Imagery By Hank Silverberg Greenland is anything but green. Eighty percent of the island is ice capped, and the 56 thousand or so people who reside there all live in small towns along the coast. The name “Greenland,” or “Groenland” in old Norse, was a marketing tool used by Eric the Red in the 10 th Century to draw Viking settlers to the land. It didn’t work. The island is now owned by Denmark, and about a third of its population, about 16 thousand people, live in the capital of Nuuk. (Homes in Nuuk,, Courtesy of Greenland.gov) Why is this relevant? Well, Donald Trump says he wants to buy Greenland. It’s not the first time an American has suggested this. The United States made inquiries as early as 1867 about buying the island. After all, “Seward’s Folly,” the other frozen tundra, Alaska, which the U.S. had bought from Russia the same year, looked very promising. The United States sent troops to Greenland during World War Two f or strategic r...
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Showing posts from August 18, 2019