Icy Greenland

Greenland is considered the world’s largest island. Students often ask if Australia isn’t the largest island, but because Australia is a continent, that honor goes to Greenland. Greenland is unique in many other ways as well. Over two-thirds of the island is permanently covered in ice. Most of the country has an arctic climate, and in the warmest part of summer, the average temperature there is only 50°F. In the southernmost parts of the country, the temperatures are warmer and can reach 68°F or above in July and August.

Needless to say, most of the 57,000 people in Greenland live in the warmer south. Much of the population is descended from the Inuit tribes who first migrated to the island from Canada. The second wave of people were Vikings who arrived in the 10th century, but they mysteriously disappeared circa 1500AD. Over the next two centuries, Danish colonizers settled on the island, led there primarily because of the whaling industry. Due to the Danish settlement of the island, Greenland has traditionally been linked to that nation. Officially, Greenland is an overseas division of Denmark. Over the last year, however, Greenland has chosen to increasingly limit the involvement of Denmark in its internal affairs. Starting in June 2009, Greenland now has complete control over domestic policy. Denmark remains involved in foreign affairs, security, and certain aspects of financial policy.

Also in 2009, the islanders voted to make Greenlandic the only official language of the country. Danish and English are also spoken, but Greenlandic is the most widely used. Greenlandic is a unique language, closely related to the Inuit languages of northern Canada. It is a “polysynthetic language.” This means that multiple affixes (suffixes and prefixes) can be attached to each root word. Words in Greenlandic can be extremely long and often translate to entire sentences in other languages.

There will be a quiz over Greenland next Wednesday. Enjoy the long weekend this weekend!