Why Greenland named so....

The naming of Greenland is pretty contrary to its climatic appearances. Do you ever wonder that with a total ice cap of 80% of the island, how come the naming went all haywire? It is pretty interesting to know that there are many theories behind the naming of this country. One of the most exciting and traditional is the saga of Erik the Red Viking.

The Vikings were a race of Scandinavians (settlers of Northern Europe mainly Denmark, Norway and Sweden) commonly known as blood thirsty warriors who paved their way through Europe marking many well settled trade colonies. Before I start to narrate this theory, here is a small historic tale of Greenland.

Greenland was first inhabited about 4500 years ago. Due to extreme weather conditions, these inhabitants either died or left leaving their signs of presence near Maniitsoq (a town in western Greenland).  The next migration came from East, following southern coast exploration by Erik the Red Viking. It is believed that after being sent to exile from Iceland, he landed up discovering Greenland. This was a punishment rendered for committing a murder. Surviving for several years in Greenland, he ended up liking the island and wanted to settle more fully. Erik the Red is believed to have lived from circa 950 to 1003CE. However since he needed to convince others to come and live with him, after going back he painted the island as a wonderful place to settle in. So the naming has nothing to do with the arctic conditions however purely a marketing strategy by this Viking was. Interesting, isn’t it?

One theory is that the “green” in Greenland is actually a translation error. The word “grunt” actually means ground and it could be that Greenland was meant to be named Gruntland (or ground land).

Another theory follows as Scientists have estimated that the ice sheet that covers Greenland is between 400,000-800,000 years old! It covers approximately 80% of the island, and is about 3 kilometers thick in places… so the ancient settlers to the island probably didn’t see much difference in appearance or terrain from what we see today.

Here are few fun facts I came across while reading about Greenland:

v  Much of the island is covered by a sheet of ice. The only area that is not covered in ice is only clear because the air is so dry that ice cannot form and was used as a hunting ground by native inhabitants and several nations have used the island as a strategic launching point or a base during various conflicts and wars

v  Geographically Greenland is part of North America however nationally is part of Denmark. In 1946, US offered to buy Greenland however Denmark refused.

v  Capital of Greenland is Nuuk

v  Approximately 10-15,000 glaciers break off Greenland’s glaciers each year.

v  The ice cap of Greenland was first crossed in 1888 – on skis!

v  The sun never sets from May 25th to July 25th.

v  The Northern Lights can be seen on clear nights all throughout the year.

v  July is the only month when the temperature gets above the freezing point.

v  June 21, the longest day of the year, is a national holiday.

v  All of Greenland's cities are built along the coast because it is the only area in the country that is ice-free. Most of these cities are also along Greenland's west coast because the northeastern side is comprised of the Northeast Greenland National Park

v  The official languages of Greenland are Greenlandic and Danish, but English is also widely understood

v  Currency is Danish Krone

v  Fishing and fish exporting is a major part of the Greenlandic economy, with shrimp fishing industry being by far the biggest income generator

v  Transport between cities in Greenland is by air and boat as there are no connecting roads due to the many fjords

v  Football (soccer) is the national sport of Greenland. However, the Football Association of Greenland is not yet a member of world governing body FIFA because it cannot grow grass for regulation grass pitches

v  Greenland is the 12th largest country in the world, with a size of 2,166,086 square kilometers, making it the world’s largest island that is not a continent