many unique issues that shaped my upbringing.
My aim with this series is to convey what it means to come from a contemporary Greenland. As well as help people understand what happens when you have a foot in each of two very different ethnicities.
I hope it will enlighten readers about a very small culture that lives on a very large island, which gets more and more attention.
This part 0 is about the colonization of Greenland through time up till today.
The series in general is going to consist of:
· A run-through of the history of Greenland and how it looks today.
· The language barriers I experienced growing up in Nuuk.
· Then I’ll recount how my appearance had an impact on my upbringing and young adulthood.
· Lastly (maybe), I’ll make a summary of where I am now and how I got here.
I hope my ramblings might educate and entertain. Enjoy.
A Brief History of the Colonization of Greenland
For those who don’t know; Greenland is a part of Denmark. You know, that small Scandinavian country roughly the size of Massachusetts — whereas Greenland is roughly three times the size of Texas.
It’s called the Largest Island in the World and lies further North than Canada. It was colonized waaay back in the 900s CE by the Norse settler, Eric the Red. After he was expelled first from Norway then from Iceland (back then it was all part of Denmark). Both times for a different murder. Good ol’ medieval times.
Eric the Red had seen land in the far horizon from the coasts of Iceland. Since he had to vacate his family (again) he took a chance and sailed them all to the new land. They arrived on the East coast but settled in the South in the middle of Summer, when it’s all green and lovely. It’s said he named it Greenland for both of what he saw of the lush lands, but also for attracting more settlers in the future — good PR being important back then.
Of course, there were people there a long time before the arrival of Eric. Different waves of migrating Paleoeskimos and Inuit people from Canada between 2500 BCE and 900 CE. The Norse settlers supposedly lived side-by-side with them until the settlers mysteriously vanished.
After that, Greenland has basically been a part of Denmark, give or take a couple of hundred years of isolation. Mostly visited by whalers and traders.
The real colonization, however, was cemented by the priest Hans Egede. He got permission from King Frederik of Denmark to do missionary work on the island in the 1700s CE. In exchange, he had to inform the natives of Denmark’s sovereignty.
Hans Egede founded the settlement “Godthåb” (roughly translated from Danish into “Good Hope”). Which is called “Nuuk” today (roughly translated from Greenlandic into “Cape”) — which is the capital of Greenland. My hometown.
Fast forward to the 1800s CE and Denmark had to abstain its sovereignty over Norway but got to keep Greenland and the Faroe Islands — both of which are still part of Denmark today.
During WWII Denmark was occupied by Germany and the USA took custodianship over Greenland during the occupation. The USA used it as an important waystation in the Atlantic Ocean and build a lot of the larger airports that are still used today. They even managed to influence the local language permanently as Greenlanders use the word “bye” (goodbye) naturally — something I never thought about until I was in my teens.
Afterwards, Denmark got its colonies back and there was a fear that Greenland might be taken advantage of (for its resources and fragile society), so a strict monopoly on trade with Greenland was established. It lasted until the 1950s when the modernization of Greenland really kicked in. The goal was to make it an equal part of the Danish Welfare State.
Therefore, in 1953, Greenland’s status as a colony was repealed and all Greenlanders are officially considered Danish citizens. Then in 1979 Greenland is granted a Home Rule, and in 2009 an Autonomous Rule — essentially meaning that Greenland takes care of all Domestic politics while Denmark still rules on Foreign and (most) International affairs.
Greenland Today
Greenlanders are considered Arctic Indigenous People, called Inuit or “Kalallit” in Greenlandic (simply meaning “People”) together with Inuit from Canada, Alaska, and Russia. With its own type of language and ethnicity.
Whereas the Faroe Islands and the Danes are perhaps closer ethnically to Germanic, or Saxon, and the like.
Yet, Greenlanders are still considered Danish citizens under Danish rule. Greenland receives a “bloktilskud” (an overall grant of money) to cover costs of running a modern administration (police, courts, etc.). Because in the short-term Greenland is not itself able to finance the areas of jurisdiction required to maintain the current levels of living standards.
The “Selvstyre” (Autonomous Rule) basically runs itself in the day-to-day. Practically, the whole of Greenland is treated as another Danish municipality. There’s (usually) no problem travelling/moving, from Greenland to/from Denmark.
There are instances of practical differences, however. For example, you can’t take a driver’s license in Greenland and use it in Denmark, but vice versa is no problem. Yet, I think there’s problems that run deeper than that.
Most Danes know next to nothing about Greenland or Greenlanders (or the Faroe Islands for that matter), other than what they learn in Elementary school. There is no common newscast, or (like in the USA) no common weather forecast. Greenland has its own TV channel for both news and entertainment — although there is access to Danish channels, as well as internet.
In addition, Danes has a tendency to focus on themselves and not care about other cultures or ethnicities. Even when they have been a part of the Danish Kingdom for hundreds of years. There’s also a lot of stereotypical views on Greenlanders from Danes — Greenlanders being either some kind of uneducated savage, or a hopeless drunk.
However, Greenlanders today are as modern and educated as the average European citizen. They have struggled for a long time to get a sense of Greenlandic identity and some dream of being an independent nation. The “bloktilskud” is set to be repealed slowly over the next decades, so steps are being taken towards that dream.
Next on Greenland, Born and Raised
In the next article I’m going to talk about the language barriers I experienced growing up. How Danish won over Greenlandic in my early childhood and why. Stay tuned!
Obligatory “help me keep the lights on” adverts (contain affiliate links):
If you’re interested in learning more about the Norse settlers, there’s a documentary about them here.
Or if you want a deeper understanding of the history and geo-politics of Greenland, there’s an (n)ice book here.
