Greenland 2002

Yearbook 2002

Greenland. Denmark’s new Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen visited in January Greenland President of the National Government Jonathan Motzfeldt demanded that Greenland be allowed to participate in the negotiations when the US and Denmark decide the future of the US robotic base Thule in northern Greenland. Motzfeldt was invited to join Fogh Rasmussen The NATO Summit in Prague in November. In addition, when the Danish Parliament was opened in the autumn, the Prime Minister stated that G. will partly be allowed to conduct his own foreign policy.

During the year an extensive debate was held on the social problems of G. Hundreds of children were considered to need care at institutions, but the lack of space was crying. According to the government’s social affairs officer, parents’ alcohol problems are the cause of many children and young people’s problems. In addition, a study showed that half of all Greenlanders have been affected by violence. Every third woman aged 18-24 has been subjected to sexual abuse.

During the fall, it became clear that after 49 years, the US returned the Dundas area at the Thule base to Denmark and Greenland. The US had to use the area when the base was expanded in 1953. that 130 Greenlanders were forced to relocate.

The self-government government, the national government, split during the fall and new elections were announced until the beginning of December. Social Democrat Siumut returned to the election but remained the largest party. Siumut’s new leader Hans Enoksen formed a new national government together with the left-wing party Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), who went ahead in the election. Both Siumut and IA want to increase G’s self-determination towards Denmark.

The east coast is most difficult to reach by boat as it is covered by drift ice throughout the year as a cold stream for down from the Arctic Ocean. The south-west coast is kept ice-free most of the year by a gentle current from the south, while the sea ice settles along the north-west coast in winter.

There are no roads between the Greenlandic communities. All transport is expensive as they have to be done by boat, plane, helicopter, snowmobile or dog sled. There are smaller airports in all cities and helicopter boards in just over half of the countryside. Civil airports that can receive large aircraft can be found in Kangerlussuaq in the middle of the west coast (Greenland’s central airport) and in Narsarsuaq in the south. The military air base in Thule (Pituffik) in the north can also receive large aircraft, but civil traffic is severely limited there.

Greenland had 55,800 inhabitants in 2016. Of these, 87 percent were born in Greenland and 11 percent in Denmark, while 2 percent were not Danish citizens. Nearly 17,000 inhabitants lived in Nuuk and just over 31,000 in the other 16 cities, most of which are on the west coast. More than 7,000 inhabitants lived in the approximately 60 settlements, half of which have 100 or fewer inhabitants. Around a quarter of all people born in Greenland (about 16,000 people) have moved to Denmark’s core country.

The current population is descended from Inuit (singular: Inuk – human) and calls themselves Kalaallite and the country Kalaallit Nunaat (the land of the Greenlanders). The Inuit originated in northeastern Siberia and migrated to Greenland west from about 2500 years before our era. However, the first immigrants resigned or went down. The ancestors of today’s Greenlanders began to arrive in the 13th century.

The Greenlanders have been able to read and write their own language for almost 200 years. The modern school system corresponds to the Danish but with Greenlandic as the language of instruction. Danish is read as first and English as other foreign language. There are three colleges, one folk high school, vocational schools and in Nuuk a small university. However, many Greenlanders study in Denmark.

Greenland has two publishers, Atuagkat and Milik Publishing. There is a live art and music life on the island. In Nuuk there is the Katuaq Culture House and, among other things, the National Library, the National Archives and the Greenland National Museum, which have taken over a large part of the National Museum’s Greenlandic collection.

Two newspapers are published weekly: Sermitsiaq and Atuagatliutit / Grønlandsposten (AG). The latter was founded as early as 1861. The two now collaborate on a joint online magazine and publish a weekly magazine, the women’s magazine Arnanu and the aviation magazine Suluk. In addition, there is Greenland Radio and TV (KNR) which downloads most of its programs from Denmark.