Greenland

Updated June 2006

Greenland is the world's largest island but most of the land mass is occupied by a vast icecap. Only the coast along West Greenland and central East Greenland is occupied, by a population no larger than 57,000. In the Arctic and Sub-Arctic climate, the winters are long and the summers short and cold. Except for a few scattered farms in the very southern part of the island, the land does not allow any kind of farming or forests. The people thus rely completely on the sea for fishing and hunting of marine mammals and for hunting caribou and musk ox on the tundra.
 
Greenland was colonized by Denmark in 1721. Its colonial status was abolished in 1953 but it remained de facto a dependent territory until Home Rule was achieved in 1979. Today, Greenland is a self-governing territory within the Danish realm. 88 per cent of the population are indigenous Greenlanders, Inuit, while 12 per cent are permanent or expatriate Danes.