Denmark – Greenland in the twentieth Century

Abstract

What is told on the following pages is a history of the Danish-Greenlandic relationship over one hundred years. It covers the history of Danish Greenland policy, and the history of political and economic development in Greenland. With only a very basic knowledge of Greenlandic I had to base my account on sources written in Danish. This is less of a problem than might be supposed because the language of administration has been Danish, including even the minutes from the local political assemblies. Over the years much Greenlandic writing has also been translated including some novels, and anything written to the authorities in Greenlandic has been translated. Nevertheless, the account is necessarily that of an outsider unable to fully analyse the linguistic expressions of the Greenlanders. Written in a Danish context it covers Danish Greenland policy and its background in and impact on Greenland society. This Danish perspective is predominant at the beginning, but as the Greenlanders took over more and more of the administration it is almost lacking in the latter part, dealing mostly with developments in Greenland.