Greenland ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenlandic_language - Greenlandic : Kalaallit Nunaat, pronounced  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Greenlandic - [kalaːɬːitGrønland, pronounced  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Danish - [ˈkʁɶnˌlænˀ] ) is an  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_administrative_division - autonomous territory ^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-17 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-18 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-worldfactbook-19 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-worldfactbook-19 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-21 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-22 - Though a part of the continent of  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America - North America , Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe - Europe  (specifically  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway - Norway  and  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark - Denmark , the colonial powers) for more than a millennium, beginning in 986. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-Brown2000-23 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-natmus-24 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-25 - In 2021, Greenland had a population of 56,421. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-191 -  That year, 18,800 people resided in the capital city  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuuk - Nuuk . Nearly all Greenlanders live along the fjords in the south-west of the main island, which has a relatively mild climate, especially considering the high latitude upon which it lies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-192 -  Whereas the majority of the population lives north of 64°N in colder coastal climates, Greenland's warmest climates such as the vegetated area around  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narsarsuaq - Narsarsuaq  are sparsely populated.}

Greenland's connection to Denmark was severed on 9 April 1940, early in  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Greenland_during_World_War_II - World War II , after Denmark was occupied by  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Germany - Nazi Germany . On 8 April 1941, the United States occupied Greenland to defend it against a possible invasion by Germany. ^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-66 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluie - Bluie  as a code name for Greenland, where they kept several bases named "Bluie (East or West) (sequential numeral)". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-sem-67 - During this war, the system of government changed:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_governors_of_Greenland - Governor   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eske_Brun - Eske Brun  ruled the island under a law of 1925 that allowed governors to take control under extreme circumstances; Governor Aksel Svane was transferred to the United States to lead the commission to supply Greenland. The Danish  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sl%C3%A6depatruljen_Sirius - Sirius Patrol  guarded the northeastern shores of Greenland in 1942 using dog sleds. They detected several German  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_station - weather stations  and alerted American troops, who destroyed the facilities. After the collapse of the Third Reich,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Speer - Albert Speer  briefly considered escaping in a small aeroplane to hide out in Greenland, but changed his mind and decided to surrender to the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Armed_Forces - United States Armed Forces . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-68 - In 1867,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States - United States   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_of_State - Secretary of State   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Seward - William H. Seward  worked with former senator  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_J._Walker - Robert J. Walker  to explore the possibility of buying Greenland and, perhaps,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland - Iceland . Opposition in Congress ended this project. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-69 -  Following World War II, the United States developed a  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geopolitics - geopolitical  interest in Greenland and in 1946 offered to  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposed_United_States_purchase_of_Greenland - buy the island from Denmark  for $100,000,000; the Danish rejected the offer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-70 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-71 - In 1951 Denmark and the United States signed the Greenland Defense Agreement, which allowed the United States to keep its military bases in Greenland, and to establish new bases or "defense areas" if deemed necessary by  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO - NATO . The U.S. military could freely use and move between these defense areas, but was not to infringe upon Danish sovereignty in Greenland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-72 -  The United States greatly expanded  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thule_Air_Base - Thule Air Base  between 1951 and 1953 as part of a unified NATO defence strategy. The local population of three nearby villages was moved more than 100 km (62 miles) away in the winter. The United States tried to construct a subterranean network of secret  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_launch_facility - nuclear missile launch sites  in the Greenlandic ice cap, named  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Iceworm - Project Iceworm . According to documents declassified in 1996, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-73 -  this project was managed from  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Century - Camp Century  from 1960 to 1966 before abandonment as unworkable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-74 -  The missiles were never fielded, and necessary consent from the Danish Government to do so was never sought. The Danish government did not become aware of the programme's mission until 1997, when they discovered it while looking, in the declassified documents, for records related to the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Thule_Air_Base_B-52_crash - crash of a nuclear-equipped B-52 bomber  near the Thule air base in 1968. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#cite_note-h-bomb-75 -}

While Greenland is an  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_administrative_division - autonomous territory  within the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_Realm - Kingdom of Denmark , Greenlandic and Danish authorities have publicly asserted Greenland's right to  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-determination - self-determination  and stated that Greenland is "not for sale". Many Greenlanders support  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenlandic_independence - independence , and many Danes see the historical ties with Greenland as an integral part of Danish national identity.

The United States has long viewed Greenland as vital to national security. In the early 20th century, it included Greenland among several European possessions in the Western Hemisphere to preemptively seize and fortify in the event of a threatened attack on the US. During World War II, the US invoked its  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe_Doctrine - Monroe Doctrine  and  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_in_World_War_II - occupied Greenland  to prevent use by Germany following the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_invasion_of_Denmark_%281940%29 - German occupation of Denmark . The US military remained in Greenland after the war and, by 1948, Denmark abandoned attempts to persuade the U.S. to remove them. The following year, both countries became members of the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO - NATO  military alliance. A 1951 treaty gave the US a significant role in Greenland's defense. Today it has one military base there:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pituffik_Space_Base - Pituffik Space Base .

The  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_invasion_of_Denmark_%281940%29 - fall of Denmark  in April 1940 left the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark - Danish  colony of  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland - Greenland  an unoccupied territory of an occupied nation, under the possibility of seizure by the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom - United Kingdom ,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States - United States  or  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada - Canada . To forestall this, the United States acted to guarantee Greenland's position. With the entrance of the United States into the war in December 1941, Greenland became a combatant.

From 1941 until 1945, the United States established numerous and extensive facilities for air and sea traffic in Greenland, as well as radio beacons, radio stations, weather stations, ports, depots, artillery posts, and search-and-rescue stations. The  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Coast_Guard - United States Coast Guard  also provided a considerable portion of civilian resupply along both coasts.

Economically, Greenland traded successfully with the United States, Canada and  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estado_Novo_%28Portugal%29 - Portugal , which, supplemented by the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryolite - cryolite  exports, caused a reanimation and permanent realignment of the island's economy.

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Before the war, Greenland was a tightly controlled colony of Denmark, otherwise closed off to the rest of the world. After the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Weser%C3%BCbung - invasion of Denmark  on 9 April 1940, Greenland was left on its own, because the United Kingdom's  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Navy - Royal Navy  seized any ships arriving from Axis-controlled Europe. The UK and Canada initially laid plans to occupy points of interest on the island, but the United States, still neutral, firmly rejected "third party" intervention there. The sheriffs ("landsfogeder") of South and North Greenland,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eske_Brun - Eske Brun  and  https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aksel_Svane&action=edit&redlink=1 - Aksel Svane , invoking the emergency clause of a 1925 law specifying how Greenland was ruled, declared Greenland a self-ruling territory, believing this to be in the best interests of the colony as Denmark was occupied by  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Germany - Nazi Germany . This step was taken in coordination with the Danish ambassador to the United States,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrik_Kauffmann - Henrik Kauffmann , and the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_State - U.S. State Department , and comported with the American declaration of 1920 that no third nation would necessarily be accepted as a sovereign in Greenland. This diplomatic stance was seen as an extension of the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe_Doctrine - Monroe Doctrine . ^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_in_World_War_II#cite_note-Walling6-1 - Although the Danish government continued in power and still considered itself neutral, it was forced to obey German wishes in foreign policy matters. Kauffmann immediately recognized that his government was unable to exercise its full sovereignty, and therefore began to act in an independent capacity. On 13 April he took counsel with the Greenland sheriffs, and after some controversy they agreed to recognize him as their representative in the United States. Since the United States would not offer diplomatic recognition and aid to Greenland unless the local administration was independent, the sheriffs informed the local advisory parliament ("Landsraad") on 3 May that "there was no choice" but to act as a sovereign nation. The Danish Government continued to send orders to the colony via radio and through Portugal, but these messages were ignored. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_in_World_War_II#cite_note-Howarth8-2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_in_World_War_II#cite_note-Walling6-1 - The Greenlanders were also aware of the heavy  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Norway - Norwegian presence  in Canada. In the event that Canada attempted to occupy the colony, they were worried that  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Norwegian_Forces - Free Norwegian Forces  would be stationed in the area.}

Project Iceworm was a top secret  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army - United States Army  program of the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War - Cold War , which aimed to build a network of mobile  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon - nuclear missile  launch sites under the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_ice_sheet - Greenland ice sheet . The goal was to install a vast network of nuclear missile launch sites that could survive a  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-emptive_nuclear_strike - first strike . This was according to documents declassified in 1996. ^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Iceworm#cite_note-1 - To study the feasibility of working under the ice, a highly publicized "cover" project, known as  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Century - Camp Century , was launched in 1959. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Iceworm#cite_note-2 - Details of the missile base project were secret for decades, but first came to light in January 1995 during an enquiry by the Danish Foreign Policy Institute (DUPI) into the history of the use and storage of nuclear weapons in  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland - Greenland . The enquiry was ordered by the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folketing - Parliament of Denmark  following the release of previously classified information about the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Thule_Air_Base_B-52_crash - 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash  that contradicted previous assertions by the Government of Denmark. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Iceworm#cite_note-DUPI-3 - On 5 May 1945, Greenlanders celebrated the liberation of Denmark in Nuuk. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_in_World_War_II#cite_note-19 -  The Greenland Administration under Eske Brun surrendered its emergency powers and again came under direct control from Copenhagen. Kauffmann returned to Copenhagen, where treason charges against him were dropped, and the Danish parliament ratified his agreement with the United States. The United States presence continued in decreasing numbers until the Kauffmann-Hull agreement was replaced by a new base treaty in 1951}

• Grant, Shelagh D. (29 July 2010).  https://archive.org/details/polarimperativeh0000gran - Polar Imperative: A History of Arctic Sovereignty in North America . Douglas & McIntyre.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_%28identifier%29 - ISBN   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781553654186 - 9781553654186 .

Why Is Greenland Part Of Denmark?

Donald Trump's Bid To 'Annex' Greenland | World News | WION

Trump's Greenland 'Grab' - A British Problem

NATO actually currently has five more military sites in total than Russia, but the Russian military's bases are far larger. The  https://www.thesimonsfoundation.ca/sites/default/files/MilitaryFootprintsintheArctic_Final%2C%20March%202024.pdf - Simons Foundation Canada has documented  in a fresh study that Russia has 32 "continuously attended military sites" in the Arctic region as of 2024.

Notably the outposts located Franz Josef Land, Kotelny Island, and Wrangel Island are able to house up to 150 ground troops each.

One of NATO's founding members, Norway, maintains 15 "continuously attended military sites". And per The Simons Foundation report, other NATO members have  https://www.newsweek.com/nato-russias-military-bases-arctic-map-2022961 - as follows :

• United States: 10 Arctic sites
• Canada: 8 Arctic sites
• Denmark: 3 Arctic sites, which are in Greenland
• Iceland: 1 Arctic site

Still, Russia's military has warned that "the Arctic is a region for potential future conflict" amid the global build-up there, according to Russia’s Commander of the Northern Fleet, Aleksandr Moiseyev.

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As for China-Russian cooperation in the far north, the fresh WSJ report observes in the  https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/russia-china-artic-sea-nato-2ca1ea10 - following :

That support has been prominent in the Arctic, where Chinese companies are significant investors and equipment suppliers in Russian energy projects including the Yamal LNG and Arctic 2 LNG projects. 

Russia, in return, has been shipping fuel to China using its so-called shadow fleet, by which sanctioned vessels make illicit deliveries of Russian oil to markets in Asia. Last year saw a record volume for transit cargo through the Northern Sea Route from northwestern Russia to the Bering Strait, according to Rosatom, the Russian agency that oversees the waterway. Almost all of that cargo went from Russia to China, and more than half was crude oil. The total volume remains a fraction of crude-oil traffic through the Suez Canal: While the northern route’s shorter distance can cut transit times by two weeks, sea ice remains a treacherous obstacle despite shrinking ice cover.

Jens Frederik Nielsen (born 22 June 1991) is a Greenlandic politician and badminton player. He is the current leader of the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demokraatit - Demokraatit  party, and formerly served as the Minister of Labour and Mineral Resources during the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kielsen_VII_Cabinet - Kielsen VII Cabinet . ^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jens_Frederik_Nielsen#cite_note-1 -}

Political career