Facts about Greenland
Greenland has no land boundaries and 24,430 miles (39,330 km) of coastline, a distance roughly equivalent to the Earth's circumference at the Equator.
Inuit drum dances were a declining tradition and in modern Greenland are being replaced by amateur theater groups such as Silamiut, who used elements of indigenous music with masks, face painting and other techniques.
Greenland suffered economic contraction in the early 1990s, but since 1993 the economy has improved.
Nearly all Greenlanders live along the fjords in the south-west of the main island, which has a relatively mild climate.
Greenland has been a self-governing overseas administrative division of Denmark since 1979.
Greenland today is critically dependent on fishing and fish exports; the shrimp fishing industry is by far the largest income earner.
Several American and Danish military bases are located in Greenland, including the US Thule Air Base.
Greenland had a population of around 55,000, of whom 88 percent are Inuit or mixed Danish and Inuit.
The colonial status of Greenland was lifted in 1953, when it became an integral part of the Danish kingdom, with representation in the Folketing.
Greenland possesses the world's second largest ice sheet, which covers over 80 percent of its land mass.
The transportation system in Greenland is very unusual in that it has no railways, no inland waterways and virtually no roads between towns.
Modern technology has made Greenland more accessible, not least due to the breakthrough of aviation.
Politics of Greenland takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic Danish dependency, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system.
The northernmost point of Greenland proper is Cape Morris Jesup, discovered by Admiral Robert Peary in 1909.
Greenland is not a member of FIFA nor of any continental confederation and therefore is not eligible to enter the World Cup or other sanctioned tournaments.
Greenland also has a coastguard that patrols the Greenlandic coast and carries out search and rescue operations.
Greenland had been a protected and thereby very isolated society until 1940.
The Sirius Patrol, guarding the northeastern shores of Greenland using dog sleds, detected and destroyed several German weather stations, giving Denmark a better position in the postwar turmoil.
Greenland was also called Gruntland ("Ground-land") and Engronelant (or Engroneland) on early maps.
The Atlantic Ocean borders Greenland's southeast; the Greenland Sea is to the east; the Arctic Ocean is to the north; and Baffin Bay is to the west.
During World War II, Greenland's connection to Denmark was severed on April 9, 1940 when Denmark was occupied by Germany.
FIFA's recent approval of FieldTurf may allow Greenland to create FIFA-standard playing pitches and apply to play full internationals.
The total area of Greenland measures 836,109 square miles (2,166,086 sq km), of which the Greenland ice sheet covers 677,676 sq mi (1,755,637 kmІ), or 81 percent.
Greenland, which is about one quarter the size of the United States and about the size of Saudi Arabia, was home to a number of Paleo-Eskimo cultures in prehistory.
In 1953, Greenland was made an equal part of the Danish Kingdom; home rule was granted in 1979.
Denmark also began a program of providing medical service and education to the Greenlanders.
The Danish government, which governed the colonies of Greenland, had been convinced that the society would face exploitation from the outside world or even extinction if the country was opened up.
Greenland was to be a modern welfare society with Denmark as the sponsor and example.
Following the ceding of operational control of Greenland to the United States by Denmark for the period in which that country was occupied by Germany during World War II, airports were built on the island.
Greenlandic is spoken by about 50,000 people, some of whom are monolingual.
Greenland, (Greenlandic: Kalaallit Nunaat, meaning "Land of the Kalaallit (Greenlanders)," the largest island in the world, is located between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Canada and northwest of Iceland.
The Greenlandic language is the most populous of the languages of the Eskimo-Aleut language family, having as many speakers as all the other languages of the family combined.
Drum dances are the "only truly indigenous music" in Greenland, and are part of a roots revival in modern times.
Greenlanders felt the European customs union would be harmful to their trade, which was largely carried out with non-European countries such as the United States and Canada.
Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Assembly of Representatives of Morocco and the Assembly of Councillors.
Greenland is a member of the International Island Games Association and has taken part in football (soccer) at the Island Games.
The nearest countries are Iceland, east of Greenland in the Atlantic Ocean, and Canada, to the west and across Baffin Bay.
That view contrasts sharply with the prevailing one that a lush forest of this kind could only have existed in Greenland as recently as 2.4 million years ago.
The Government of Greenland does not have control of her military or foreign affairs.
Country-wide folk traditions included storytelling, which declined greatly after the introduction of the South Greenland Printing Press in 1857.
The northeastern part of Greenland, which includes sections of North Greenland and East Greenland, is not part of any municipality, but is the site of the world's largest national park, Northeast Greenland National Park.
After settling there, he named the land Grжnland ("Greenland"), possibly in order to attract more people to settle there.
Between 1989 and 1993, U.S. and European climate researchers drilled into the summit of Greenland's ice sheet, obtaining a pair of two-mile-long (3.2 km) ice cores.
Through the cryolite from the mine in Ivigtыt, Greenland was able to pay for goods bought in the United States and Canada.
Two years later the first step towards an alteration of the governing of Greenland was initiated when a grand commission was founded.
Approximately one-twentieth of the world's ice and one-quarter of the earth's surface ice is found in Greenland.
On February 23, 1982, a majority (53 percent) of Greenland's population voted to leave the European Community, which it did in 1985.
The public sector, including publicly owned enterprises and the municipalities, plays the dominant role in Greenland's economy.
The Inuit and the Danish peoples of Greenland have both maintained their distinct styles of folk music.
All towns and settlements of Greenland are situated along the ice-free coast, with the population being concentrated along the Western coast.
The culture of Greenland has much in common with Inuit tradition, as the majority of people are descended from Inuit.
The Greenland Home Rule Government (GHRG) has pursued a tight fiscal policy since the late 1980s which has helped create surpluses in the public budget and low inflation.
In 1978, Denmark granted home rule to Greenland, making it an equal member of the Rigsfжllesskab.
Greenlandic Inuit folk songs are performed to tell stories, play games and tease or charm others.
The glaciers of Greenland are also contributing to global sea level rise at a faster rate than was previously believed.
Greenland is the world's largest island, and is the largest dependent territory by area in the world.
The Greenland National Football Team is controlled by the Football Association of Greenland.
International flights are limited to thrice weekly flights from Copenhagen to Kangerlussuaq and also to Narsarsauq with Air Greenland.
Most Greenlander players are eligible to play for Denmark, since Greenland is officially part of the country.
The other governor, Aksel Svane, was transferred to the United States as leader of the commission to supply Greenland.
Climatically, Greenland is divided into two very separate regions: the coastal region, much of which is ice free, and the inland ice sheet.
The Greenland Ice Sheet covers about 80 percent of the island, extending to the coast in places, and has an average elevation of 2.1 km (6900 feet) and a maximum elevation of 3.2 km (10,500 feet).
Norway occupied and claimed parts of (then uninhabited) East Greenland, also known as Erik the Red's Land, in July 1931, claiming that it constituted Terra nullius.
The coastline of Greenland is 24,430 mi (39,330 km) long, about the same length as the Earth's circumference at the Equator.
Coastal regions on the northern half of Greenland experience winter temperatures similar to or slightly warmer than the Canadian Archipelago, with average January temperatures of ?30 °C to ?25 °C (?22 °F to ?13 °F).
The official languages of Greenland are Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) and Danish, and most of the population speak both of the languages.
Greenland has no land boundaries and 24,430 miles (39,330 km) of coastline, a distance roughly equivalent to the Earth's circumference at the Equator.