History of Greenland

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The history of Greenland encompasses developments on the island of Greenland from prehistory to the present. It began with the immigration of the first Inuit to the largest island on earth about 5000 years ago. Later came the Norsemen, who were called " Grænlendingar " and who disappeared again around 1550 for reasons that were not yet clear.
In the 18th century the "rediscovery" and colonization by Denmark followed . Since May 1, 1979, Greenland, like the Faroe Islands , has enjoyed extensive autonomy within the Kingdom of Denmark.

Hunting and whaling have always been an important livelihood in Greenland. The Greenlanders are traditionally excellent hunters with their agile kayaks . This photo is from 1904 and shows an Inuk hunting polar bears .

colonization

Settlement of Greenland from 900 to 1500

Around 3000 BC The ancestors of the first Inuit migrated over the Bering Strait from Asia to Alaska .

Around 2500 BC The first immigration of pre-Dorset Eskimos to Greenland began (including people of the Saqqaq culture ). Hunting sites, for example in Disko Bay and at Qaja near Jakobshavn Isfjord, have already been identified from this time . From 500 BC From BC to AD 1000, members of the Dorset culture settled in Greenland. They were followed by members of the Thule culture (see below).

Around 875 , the Norwegian Gunnbjørn discovered the island and named it Gunnbjørnland . 982 had Erik the Red from Iceland to flee and ended up in southwest Greenland. He gave the island its name Grænland ( Old Norse for "grassland"), presumably to make it attractive to other Icelandic settlers . However, the climate back then was also milder than it is today. In 986, 14 of 25 Icelandic emigration ships with 700 people on board reached Greenland. With these followers, Erik settled the area around Brattahlíð and the conquest began . Residential and church ruins of northern settlers from around 1000 have been preserved in the south .

Today around 57,000 people live in Greenland, 13,000 of them in the capital Nuuk.

Christianization and end of the Northman settlement

Around 986 Bjarni Herjúlfsson , coming from Iceland, "accidentally" "discovered" North America when he was looking for the way to Greenland. However, he did not go ashore.

In 1000 Leif Eriksson , the son of Erik the Red, returned from Norway, where he became a Christian , with a missionary to Greenland. The Greenlandic Vikings became Christians and built the first church.

Around 1000 Leif Eriksson followed Bjarni Herjúlfsson's course back from Greenland and was (probably) the first European to go ashore in North America ( Vinland ). The trade relations with Vinland lasted until the 14th century.

From 1000 Thule Eskimos immigrated from Alaska and Northern Canada; in the following period the Dorset culture was replaced by the Thule culture, which ruled until around 1800.

In 1076 Adam von Bremen gave in his chronicle of the Archdiocese of Hamburg the first written evidence of the settlement and Christianization of Greenland, which he calls Greenland .

Between 1124 and 1126 a separate diocese was founded in Greenland ; the bishopric was in Gardar , today's Igaliku with the cathedral of Garðar . In 1350, the Icelandic churchman Ivar Bardarsson reported that the western settlement had been abandoned. Inuit appeared near the Normandy area and exterminated the Vesterbygd Greenlanders. A Swedish-Norwegian expedition under Paul Knudson (1355-1364) found no more Grænlendingar. The Northmen's last written record of a wedding in Hvalsey Church is from 1408 . Contacts with Norway and Iceland broke off.

The last Nordic settlement in Greenland died out by 1550 at the latest. Recent genetic studies of both today's Inuit and archaeological remains of the Northmen seem to rule out a mixture of the two groups, i.e. that is, the Northmen are probably extinct.

The term “extinct” has to be questioned, however; because the around 3,500 Greenlanders who survived after the destruction of Vesterbygd were doing well economically. They had adapted perfectly to the climate, had large farms where they could even let cattle and pigs overwinter in cold-insulated stalls, and the wealthiest could even buy their wives expensive clothes, which are known to have been made in Europe in the second half of the 15th century were (costume finds from the graves of Herjolfsnes). And they afforded 36 churches, with incredibly expensive glass windows.

There are several theories for the sudden disappearance of the Norman Greenlanders:

  1. The climate theory (" Little Ice Age "). Excavations show that the Greenlanders had adapted the architecture of their houses to the environment. In addition, the end of the 15th century was a rather milder period, the real climax was only about a hundred years after their "disappearance".
  2. They emigrated to North America: Very unlikely, since they had not had seaworthy ships for a long time. Also: why should a conservative small farming population who had successfully farmed a new land for 500 years leave it so suddenly? Without leaving a trace, when there had been so many before?
  3. The Inuit intermingling theory (Skraelingen, as they were then called), which can be falsified today. The Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen represented them passionately.
  4. The colony was wiped out by English, German , Basque or Portuguese pirates. According to an Inuit story recorded by Niels Egede (son of Hans Egede ), there should have been fights between the Grænlendingarn - known by the Inuit as Norwegians - and foreign ship crews. In later sources, e.g. B. in Olaus Magnus ' De gentibus septentrionalis , around 1555, it is alleged that there was a pirate base in Greenland around 1494, which was relevant in the conflict over Iceland trade between English merchants, the Danish crown and the Hanseatic League be.
  5. Probably the extermination of the European Greenlanders by the Inuit. Numerous finds of loot in Inuit graves, z. B. household items and broken bell parts speak for it.

In the meantime, however, the first evidence for the theory of the Little Ice Age is available. Scientists at Brown University in Providence , Rhode Island, have found solid evidence of rapid climate change in the sediment of a Viking settlement near Kangerlussuaq .

The latest research and archaeological excavations by Danish scientists showed that the Norman Greenlanders had adapted well to the deteriorating climate by switching to seal fishing . Seals made up up to 80% of their diet. The herds of cattle were replaced by more frugal goats and sheep. The abandonment of the settlements can be attributed to several factors: The abandonment of the traditional way of life in favor of that of the Inuit weakened the identity of the settlers. Walrus teeth and seal skins were hardly in demand anymore, so there were hardly any merchant ships with urgently needed timber and iron tools on the island. Many young and energetic residents left Greenland until the settlements were finally abandoned, apparently planned. The Black Death and rural exodus had depopulated large parts of Iceland and Norway, so that there was enough better settlement land for the resettlers.

The American physiologist and geographer Jared Diamond (2006, p. 335) put it this way: “With the arrival of the Inuit and the inability or unwillingness of the Vikings to allow profound changes, were the quintet of factors behind the fall of the Greenlandic colony stood, finally complete. "

Portuguese in Greenland

Before 1473, João Vaz Corte-Real and his son Gaspar are said to have set foot in Greenland. That is why there are maps from this time that show Greenland as Portuguese territory .

The role of the Norwegians and Danes

"Apostle of the Greenlanders": Hans Egede (1686–1758)

There has been a Norwegian-Icelandic settlement in south and central Greenland since the Christianization of the Vikings. After the settlements of the Northmen went under, Greenland was "rediscovered" in 1721 and settled by Danes. Economically only bases for whaling and fishing were interesting for Denmark-Norway .

With the landing of the Danish-Norwegian pastor Hans Egede in 1721, the evangelical missionary work of the Inuit begins , in which German missionaries also played a major role. In 1733 the first Moravians landed on Greenland - Christian and Matthäus Stach and Christian David (see also Noorliit ). Trading stations were built at the same time . In 1776 the Kongelige Grønlandske Handel (KGH) got the trading monopoly over Greenland. The KGH also took on the administration and other missionary activities.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Greenland was repeatedly visited by Dutch, Danish-Norwegian, German and other whalers. The "Greenland Voyage" made a significant contribution to the economic development of Flensburg , which at the time was the second largest port in the entire Danish state.

In 1814, in the Peace of Kiel, the Danish-Norwegian personal union was dissolved, and Greenland fell to Denmark.

From 1862, the locals were formally involved in the local administration of social affairs. From 1911 local councils and two district councilors were established , and from 1925 the country was ruled by the Grønlands styrelse , whose director was subordinate to the Danish State Ministry . In 1953 Greenland became an equivalent province in the Kingdom of Denmark.

Systematic exploration of the coasts

From 1876 the west coast up to 74 ° 30 ′ north latitude was explored in detail on the initiative of the Danish Commission for the Geological and Geographical Survey of Greenland . The research was financed by the Danish state. The Melville Bay north of this stretch of coast was examined by Eivind Astrup (1871–1895) in 1894 , and Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen and Harald Moltke in 1903/04 more intensively . The area north of Cape York (76 ° N Br.) Was mainly by a number of British and American expeditions under John Ross , Edward Inglefield , Isaac Israel Hayes , Charles Francis Hall , George Nares , Adolphus Greely and especially by Robert Edwin Peary known who reached the northern end of Greenland in 1901.

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld explored the east coast up to 66 ° north latitude in 1883 , the Danes Thomas Vilhelm Garde and Gustav Frederik Holm from 1883 to 1885 and later various other expeditions. The distance up to 70 ° n. Br. Was mapped from 1898 to 1900 by the Dane Georg Carl Amdrup . The fjord system of the Scoresbysund named after him, discovered by William Scoresby in 1822, was examined by the Dane Carl Hartvig Ryder in 1891/1892 , the Swede Alfred Gabriel Nathorst (except for 72 ° n. Br.) In 1899 and the Dane Nikolaj Hartz in 1900 .

The large system of the bays König-Oskar-Fjord and Kaiser-Franz-Joseph-Fjord was examined and mapped by Nathorst in 1899. The route from Kaiser-Franz-Joseph-Fjord to Cape Bismarck (77 °) was mainly explored by the German expedition from 1869 to 1870 under Carl Koldewey , who discovered the Kaiser-Franz-Joseph-Fjord. In 1905 the Belgian Adrian de Gerlache succeeded for the first time in a ship up to 78 ° north latitude. This stretch of coast was completely investigated during a Danish expedition from 1906 to 1908 under Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen . The research went so far that it reached the northern tip of Greenland and penetrated into the area on the west side, which had already been visited by Robert Edwin Peary.

20th century and present

In the First World War, Denmark remained (and thus also Greenland) neutral.

With Knud Rasmussen , Greenland had its own polar explorer at the beginning of the 20th century, who undertook seven expeditions starting from Thule .

Norwegian-Danish conflict

In 1921 Denmark declared its sovereignty over Greenland. On the Norwegian side it was claimed that, according to the Peace of Kiel, Danish sovereignty only applied to the economically exploited areas in western Greenland. Nevertheless, Norway initially recognized the Danish claims.
However, when Denmark closed East Greenland to non-Danes, Norwegian protests rose again. In 1930 Norwegian fishermen began to occupy East Greenland with the benevolence of their government. In 1933 Norway finally gave up its claims to Greenland in favor of Denmark after an arbitration by the Permanent International Court of Justice in The Hague .

World War II and Cold War

During the Second World War , Denmark was occupied by Germany on April 9, 1940 as part of Operation Weser Exercise . From then on Greenland was cut off from Denmark. The Danish officials on site took over the state . One day after the German occupation, the Danish ambassador to the USA, Henrik Kauffmann , declared that he would no longer accept instructions from Copenhagen. Washington still regarded him as the Danish ambassador and entered into a treaty with him on April 9, 1941, which guaranteed the establishment of US bases in Greenland after German warships appeared off Greenland.

Subsequently, Greenland served primarily as a base for aircraft monitoring the Atlantic in search of German submarines and was used as a base and refueling station for its own sea missions. There was also beyond German attempts to the island for the construction of weather stations to use, all of which failed ( companies wood eye , company Bass Geiger , company Edelweiss and businesses migratory ). In response, a patrol service with sled dogs was set up in northeast Greenland ( Sirius patrol ).

Aerial view with Thule Air Base in the foreground

With the treaty of April 27, 1951, Greenland was converted into a joint Danish-American defense area under NATO control . From 1952 the USA built larger air bases such as Thule Air Base , because during the Cold War the proximity to the USSR across the North Pole played an important role for bombers and reconnaissance planes that could fly into the USSR along an orthodrome . In 1953 the Inuit from Thule were resettled to Qaanaaq .

Decolonization

The Danish trade monopoly expired as early as 1950. Greenland was thus opened to free trade . The KGH also lost its administrative power. The head of administration was a governor appointed by Denmark , and there was a democratically elected district administrator (landsråd), who only had an advisory role.

The construction of the infrastructure was taken over by Grønlands Tekniske Forvaltning (GTO) (until 1987). New technical possibilities such as airplanes , helicopters , icebreakers , trawlers etc. made it possible to create a supply situation on a European level.

With the entry into force of the new Danish Basic Law on June 5, 1953, Greenland was no longer a colony. The country was on the Danish model in three administrative regions or provinces (Danish lonely (Danish) with a total of 18 municipalities kommuner divided). Since 1953 Greenland has also sent two democratically elected MPs to the Danish Folketing (for the first time since the election on September 22, 1953).

On August 30, 1955, a special Greenland Ministry was set up in Copenhagen , which existed until 1987. The first Greenland Minister was Johannes Kjærbøl . The last minister for Greenland was Tom Høyem .

Effects of industrialization

The formal decolonization and economic opening were not without consequences for the traditional hunter society of the Inuit, so that many also spoke of a "cultural colonization", from which the Inuit were largely protected in times of isolation.

In the first decades after the Second World War, the hunting society was suddenly catapulted into the industrial age . The upheavals created better living conditions and training opportunities according to European (Danish) standards, but also led to a profound national identity crisis. Alcohol abuse and crime became problems.

Since the beginning of the 1960s, the national movement with its demand for self-government became stronger and stronger and discharged itself through a law in which Danes should be entitled to a higher wage than native Greenlanders for the same work . After Denmark (with Greenland) joined the European Community in 1973, the protest intensified again, because in the corresponding Danish referendum on October 2, 1972, only 3905 Greenlanders voted for membership, while 9386 were against.

As a result, a Greenland-Danish commission with equal representation was formed in 1975 to draft an autonomy law modeled on the Faroe Islands .

autonomy

As a result of the negotiations of the Danish-Greenlandic Commission, a corresponding regulation was passed by the Folketing in 1978 . In the following referendum in Greenland on January 17, 1979, the great majority of Greenlanders spoke out in favor of this autonomy law.

On May 1, 1979, Greenland finally achieved its self-government and internal autonomy with its own parliament and government. The first Prime Minister was Jonathan Motzfeldt .

Due to its affiliation with Denmark, Greenland was a member of the European Community, with the result that European corporations were able to search for mineral resources on Greenland and European, especially West German, fishing fleets could fish in the waters of Greenland ( overfishing ). In contrast, a popular movement developed with the aim of ending membership in the European Community. On February 23, 1982 there was a referendum in Greenland to leave the European Community, which took place on January 1, 1985. However, Greenland still enjoys the status of an “associated overseas country” in the EU with the advantages of a customs union .

On November 25, 2008, a referendum was held to expand autonomy. With a turnout of almost 72%, 39,611 eligible voters voted. A large majority of 75.5% voted in favor of extended autonomy.

On June 21, 2009, an agreement on extended autonomy came into force, making Greenland even more independent from Denmark. Only foreign and defense policy remain a Danish responsibility. Kalaallisut , the native Inuit language, becomes the national language; the Greenland government is responsible for the police, the judiciary and the coast guard ; the Danish Queen Margrethe formally remains head of state of Greenland.

After the end of the Cold War, Greenland's military importance faded, but the USA is making efforts to be able to set up ground stations on Greenland for the planned US nuclear missile interception shield .

literature

  • Jared Diamond : Collapse. Why societies survive or perish. From the American by Sebastian Vogel. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 978-3-596-16730-2 ; Chapter 7: The prime of Norman Greenland , pp. 262-310; Chapter 8: The End of Norman Greenland , pp. 311–345.
  • Lutz Mohr , Robert Liese: Vikings between Pomerania and the Arctic Circle. Sagas or truth. 2nd Edition. Leo-Verlag, Horn-Bad Meinberg 2002, ISBN 3-9805594-0-8 , Chapter 18: Erik the Red - the Greenland explorer and his clan of Viking Vinland drivers , pp. 110–120.
  • Felix Niedner (Ed.): Greenlanders and Faroese stories. Thule, Volume 13, transferred from Felix Niedner. New edition with afterword by Siegfried Beyschlag . Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Düsseldorf / Cologne 1965.
  • Kirsten A. Seaver : On course for Thule. The voyages of discovery of the Vikings. Translated from English by Karin Schuler. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-8062-2411-5 .

Web links

Commons : History of Greenland  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Greenland  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Reproduced in English in the last third of archaeology.org
  2. ↑ Disputed: Kirsten A. Seaver: The frozen echo: Greenland and the exploration of North America, approx. AD 1000–1500 . P. 199 f.
  3. ↑ Dirk Förger: A cold climate drove the Vikings out of Greenland. Wissenschaft aktuell magazine, May 31, 2012, accessed on September 19, 2012 : “From the sediment samples from two lakes near the settlement area around today's city of Kangerlussuaq, they were able to work out a complete climate history of the last 5600 years, they report in the science journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. "This is the first quantitative temperature log for the area they really lived in," said William D'Andrea of ​​Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. "There was actually a drop in temperature just before the Vikings disappeared." As a result, the time spent farming was reduced and there was less feed for the cattle. In addition, the glacial period would have hindered trade considerably, as the sea was blocked by ice for much longer. "
  4. ^ Günther Stockinger: When the Tranfunzeln went out . In: Der Spiegel . No. 2 , 2013, p. 104 f . ( online - bone analysis shows how the Vikings on Greenland adapted to the cooling in the Middle Ages: cattle breeders became seal hunters. Why did they give up their colony?).
  5. ↑ Greenland . In: Theodor Westrin (Ed.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 10 : Gossler-Harris . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1909, Sp. 491 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
  6. ↑ New autonomy status: Greenland is cutting its cord from Denmark . Spiegel Online , June 21, 2009; Retrieved June 21, 2009