This area of the world was late to the game of civilisations. While most of the world
was pyramids and empire, this place was empty, apart from a few seals. But not for long.
Around a thousand years ago, humans moved in. The Island was settled from both ends
by Arctic and European people but, apart from a bit of good old fashioned Christian
evangelism, the two groups weren't really on speaking terms. The Norse rejected the
Inuit ways of living, instead depending on their imported ways of farming, ivory and
deforestation. So, when they were failed by the climate,
the land and markets, Rest In Peace Greenland 1.0
300 years later, the Scandinavians had dropped the Pope and they'd become all
Protestant. Then they remembered all those converts they left up in the Arctic. And
maybe (horror of horrors) they might still be Catholic. It wasn't long before they
returned. And this new colonialism had a distinctly Danish flavour.
This time they started to merge and and mix, sharing language, religion and genes (all
under control of the Danish) and named it all 'Greenland'.
But from the very first day they returned, Greenland gave them nothing. While other countries
had empires with plantations and diamond mines, squeezing even the bare minimum
of amergris and bauxite from the biggest island on Earth meant enduring decades of
smallpox, scurvy and being Danish. But they kept on, because...empire?
The fact that very few people lived there was a problem. Claiming the land was easy.
Enforcing that claim was hard. Denmark sold their
only other New World possession, in exchange for the US backing off.
Suddenly, World War Two. Nazis.
Copenhagen gets occupied, so the Island has no leadership.
Don't worry, here's the USA to save the day by occupying the land and selling all those
natural resources to themselves. Also to fight a war against the Germans, but before that,
where's that mine? Despite this, Greenland was secretly invaded
by Nazis. Twice.
Then WW2 ended, and knock knock, who's that? It's decolonisation. And America wants to
buy Greenland - again. Denmark turned them down
- again, and then finally, Greenland was thrown a bone.
From being first two colonies, then one colony, then a county, Greenland emerged into the
mid-20th Century as a fully integrated part of Denmark.
But things were about to get complicated, as they always do, with the Europe.
Like any self-respecting colonised people,
Greenlanders were heavily dependent upon a small number of resources, such as: halibut,
haddock and prawns: commonly known as FISH. which stands for:
Flip, I'm So Hungry. Exactly what Greenlanders said when Denmark,
against Greenlandic wishes, joined the European Community, and by doing so agreed to open
exclusive fishing zones to competition, and to limit their overall catch.
When you actually drill down into the details, it doesn't really read that bad.
the highest subsidies in Europe were given to
improve Greenland's agriculture and fishing, and competition was relatively tiny. However,
the fact remains. Greenland wasn't happy. To leave, Greenland drew up a hasty 12-year
plan. And the line at the end of that road meant
leaving Denmark. Sort of. The main obstacle being that the land's massive, and there's
no-one living there. A country that looks like this is impossible to control or defend
alone. Remember: secretly invaded by Nazis. Twice.
The eventual compromise between the ideal and the pragmatic solutions was the start
of an empire of asterisks.
When they voted to leave the treaties of the Commmunity, they adopted the status of an
Overseas Territory (OCT), Voluntarily adopting the rules and position of a "colonial possession",
a move with "no real precedent". While every other Overseas Territory wants to shed that
membership in one way or another, Greenland dives headfirst towards it.
After Home Rule, Greenland really crystallised as a nation. Aside from the flag, they also
received an anthem, a a standardised language, and became a separate
statistical area. The government got the power to make its own laws. And then in 2009 they
got increased control of police, coastguard and the courts,
to enforce those laws.
Since 2009, Denmark now takes care of very few things. Chief among them, International
Relations, Subsidies and Military*
Copenhagen represents Greenland in the UN. However, according to the self rule acts,
Greenland can act on behalf of the Realm in all matters regarding solely Greenland. And
they've done this many times. Recently, Denmark and Russia made agreements on catch quotas
and ocean access, but it wasn't Denmark at the negotiating table. It was Greenland, wearing
the Denmark hat. So does Denmark really do international relations? Ehh, sort of.
As a string of communities dangled high in the Arctic, Greenland has high running costs.
Almost everything, from food and clothes to building materials and
industrial equipment needs to be imported, and Greenland is hardly 'on the way' to anywhere.
(At least until Climate change opens up the arctic.) It has the lowest population density
and the highest coastline-per-capita of anywhere in the world. It doesn't have rail, or even
roads between town. Burdens of territory fall heavy on Greenland. As the
financially responsible party, Denmark provides subsidies, to overcome these problems. However,
just because Greenland doesn't have its own income doesn't mean that it's not wealthy. It's
just that all that wealth is locked up in the form of valuable minerals, way underground.
And as science and markets improve access to this wealth, these deposits will become
commercially viable. Denmark has plans for the removal of the subsidies, once the mineral
revenue increases. This land, currently Greenland's big weakness, once fully exploited, will be
its strength. So is Denmark really responsible financially? Well,
for now at least.
It can't be denied that Greenland is 100% fully dependent on outside help for defence.
Denmark isn't the only Military actor on the Island, as the US and NATO have a base left
over from World War Two, just in case the Cold War...
Iceland, a short hop away, doesn't have a standing military, but won the Cod wars with
a coast guard and good negotiation alone. And there are plenty of independent countries
without armies, that often rely on larger states for protection. It's a bit of a stretch,
but there's an asterisk in there somewhere.
The name. Are you taking the piss.
The thing that makes Greenland Danish isn't its reliance on anything Denmark does or gives
-- it's that Greenland still accepts the Danish constitution. So Greenland can dance
whatever dance it wants, but Denmark decides the dancefloor.
All of these exceptions make Greenland a difficult place to understand. And together with another
factor, they explain Greenland's ridiculous size and colour on most world maps.
A mapmaker makes more decisions than you'll ever realise. Ever since the ancient Greek
mathematicians, we've had problems transforming between
dimensional spaces. A 3-d globe cannot be perfectly mapped onto a 2-d plane without
compromising on one or more of these points . A mapmaker will choose which points to compromise
on based on the map's purpose. Every major online map provider have decided that, just
like in the Age of Discovery, Mercator projection preserves the most useful features for navigation.
And Mercator causes northern Latitudes to stretch, so o n these maps, Greenland is massive.
Similarly, choices are made on a political map of borders. . Do you show the real situation,
which can change from day-to-day or do you follow what's official?
And in that case, who do you listen to?
Even my decisions when making maps are inconsistent, but don't mistake my aesthetic and storytelling
choices for political statements. As for Greenland, the choice the mapmaker is faced with is always
unique. The Faroe Islands are in a comparable situation politically,
but on most world maps they're usually completely invisible, because of their size.
For some purposes, Greenland is Denmark, no question. But for most matters, Greenland
is completely separate. Showing Greenland on a map about independent states would be
a lie. And integrating Greenland to Denmark often doesn't work either, and if you don't
explicitly explain the choices, that can raise even more questions. Unless the map reader
and the mapmaker have perfect knowledge about the status and context of Greenland, the only
way to be clear, consistent, and tell the truth is to Keep Greenland Grey.
And as for whether G reenland is a country, you can blame Scotland for that question.
Scotland joined Great Britain voluntarily, whereas
Greenland carved out control from the inside.
Nowhere in the Danish constitution or either act of autonomy is Greenland described as
a country, It's called 'a people' and 'a distinct community'.
Any similarities with Scotland were arrived at from a different path.
Scotland is a 'country' for completely different reasons.
So call Greenland a country, or a constituent country, or a land, or a people,
or a community or a self-governing territory, or a trifle,
or a trio of polar bears sitting on each other's shoulders wearing a trench coat, you'll
always find someone who has reasons to disagree.
One more thing.
If you like content like this, and if four uploads a year is too infrequent,
then please consider supporting this channel through Patreon
It's completely optional, but it's well appreciated.
Thanks for watching.