Simple directory > Regional > Greenland

Official name: Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat) Head of State: Queen Margrethe II (of Denmark) Head of government: Prime Minister Hans Enoksen (leader of the Siumut party) Ruling party: Coalition government between the Siumut and Inuit Ataqatigiit parties (from 2003, re-elected November 2005) Area: 2,166,086 square km, of which 410,449 square km is not covered by ice Population: 56,700 (2004) Capital: Nuuk (Godthåb) Official language: Greenlandic Inuit and Danish Currency: Danish krone (Kr) = 100 ore Exchange rate: Kr5.75 per US$ (Nov 2004) GDP per capita: US$20,000 (2003) GDP real growth: 1.80% (2003) Labour force: 31,763 (2003) Unemployment: 7.40% (2003) Inflation: 1.60% (2003) Balance of trade: -US$39.00 million (2003) Foreign debt: US$25.00 million (2003) Visitor numbers: 14,000 (2003)* * estimated figure

 

Historical profile
Greenland first came under Danish rule in the fourteenth century.

1939–45 During the German occupation of Denmark in the Second World War, Greenland came under US protection.

1953 Greenland ceased to be a colony and became a county of the Danish Kingdom.

1973 Greenland joined the EEC (later EU) as part of Denmark.

1979 Home Rule was granted to Greenland.

1985 Greenland left the EEC. Greenland had voted `no' to EEC membership in 1972 and again in 1982 and the Danish government had given the Greenlanders the right to decide about membership as the EEC was considered an economic arrangement, not a foreign policy question.

1987 A disagreement with Denmark over the presence of a US military radar system in Thule led to the fall of the coalition government.

1991 Parliamentary elections resulted in a coalition government composed of the Siumit party and the Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) (Inuit Brotherhood).

1995 The IA receive the most votes in the elections, forming a coalition with Attásut. Lars Emil Johansen became prime minister.

1997 Lars Emil Johansen was appointed Director of Royal Greenland Ltd and Jonathan Motzfeldt took over as prime minister.

1999 The Siumut (Forward) Party retained its position as the largest party in the Landstinget (parliament) in the elections. Siumut formed a coalition with Atassut (Community), a centre-right party, the loser of the election.

2000 The first offshore oil well drilled in 20 years was dry, dashing hopes for the development of Greenland's hydrocarbons industry. NASA scientists found that the ice sheet which covers 85 per cent of Greenland's territory is melting by one metre per year.

2001 Greenpeace campaigned in Greenland against US plans to develop its National Missile Defense (NMD), which would be dependent on radar facilities on the island. Lars Emil Johansen was elected for Siumut to the Danish parliament; the IA took the other seat and was represented in the Danish parliament for the first time.

2002 The Home Rule administration announced that it would begin the first licensing round for oil exploration off the coast of Greenland by the end of the year. After parliamentary elections, Hans Enoksen, leader of the social democratic Siumut party, became prime minister, leading a coalition government comprising the Siumut and IA parties.

2003 The month-old coalition government collapsed on 16 January after political disagreement over a top official's use of a healer to cleanse the government offices of evil spirits. On 17 January, the Siumut party formed a coalition with the Atassut party, without the involvement of the IA. In September, a budget miscalculation meant that the coalition faced defeat in a confidence vote; a new governing coalition was formed between the Siumut and IA parties.

2004 Scientists said that Greenland's huge ice sheet could melt within the next 1,000 years and swamp low-lying areas around the world if emissions of carbon dioxide and global warming are not reduced.

 

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