Greenland Essay, Research Paper

Greenland

The geography of Greenland is quite ironic considering its name. Greenland is

Located in the northern part of North America. It is between the Arctic Ocean and the

North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Canada. Greenland?s area is approximately 2,715,600 square kilometers. Its area is slightly more than 3 times the size of Texas. It is the largest island in the world. It is also primarily by the Davis Strait and Baffin Bay and from Iceland on the east, by the Denmark Strait.

Greenland?s terrain is flat to a gradually sloping icecap. It covers everything but

a narrow, mountainous, rocky coast. It?s climate has cool summers and very cold

winters! During the summertime in the southern part of Greenland, the average

Temperature is 48? Fahrenheit. The climate of Greenland is generally dry. People have

lived on Greenland for about 5, 000 years, the earliest belonging to what are called the

Independence I, Saqqaq, and Independence II cultures. Greenland is the source of

many weather changes in the Northern Hemisphere. Their natural resources include

Zinc, lead, iron ore, coal, gold, platinum, uranium, fish, seals and whales. The

mammals include the musk-ox, wolf, lemming, and reindeer. Circumpolar animals that

inhabit the island are the polar bear, arctic fox, polar hare, and stoat.

The environmental issues consist of protecting the arctic environment and preservation of their traditional way of life, including whaling.

The population of Greenland is 59, 827 people. They are called Greenlanders and the majority religion is Evangelical Lutheran. Their languages include Eskimo dialects, Danish, and Greenlandic (An Inuit dialect.). The age structure is 0-14 years ?26%; 15-64 ? 68%; 65-? ? 6%. The total life expectancy is male ?65.98 years and female ? 74.24 years. The total life expectancy population is to 70 years.

The capitol of Greenland is Nuuk (Godthab). Its population is 12,483. It is the largest and oldest Danish settlement on the island. It was founded in 1721.

Other settlements include Julianh?b (Qaqotorq), Fredereksh?b and Narsaq on the southern coast. With Thule on the northwestern coast, and Ammassalik on the eastern coast.

Greenland?s dependency status is very reliable on Denmark. It has a self ? governing overseas administrative division of Denmark since 1979. The national holiday is the birthday of the Queen, April 16, 1940.

Its legal system is Danish, and the chief of state is Queen Margarethe 2 of Denmark (represented by High Commissioner Gunnar Martens. The head of government is the Prime Minister Jonathan Motzfieldt (elected by Parliament).

The legislative branch includes unicameral Parliament or Landsting. (31 members are elected by popular vote on the basis of proportional representation to serve 4-year terms.)

The Judicial Branch includes the High Court or Landsret. The flag has two equal horizontal bands of white (top) with a large disk slightly to the hoist side of anter ? the top half of the disk is red and the bottom is white.

Greenland had suffered negative economic growth in the early 1990s, since 1993 economy has improved. Since 1990 Greenland has registered a foreign trade deficit following the closure of the last remaining lead and zinc mines in 1989. Greenland is critically dependent in fishing and fishing exports. Their export partners and their percentages are Denmark 89%, Japan 5%, and United Kingdom 5%. Their exports include 95% fish and fishing products.

About half of the government revenues come from grants from the Danish government. The labor force is about 24,500. Their agriculture products are forage crops, garden vegetables, sheep and fish.

The profit for their imports is 421,000,000. Their imports consist of machinery and transport equipment 25%, manufactured goods 8%, food and live animals 11%, petroleum products 6%. Their import partners are Denmark, Iceland, Japan, Norway, United States, Germany, and Sweden.

In June 1952, the Danish government and private Danish, Swedish, and Canadian interests formed a company to exploit deposits of zinc, lead, tungsten, and cryolite in Eastern Greenland.

The education of Greenland is obviously not as emphasized as many of the country?s of the world. A university is located in Nuuk, and education is free and compulsory for all children between the ages of seven and sixteen.

Eric the Red first explored Greenland. Father of Leif Ericson. There, Icelandic settlements were established. By the early Fifteenth century, these settlements had vanished, and all contact with Greenland was lost.