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Greenland

Greenland (in Danish: Grønland, and in Greenlandic: Kalaallit Nunaat, literal meaning: "Land of the human") is the world's largest island, about 84% ice-cappedped (or ice-sheeted). Greenland was one of the Norwegian Crown colonies until 1814, when it went to Denmark. Danish territory since 1979, when the island was granted home rule (hjemmestyre) by the Danish parliament. The law went into effect the following year. The Queen of Denmark remains Greenland's Head of State, however.

The extreme north of Greenland is not covered by an ice cap (indicated as pale blue in the map to the right), because the air there is too dry to produce snow, which is essential in the production and maintenance of an ice cap.

If the Greenland ice cap were to completely melt away, Greenland would most likely be an archipelago instead of an island-continent like Australia.

The capital is Nuuk (Godthåb)

The government pledged to hold a referendum on full independence in 2005.

See Danish colonization of the Americas

From the CIA World Factbook 2000.

External links


Nordic Council:
Denmark  |  Finland  |  Iceland  |  Norway  |  Sweden
Åland  |  Faroe Islands  |  Greenland


Nordic Countries  |  Europe


Greenland is also a place name in the State of New Hampshire in the United States of America. See Greenland, New Hampshire.




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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Greenland".