Prof. Philip Steinberg, Durham University Arctic expert, described Greenland as a crossroads both geographically — between Europe and North America, and at the heart of an increasingly significant Arctic — and historically, after more than 4,000 years of habitation.
The earliest settlers were the Saqqaq (c.2500–900 BCE) and Independence I (c.2500–1800 BCE) cultures, followed by Independence II and the Dorset culture from around 800 BCE. The Thule (Inuit) arrived around 1100 CE and are the dominant ancestors of today's Greenlanders, bringing dog sleds, whaling technology and large skin boats.
The Norse arrived in 985–986 CE under Erik the Red, who coined "Greenland" as an enticement to settlers, and the colony persisted until around 1450 CE. Danish colonisation resumed in 1721 under Hans Egede; Copenhagen established a trade monopoly and, after Denmark's defeat in the Napoleonic Wars, retained Greenland when it ceded Norway to Sweden in 1814. Norway's claim was settled by 1933.
During WWII, the US occupied Greenland to deny it to Nazi Germany. In 1945 the US offered to purchase Greenland; Denmark declined. US/NATO bases followed; the 1968 B-52 crash carrying nuclear weapons near Thule caused serious diplomatic tension, as nuclear weapons were prohibited under the US–Danish agreement. Project Iceworm, a 1960s Cold War plan to deploy up to 600 nuclear missiles in tunnels beneath the ice sheet, was cancelled in 1963 because the ice moved far faster than anticipated.
Resentment of Copenhagen grew through the postwar decades. From the 1950s Danish authorities removed children to mainland Denmark for schooling, many never returning, while Danish was imposed as the sole official language. The "Coil Campaign" scandal, first widely exposed in 2022, involved Danish physicians fitting thousands of Greenlandic Inuit women and girls — some as young as 12 — with IUDs without consent, from the 1960s through to the 1990s.
Greenland gained home rule in 1979 — promptly using it to leave the EEC to protect fishing rights — and self-rule in 2009, with Denmark retaining control of defence and justice. Greenlandic language and place names were restored, and independence is now a live political ambition, complicated by the fact that Danish subsidies, worth over £8,000 per capita annually, currently fund roughly half of government revenue.
Social pressures are acute. The erosion of traditional hunting and fishing livelihoods has driven emigration, particularly among the young, and Greenland has one of the world's highest suicide rates. Much of the territory sees perpetual darkness for half the year and the weather is consistently harsh. Economic activity centres on fishing, hydropower — which supplies almost all electricity — and growing cruise tourism, though poor infrastructure limits its scale. International connectivity has improved, with a direct weekly service between Nuuk and Newark supplementing flights to Copenhagen, and the former US airstrip at Kangerlussuaq still handling larger aircraft. The abundance of hydropower and the natural cold have prompted speculation about Greenland as a future location for data centres. Over 90% of the land mass is covered by an ice sheet 1.6km thick, which could raise global sea levels by 7.4 metres if fully melted.
Trump's stated interest covers minerals, Arctic shipping routes, military positioning, and broader geopolitical rivalry — though significant practical obstacles attend each rationale.
Report by Ian Royston