Greenland

Greenland (Greenlandic: Kalaalit Nunaat), officially the Republic of Greenland (Greenlandic: Kunngiitsuuffik Kalaalit Nunaat) is a sovereign state between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Arctic Archipelago. It is the world's most sparsely populated country with less than 0.1 people per square mile. Greenland is divided into three counties, which are further divided into nineteen municipalities, each with its own municipal council elected by popular vote on block lists by proportional representation to serve one-year terms. The country's capital and most populous town is, which contains almost a half of Greenland's population and acts as the capital of Nuuk minicipality and the Kitaa county.

Early Greenland
The prehistory of Greenland is a story of repeated waves of Paleo-Eskimo immigration from the islands north of the North American mainland. (The peoples of those islands are thought to have descended, in turn, from inhabitants of Siberia who migrated into Canada thousands of years ago.) Because of Greenland's remoteness and climate, survival there was difficult. Over the course of centuries, one culture succeeded another as groups died out and were replaced by new immigrants. Archaeology can give only approximate dates for the cultures that flourished before the Norse exploration of Greenland in the 10th century. The earliest known cultures in Greenland are the Saqqaq culture (2500–800 BC) and the Independence I culture in northern Greenland (2400–1300 BC). The practitioners of these two cultures are thought to have descended from separate groups that came to Greenland from North American mainland and from islands of the Arctic archipelago. Around 800 BC, the so-called Independence II culture arose in the region where the Independence I culture had previously existed. it was originally thought that Independence II was succeeded by the early Dorset culture (700 BC–1 AD), but some Independence II artifacts date from as recently as the 1st century BC. Recent studies suggest that, in Greenland at least, the Dorset culture may be better understood as a continuation of Independence II culture; the two cultures have therefore been designated "Greenlandic Dorset". Artefacts associated with early Dorset culture in Greenland have been found as far north as Inglefield Land on the west coast and the Dove Bugt area on the east coast.

Norse settlement
Europeans became aware of Greenland's existence, probably in the early 10th century, when Gunnbjörn Ulfsson, sailing from Norway to Iceland, was blown off course by a storm, and happened to sight some islands off Greenland. During the 980s, explorers led by Erik the Red set out from Iceland and reached the southwest coast of Greenland, found the region uninhabited, and settled there. Erik named the island Greenland (Grœnland in Old Norse, Grænland in modern Icelandic, Grønland in modern Danish and Norwegian) in effect as a marketing device. Both the Book of Icelanders (Íslendingabók, a medieval account of Icelandic history from the 12th century onward) and the Saga of Eric the Red (Eiríks saga rauða, a medieval account of his life and of the Norse settlement of Greenland) state "He named the land Greenland, saying that people would be eager to go there if it had a good name. The Norse established their settlements along fjords (such as the Tunuliarfik and Aniaaq fjords in the central area of the Eastern settlement). Because this was during the so-called Medieval Warm Period, the vegetation there was very different from what it is today. Excavations have shown that the fjords at that time were surrounded by forests of 4 to 6 metre tall birch trees and by hills covered with grass and willow brush. The Norse probably cleared the landscape by felling trees to use as building material and fuel, and by allowing their sheep and goats to graze there in both summer and winter. According to the sagas, Erik the Red was exiled from Iceland for three years for committing murder. He sailed to Greenland, where he explored the coastline and claimed certain regions as his own. He then returned to Iceland to persuade people to join him in establishing a settlement on Greenland. The Icelandic sagas say that 25 ships left Iceland with Erik the Red in 985, and that only 14 of them arrived safely in Greenland. This date has been approximately confirmed by radiocarbon dating of remains at the first settlement at Brattahlid (now Qassiarsuk), which yielded a date of about 1000. According to the sagas, it was also in the year 1000 that Erik's son, Leif Eirikson, left the settlement to explore the regions around Vinland, which is generally assumed to have been located in what is now Newfoundland. The Norse settled in three separate locations: the larger Eastern settlement, the smaller Western settlement, and the still smaller Middle Settlement (often considered part of the Eastern one). The settlements at their height are estimated to have had a population of between 2,000 and 10,000 people, with more recent estimates tending toward the lower figure. Ruins of approximately 620 farms have been identified: 500 in the Eastern settlement, 95 in the Western settlement, and 20 in the Middle. The settlements carried on a trade in ivory from walrus tusks with Europe, as well as exporting rope, sheep, seals, wool and cattle hides according to one 13th-century account. They depended on Iceland and Norway for iron tools, wood (especially for boat building, although they may also have obtained wood from coastal Labrador), supplemental foodstuffs, and religious and social contacts. Trade ships from Iceland and Norway traveled to Greenland every year and would sometimes overwinter in Greenland. Beginning in the late 13th century, all ships from Greenland were required by law to sail directly to Norway. The climate also became increasingly colder in the 14th and 15th centuries, during the period of colder weather known as the Little Ice Age. In 1126, a diocese was founded at Garðar (now Igaliku). It was subject to the Norwegian archdiocese of Nidaros (now Trondheim); at least five churches in Norse Greenland are known from archeological remains. In 1261, the population accepted the overlordship of the Norwegian King as well, although it continued to have its own law. In 1380 the Norwegian kingdom entered into a personal union with the Kingdom of Denmark. After initially thriving, the Norse settlements declined in the 14th century. The Western Settlement was abandoned around 1350. In 1378, there was no longer a bishop at Garðar. The last written record of the Norse Greenlanders is of a marriage, in 1408, in Hvalsey Church, which still stands today; although in ruins, it is the best-preserved of the Norse buildings of that period. After 1408 not many written records mention the settlers. There is correspondence between the Pope and the Biskop Bertold af Garde from the same year. The Danish Cartographer Claudius Clavus seems to have visited Greenland in 1420, according to documents written by Nicolas Germanus and Henricus Martellus who had access to original cartographic notes and a map by Clavus. Two mathematical manuscripts containing the second chart of the Claudius Clavus map from his journey to Greenland, where he himself mapped the area, were found during the late 20th century by the Danish scholar Bjönbo and Petersen.

In a letter dated 1448 from Rome, Pope Nicholas V prescribed the bishops of Skálholt and Hólar (the two Icelandic episcopal sees) to ensure to provide the inhabitants of Greenland with priests and a bishop, the latter of which they hadn't had in the 30 years since the apparent coming of the heathens when most churches were destroyed and the people taken away as prisoners. It is probable that the Eastern Settlement was defunct by the middle of the 15th century although no exact date has been established.