Short answers, pulled from the story.
Greenland is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark and the largest of the kingdom's three constituent parts by land area. Citizens of Greenland are citizens of Denmark and therefore citizens of the European Union, although Greenland itself is not part of the EU.
The Norwegian exile Erik the Red named the island Greenland in the hope that a favourable name would attract settlers. The Saga of Erik the Red states he called it Greenland because people would be attracted there if it had a favourable name. In the Greenlandic language the territory is called Kalaallit Nunaat.
The Norse settlements, founded from 986 and never numbering more than about 2,500 people, disappeared during the 14th and early 15th centuries. Proposed causes include malnutrition, cooling during the Little Ice Age, the falling value of walrus ivory exports, conflict with the Inuit, and a refusal to adopt Inuit clothing and hunting methods.
Greenland had a population of 56,542 in 2025, making it the least densely populated country in the world. Nearly all residents live along the fjords of the southwest, and 19,905 people resided in the capital, Nuuk, that year. The population is estimated to be 89.5 percent Greenlandic Inuit.
Greenland holds strategic importance due to its position between Eurasia, North America, and the Arctic, its mineral wealth, and the melting of its ice from global warming. Since 2025, the United States has pursued threats to annex Greenland, triggering the Greenland crisis, following a failed attempt to purchase it during Donald Trump's first presidency.
From 1966 to 1974, Danish doctors fitted roughly 4,500 Greenland Inuit women and girls, about half of all fertile females, with intrauterine devices, sometimes without parental permission and including girls as young as 12. Fertility rates fell from 7 to 2.3 children per woman over eight years, the fastest fertility transition on record in human history. In 2022, Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke announced an investigation.
Greenland relies heavily on financial aid from Denmark, with the 2024 block grant amounting to 4.3 billion kroner, a third of public revenue. Fishing is the dominant industry, accounting for more than 90 percent of exports, while mining remains limited with only two active mines reported in March 2025.