How many of us think about Greenland? With their melting ice caps due to global warming and other environmental changes on our planet, Greenland has been receiving more and more attention. It is said that if all the ice that covers Greenland were to melt it would submerge cities like Manhattan Island in New York, Miami, London and Amsterdam.
This month's featured city is Nuuk, Greenland, the largest city and capitol of Greenland. On Tuesday, December 2, 2008 the people of Greenland will vote on a referendum bringing it steps closer to independence. We preface our introduction to Nuuk with an article found in the International Herald Tribune (November 25, 2008) and follow with some very interesting city information.
 Kejser Franz Josef Fjord, Greenland Nationalpark
Greenland: Further cracks in ties with Denmark?
Greenland, the world's largest island, is to vote Tuesday on whether it wants greater independence from Denmark, which colonized it nearly 300 years ago.
Greenland - 2,200,000 square kilometers, or 850,000 square miles, some 80 percent of which is covered by ice - has steadily been gaining more autonomy for decades and has had its own home-rule government since 1979. But it still depends on Denmark for much of its budget and is bound by Danish decisions in a variety of policy areas.
If it passes, the referendum on Tuesday will pave the way for Greenland's eventual independence from Denmark. The measure would allow Greenlanders to be recognized as a separate people under international law; make the Eskimo-Inuit tongue known as Greenlandic the island's official language; and give the home-rule government the option of taking more responsibility over areas like justice, defense and foreign affairs.
Perhaps more importantly, a "yes" vote would allow Greenland the opportunity to wean itself from its annual grant of $550 million by giving it control of the revenues from potential oil, gas and mineral finds. Experts say that huge quantities of natural resources are lurking offshore and under Greenland's melting ice cap, but it remains to be seen exactly what is there and how much it is worth.
Native Greenlanders have been talking about independence for years, but not until now has the island felt emboldened to take the next step toward it.
Polls show that the proposals have overwhelming support among Greenland's population of more than 56,000, nearly 90 percent of whom are native-born Inuit's. About 39,000 people are eligible to vote.
"The future of Greenland is being strengthened a lot with this," said Hans Jakob Helms, political adviser to Lars Emil Johansen, one of two Greenlandic members of the Danish Parliament. "This allows the Greenlandic people to decide themselves if, at a later date, they want independence."
Greenland has come a long way economically in the last few decades. But while 60 percent of its people live in the six largest towns, the rest live in more than 120 isolated, austere settlements and trading posts that have perhaps one store apiece and few job opportunities.
Outside the towns, people make their living by hunting and fishing. There is no national road network, and people rely on boats and planes to travel - weather permitting - from one area to another. Besides several dialects of Greenlandic, English and Danish is spoken.
Greenlanders stress that it may be several decades before Greenland is able to declare complete independence from Denmark but said that the vote was the next step in a long evolution toward that goal.
"Home rule was a compromise," Helms said. "It's a simple fact that home rule has reached its limit and there's a need for more room for self-government."
By Sarah Lyall
Monday, November 24, 2008
International Herald Tribune, November 25, 2008
Nuuk, Greenland
Nuuk (Danish: Godthåb) is the capital and largest city of Greenland. It is located at the mouth of the Nuup Kangerlua (Danish: Godthåbsfjorden) inlet on the west coast of Greenland, about 240 km (150 mi) south of the Arctic Circle. It has a population of 15,047 (as of January 2007), of whom 11,862 were born in Greenland.
The city is commonly known as Godthåb ("Good Hope") in Danish, although since home rule was enacted in 1979, the official name of the city is its Greenlandic name of Nuuk. It is also the seat of government for the municipality of Nuuk, which encompasses about 100,000 km² (39,000 square miles) of Greenland.
 Panoramic view of Nuuk
In January of 2006, Nuuk joined with four other municipalities and now has a collective area of 635,000 square kilometers, making it one of the largest municipalities in the world by land area. However, its population of just over 15,000 people makes it also one of the smallest capital cities in the world by population.
Nuuk is home to the University of Greenland (Ilisimatusarfik). Air services to the city are operated by Air Greenland.
Greenland
Greenland (Kalaallisut: Kalaallit Nunaat, meaning "Land of the Greenlanders"; Danish: Grønland) is a self-governing Danish province located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
Though physiographically and ethnically an Arctic island country, and geographically a part of the continent of North America, politically and historically Greenland is associated with Europe, specifically Iceland, Norway, and Denmark. In 1978, Denmark granted home rule to Greenland, making it an equal member of the United Kingdom of Denmark.
Greenland is, by area, the world's largest island which is not a continent in its own right.
History
 Scoresby Sund in East Greenland
Norway occupied and claimed parts of the then-uninhabited East Greenland (also called Erik the Red's Land) in July 1931, claiming that it constituted Terra nullius. Norway and Denmark agreed to submit the matter in 1933 to the Permanent Court of International Justice, which decided against Norway.
Greenland's connection to Denmark was severed on April 9, 1940, when, early in World War II, Denmark was occupied by Germany. Greenland was able to buy goods from the United States and Canada by selling cryolite from the mine in Ivittuut.
Greenland had been a protected and very isolated society until 1940. The Danish government, which governed Greenland as its colony, had been convinced that the society would face exploitation from the outside world or even extinction if the country was opened up. But wartime Greenland developed a sense of self-reliance through self-government and independent communication with the outside world.
Sovereignty
In the early 20th century, the United States was believed to have claims made good by discovery and exploration of the Peary expeditions. In 1933, Norway attempted to claim eastern Greenland, but the Permanent Court of Arbitration decided that the entire island belonged to Denmark. During the Cold War, the United States developed a geopolitical interest in Greenland, and therefore in 1946, the United States offered to buy Greenland from Denmark for $100,000,000, but Denmark did not agree to sell.
Greenland became an integral part of the Kingdom of Denmark in 1953. It was granted home rule by the Danish parliament in 1979. The law went into effect on May 1, 1979.
A referendum on further self-rule is scheduled for November 25, 2008.
Politics
Greenland's Head of State is currently Margrethe II. The Queen's government in Denmark appoints a High commissioner representing the Danish government and monarchy.
Greenland has an elected parliament of thirty-one members. The head of government is the Prime Minister, who is usually the leader of the majority party in Parliament. The current Prime Minister is Hans Enoksen.
In 1985, Greenland left the European Community (EC), unlike Denmark which remains a member. The EC later became the EU (European Union) when it was renamed and expanded in scope in 1992. Greenland retains some ties with the EU via Denmark.
Geography and climate
 South Greenland, near Nanortalik
The total area of Greenland measures 2,166,086 km² (836,109 sq mi), of which the Greenland ice sheet covers 1,755,637 km² (677,676 sq mi) (81%) and has a volume of approximately 2.85 million km³. The weight of the ice has depressed the central land area into a basin shape, whose base lies more than 300 meters (984 ft) below the surrounding ocean. The coastline of Greenland is 39,330 km (24,430 miles) long, about the same length as the Earth's circumference at the Equator. The highest point on Greenland is Gunnbjørn at 3,694 meters (12,119 ft). However, the majority of Greenland is under 1,524 meters (5,000 ft) elevation.
All towns and settlements of Greenland are situated along the ice-free coast, with the population being concentrated along the Western coast. The northeastern part of Greenland, which includes sections of North Greenland and East Greenland, is not part of any municipality, but is the site of the world's largest national park, Northeast Greenland National Park.
Economy
Greenland today is critically dependent on fishing and fish exports; the shrimp fishing industry is by far the largest income earner. Despite resumption of several interesting hydrocarbon and mineral exploration activities, it will take several years before hydrocarbon production can materialize. The state oil company NUNAOIL was created in order to help develop the hydrocarbon industry in Greenland. The state company Nunamineral has been launched on the OMX20 Stock exchange of Copenhagen to raise more capital to increase the newly started gold production. Exploitation of ruby deposits have also begun, even though production is still in its dawn. Numerous other mineral prospects are growing increasingly interesting as prices are increasing; these include uranium, aluminum, nickel, platinum, tungsten, titanium, and copper.
Tourism is the only sector offering any near-term potential and even this is limited due to a short season and high costs. The public sector, including publicly owned enterprises and the municipalities, plays the dominant role in Greenland's economy. About half the government revenues come from grants from the Danish Government, an important supplement to the gross domestic product (GDP). Gross domestic product per capita is equivalent to that of the weaker economies of Europe.
 Colorful houses dot the town of Ittoqqortoormiit
Transportation
The major airport is Kangerlussuaq Airport on the West coast at Kangerlussuaq. Intercontinental flights connect mainly to Copenhagen, Denmark. As of May 2007, Air Greenland initiated a seasonal route to and from Baltimore in the United States. However, on March 10, 2008, the route was cancelled due to financial losses. Also new for summer 2007, Air Iceland plans to fly between Keflavík and Nuuk three times a week. In addition to these routes there are scheduled international flights between Narsarsuaq and Copenhagen and between Kulusuk on the East coast to Reykjavík, Iceland. Kangerlussuaq is the hub for domestic flights within Greenland.
To learn more about the largest island in the world be sure to visit www.wikipedia.com. We will let you know the results of the December 2 referendum in our next issue.
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