10 things you might not realize about Greenland are far more surprising than the icy vistas you see on postcards. This massive island, with a coastline stretching 24,430 miles (39,316 km) and towering fjords, is the world’s biggest island and an autonomous territory of Denmark. While 80% of its surface is cloaked in a thick ice sheet up to 10,000 feet (3,048 m) tall, its human story is anything but frozen.
10 Things You Might Not Know About Greenland
1 Buying Greenland
President Trump’s public wish to purchase Greenland from Denmark, first voiced in 2019 and echoed again in 2025, is not a brand‑new idea. President Harry S. Truman made a similar overture nearly eight decades earlier. Yet the United States has flirted with the notion even longer. In 1868, Secretary of State William Seward – fresh from acquiring Alaska for $7.2 million the year before – floated a plan to buy Greenland. Public opposition in America stalled the proposal.
Later, in 1910, U.S. Ambassador Maurice Egan suggested a complex swap: America would hand over parts of the Philippines to Denmark in exchange for Greenland and the Danish West Indies. The plan vanished without a trace. Today, Greenland’s leader Múte Egede reminds the world that the island belongs to its own people, saying, “Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland. Our future and fight for independence is our business.”
2 Nuclear Weapons
Although the United States never secured ownership of Greenland, post‑World War II negotiations granted it continued military rights. The 1951 treaty let America run and expand its bases on the island. Secretly, the U.S. stationed nuclear weapons at Thule Air Base and kept B‑52 bombers armed with nuclear payloads flying Arctic patrols as part of the Strategic Air Command’s Airborne Alert Program – all without Danish knowledge.
The covert operation blew up in January 1968 when a B‑52 carrying four live hydrogen bombs crash‑landed in a fjord near Thule. The incident forced Denmark to learn of the nuclear stash, prompting a painstaking cleanup and the termination of nuclear‑armed flights over Greenland.
3 After the War
In April 1941, the United States signed a treaty with the Danish envoy that allowed it to place military installations on Greenland. After WWII, Denmark expected the Americans to pull out, but Cold War anxieties kept U.S. forces stationed there. In 1946, State Department official John Hickerson declared Greenland “indispensable to the safety of the United States.”
American diplomats even floated a secret $100 million gold‑bullion offer to buy Greenland, and at one point suggested swapping the island for oil‑rich lands in Alaska’s Point Barrow. Denmark’s foreign minister Gustav Rasmussen rebuffed the idea, stating, “While we owe much to America, I do not feel that we owe them the whole island of Greenland.”
4 World War II
Greenland had been a Danish colony since 1776, with a strict trade monopoly that barred foreign ships until 1950. The German invasion of Denmark in 1940 threatened the island, but the Allies intervened swiftly. Both the United States Navy and the British Royal Navy began patrolling Greenland’s waters, recognizing its strategic value for weather stations that could forecast European conditions – crucial intelligence for the war effort.
Greenlandic locals aided the Allies by reporting German incursions, while American aircraft conducted bombing runs to keep the Nazis at bay. The island’s remote position made it a linchpin in the Allied strategy to deny the Axis powers any foothold in the Arctic.
5 Robert Peary
U.S. Navy explorer Robert Peary first attempted to cross Greenland’s ice cap after reading about a failed Swedish expedition. He borrowed $500 from his mother and tried, unsuccessfully, to traverse the ice sheet with dog sleds, hampered by impassable ice and dwindling supplies.
Undeterred, Peary launched a second expedition in 1891, this time accompanied by his wife Josephine, who later chronicled the journey. Over an 18‑month trek, they proved that Greenland was indeed an island, reaching its northernmost point and dispelling lingering map myths that suggested the landmass stretched to the North Pole.
6 Nuuk Is Born
After the missionary Hans Egede’s 1721 arrival, his group endured a brutal first winter on Kangeq, an inhospitable island off the west coast. While many settlers returned to Scandinavia, Egede and his wife Gertrud Rask persisted, attempting to spread Christianity among the Inuit and establishing a whaling station that soon failed.
In 1728, Major Clauss Paarss arrived as Greenland’s governor, relocating the settlement from Kangeq to the mainland and building a fort that eventually grew into Nuuk, today’s capital. Tragedy struck when smallpox arrived from Norway, killing many, including Gertrud Rask, prompting Egede to abandon Greenland permanently.
7 Colonization
Following the Viking era, the Inuit Thule people remained the island’s sole inhabitants. Although European whalers from Britain and the Netherlands occasionally visited, they made no colonizing attempts. Change came in 1721 when missionary Hans Egede, backed by the Danish‑Norwegian crown, set sail with three ships, his wife, five children, and 40 hopeful settlers.
Despite losing a vessel to thick ice, Egede’s flotilla reached Kangeq. He spent thirteen years raising funds and organizing the mission, establishing a commercial company to support his religious goals. Though his initial whaling venture flopped, Egede succeeded in converting a handful of Inuit families, laying the groundwork for future Danish presence.
8 Living on Greenland
Viking settlers on Greenland combined farming with walrus hunting, constructing stone villages that eventually housed up to 6,000 people across roughly 500 farmsteads, many with their own churches. A milder climate likely aided their success, and by the 12th century they had embraced Christianity.
These Norse colonists interacted with the Inuit Thule culture that arrived around AD 1100. However, by the 15th century the Viking community vanished, possibly due to the Little Ice Age’s cooling, drought, disease, or conflict with the Inuit – the exact cause remains debated.
9 Erik in Trouble
Erik the Red’s own misdeeds mirrored his father’s. Around 982 he was expelled from Iceland for murdering a neighbor. After a brief stint on nearby islands, another violent dispute left two dead, leading to his conviction for murder and another exile – this time to Greenland.
He spent three years on the new land, founding a settlement called Eriksey, before returning to Iceland in 985. Back home, Erik organized a larger colonizing effort, allegedly naming the island “Greenland” to attract settlers with the promise of fertile land – an early example of bold advertising. The lure worked, drawing about 400 people to join his expedition.
10 First Settlement
The earliest known humans arrived in Greenland roughly 4,500 years ago. Inuit groups island‑hopped from mainland Canada, with successive migrations over 2,500 years, each bringing distinct cultures. The most recent wave, the Thule people, settled around AD 1100.
The first non‑Inuit arrival was Norwegian Viking Erik “the Red” Thorvaldsson, who landed circa AD 985 and coined the name Greenland. Known for his fiery red hair and temper, Erik had previously fled Norway for Iceland after his father was exiled for killing a man.