How Denmark came to control Greenland: A brief history

Over the next 3,000 years, Inuit members from North America would arrive on the island via Canada in waves. It is believed that the current population in Greenland comprises descendants of those who migrated in the 1200s AD and belonged to the Thule culture.

Around the same time, Norsemen from Iceland, led by Viking explorer Eric the Red, arrived on the island. These Norse colonists lived on the western coast and took up animal husbandry. But by 1500 AD, much of the Norse population had disappeared from the island, for reasons that remain unexplained even today. Theories suggest they could have migrated to Europe for a better climate or livelihoods.

By most accounts, it was this lost Norse settlement that would eventually inspire the Danish ambition to colonise Greenland.

The missionaries

In his book, The Vanished Settlers of Greenland: In Search of a Legend and Its Legacy, Robert Rix writes that the former king of Denmark, Christian IV, had launched three expeditions to search for the Norse colonies. Rix suggests that the search was motivated by stories of Norse wealth that were circulating in Europe at the time.

Europe’s contact with Greenland was formally re-established in 1712 through Christian missionary Hans Egede. At the time, Europe was undergoing a major theological movement that became the foundation for Protestantism and challenged the Catholic church. Egede, with support from the then-undivided Dano-Norwegian crown, arrived on the island looking for the Norse settlers with a mission to reform them. However, when he only found the Inuits, he renewed his focus on converting them to Christianity.

Egede would begin the slow process of colonising Greenland, financially supported by Bergen Company, an association of traders. A statue of Egede, which stands in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, has come to represent this troubled history, with many calling it a symbol of colonisation.

The colonisers and the disputed legacy

In an article for the Arctic Journal, historian Iben Bjornsson explains that the colony turned up losses for the crown, and by 1736, the then-King Christian VI was ready to shut it down. However, on Egede’s insistence, and for the success of the Christian mission, the colony was kept going. There was also a prevailing view that Greenland had always been part of the Dano-Norwegian realm due to the presence of the Norse settlers.

But the scope of colonisation went beyond the missionaries, and by 1776, Denmark had established a full monopoly over all trade from Greenland, closing its shores to foreign access. Before this, Greenlanders were trading whale blubber, sealskins and narwhal teeth, among other products, with the British and Dutch.

When Denmark and Norway split in 1814, under the Treaty of Kiel, Denmark kept the overseas colonies, including Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Greenland would remain a Danish colony until the mid-20th century.

The decolonisation and the road to self-rule

Much of Denmark’s control over Greenland remained unchanged till the Second World War, when the US — as President Donald Trump pointed out in his recent speech at Davos — established its bases on the island to protect it from falling into enemy hands.

At the end of WWII, the United Nations pushed for the decolonisation of Greenland. In 1953, the island ceased to be a colony and was integrated into the Kingdom of Denmark, earning representation in the Danish Parliament. However, no referendum was held to consult the people of Greenland on the integration.

In 1979, a referendum was held in Greenland, in which a majority of voters asked for greater autonomy from Denmark. This led to the establishment of the Home Rule Act, giving Greenland its own Parliament and making it an autonomous territory under Danish rule.

In 2008, another referendum was held, where Greenland voted in favour of the adoption of an Act on Self-Government. Through this act, Greenland got greater control over its legal and political affairs, including the question of its independence.

Quest for independence

While Greenland has control over a range of internal matters as an autonomous territory, the government of Denmark is responsible for its foreign, defence and security policies. Greenland is also dependent on Denmark for funding grants, amounting to DKK 3.4 billion (over USD 500 million).

However, there’s a growing desire for independence in Greenland. Troubling instances and a painful colonial history weigh upon the island’s ties with Denmark.

While Denmark was predominantly viewed as a “benevolent coloniser”, new research has challenged the notion. The colonisers are accused of forced conversions and suppression of local culture. Further, a 2025 documentary, The White Gold of Greenland, revealed a lesser-known history of how the Danish extracted a rare mineral, cryolite, from the mines in Ivittuut, in southwestern Greenland. The film follows Professor Naja Dyrendom Graugaard, who has studied the Denmark-Greenland colonial legacy, explaining how the Danish plundered the mines and turned up a rich profit for a handful of Danes — a fact that largely remains missing from history. In Denmark, the documentary was criticised as “misleading”.

Recently, an investigation found that Denmark forced thousands of women and minor girls in Greenland to have intrauterine devices (IUDs) inserted into their wombs as part of a compulsory birth control drive in the 1960s and 70s. Some instances may have occurred as recently as the 1990s. In December 2025, the Danish government agreed to provide compensation to around 4,500 affected Greenlandic women. In another instance, the Danish government issued an apology in 2020 for a failed social experiment, which involved forcibly removing 22 Inuit children from Greenland to “re-educate” them in Denmark in the 1950s. This led to considerable trauma, with many children dying young. The government awarded compensation to the six surviving participants.

The most recent elections in Greenland in 2025 reiterated the Greenlanders’ desire for independence, as they voted Jens-Frederik Nielsen to power. He favours a gradual independence from Denmark. However, Trump’s renewed interest in controlling Greenland further complicates an already complex matter. Earlier this month, Nielsen made the Greenlanders’ stance clear: “If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark.”