Greenland

The population of Greenland is predominantly Inuit, a people bearing an affinity and solidarity with the Inuits of Canada, Alaska and Siberia. It is only 140 years since the last immigration from Canada took place.

The Greenlandic people are few in number: 56,000 in an enormous country. Approx. 20 percent of the population was born outside Greenland.

Today fishing is the all-dominating trade and accounts for 95 percent of total exports, but in the hunter districts of the outer areas, the seal and whale catch is of great importance. It actually forms the stable existence for one fifth of the Greenlandic population.

The symbols of the ancient culture are still alive even in the larger towns. Many people build and use their own kayak as you’ll see in every harbour. The old drum dance is performed by a growing number of artists. The musical and theatrical life is largely based on myths and sagas conveyed in a modern form.

Understanding the Geography

Greenland, meaning, "Land of the Kalaallit (Greenlanders)"; is a self-governed Danish territory. Though geographically and ethnically an Arctic island nation associated with the continent of North America, politically and historically Greenland is closely tied to Europe.

The Atlantic Ocean borders Greenland's southeast; the Greenland Sea is to the east; the Arctic Ocean is to the north; and Baffin Bay is to the west. The nearest countries are Iceland, east of Greenland in the Atlantic Ocean, and Canada, to the west and across Baffin Bay.

Greenland is the world's largest island, and is the largest dependent territory by area in the world. It also contains the world's largest national park.

About 81% of its surface is covered by ice, known as the Greenlandic ice cap, the weight of which has depressed the central land area to form a basin lying more than 300 m [1,000 ft] below the surrounding ocean. Nearly all Greenlanders live along the fjords in the southwest of the main island, which has a milder climate. Most Greenlanders have both Kalaallit (Inuit) and Scandinavian ancestry, and speak Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) as their first language. About 50,000 people speak Greenlandic, which is more than all the other Eskimo-Aleut languages combined. A minority of Danish migrants with no Inuit ancestry speak Danish as their first language. Both languages are official with the West Greenlandic dialect forming the basis of the official form of Greenlandic.

Cities in Greenland

• Aasiaat
• Ammassalik
• Kangerlussuaq
• Nanortalik
• Narsarsuaq
• Nuuk - capital
• Qaanaaq
• Sisimiut

Climate Conditions

Greenland is often associated with cold and darkness. There is also plenty of light, because the polar darkness often reigns (in Qaanaaq the sun doesn't rise for a whole three months!) it is never totally dark. During the polar night, the sky is still lit up during the daytime. The moon reflecting off the snow and ice makes it perfectly visable. Once the light has "turned the corner" after 21 December, the shortest day, things develop fast. By the end of February, Ilulissat already enjoys more than eleven hours of daylight - the sun is in the sky for more than nine of these.

The enormous size of Greenland makes for large differences in climatic conditions between south and north. Yet within the individual regions, there is also a great difference, depending on whether it is in an area near the coast or inland. The climate in Greenland can generally be said to be warmest during the summer, with least precipitation inland, while the open sea on the coast has a cooling effect on the air. One of the strong winds on the West Coast is the Foehn, which may be presaged by lens-shaped clouds. As a rule, the Foehn spells warm winds from the southeast, which may even be very powerful with gusts of more than 50 m/sec. The Foehn is usually short-lived (72 hours at most) and is generally followed by precipitation.

East Greenland has the Piteraq, a cold katabatic wind, which is a well-known and much-feared wind phenomenon.

Understanding the Culture

The word "Eskimo" is not one the Inuit use to refer to themselves and is in fact considered insulting, as it refers to the local equivalent of "cavemen".