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a short history of Greenland

Brief History of Greenland

There are proofs that Greenland was home to many Peleo-Eskimo cultures back in the prehistoric times. Centuries later, in 984 AD, the area was colonized by the Norse settlers who formed two settlements on fjords set on the west coast and on the southwestern end of the island. The climate in the southern parts of the Greenland region was mild and the inhabitants were growing plans and trees and were farming livestock just as in Norway. As Norway turmed to Christianity, a bishop was sent to Greenland to Christianize the locals. Soon the Inuit people migrated from the Arctic islands and they lived peacefully with the Norse settlers. In year 1261 Greenland became part of the Kingdom of Norway. All these settlements surrvided for some 500 years but disappeared around the 15th century due to famine, malnutrition, decline in remperatures and conflicts with the Inuit settlers.

In year 1721 the colatition between Denmark and Norway reasserted the latent clain to the Greenland colony, however the Treaty of Kiel from year 1814 severed the ties with Norway, as it was given to the king of Sweden. Denmark on the other hand retained its overseas possessions, including the Greenland area. In July 1931 Norway claimed parts of East Greenland and occupied them but the matter was later settled by the Permanent Court of International Justice in year 1933 when Norway lost the cause. Denmark was later occupied by the Nazi Germany in year 1940 during the Second World War and Greenland losts its connection to it. It was forced tobuy supplies from the United States and Canada. At that time the government system in Greenland changed as the government Eske Brun took control over the territory on the grounds of a law allowing him to do that under extreme circumstances.

An isolated society till 1940, after the war Greenland developed sense of self-reliance and managed to communicate independently with the rest of the world.At the end of the 1940s, Greenland was transformed into a modern society with Denmark being its sponsor. The colonial status of Greenland was changed in year 1953 when it became an integral part of the Danish kingdom. Later, when Denmark took part in the European cooperation that formed the European Union, Greenland people felt that this would be negative for their trade which was depending mostly on non-European countries like Canada and the United States. That is why when Denmark joined the union in 1973 and this included Greenand, the local parties began to plead for self-government.

The home rule in the country was granted three decades later, in 1979. The Greenlanders voted to leave the European Union and they did that in year 1985. As a self-governing country Greenland replaced the Danish names and chose as capital the city of Nuuk. After leaving the European Union, Greenland started to handle its international relations alone and signed special treates with both the Union and several other smaller organizations. Margarethe II, the Queen of Denmark, is still Head of State of Greenland. The country has an elected parliament of thirty-one members and the head of government is the Prime Minister. A new referendum on further self-rule is scheduled for the end of November 2008. Thanks to the modern technology and most important the aviation, Greenland has become far easier to be accessed. The name of the country, Greenland, comes from the Scandinavian settlers who named it so in order to attract more settlers. Actually during the summer the southern part of Greenland is indeed very green and pleasant.