Greenland | The island of curiosity

The brand new Danish Royal Coat of Arms, proper, is seen subsequent to the one established in 1972, seen at left.
| Photograph Credit score: AP

On January 1, the King of Denmark unveiled a brand new coat of arms after greater than 50 years. It options the polar bear and the ram (symbolising Greenland and the Faroe Islands, respectively) extra prominently than earlier than. Amid requires independence in Greenland and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s aggressive push to purchase/annex the island, the Royal Home appears to be underscoring the Danish realm’s unity.

Greenland, the world’s largest island with a inhabitants of 57,000, is an autonomous territory managed by Denmark. This successfully implies that whereas it has a Parliament which offers with home affairs reminiscent of enterprise taxes, immigration, and mining, most of its international, financial and navy coverage are dictated by Denmark. The Arctic island was colonised by the Danes within the 18th century and has been related to Europe, although geographically it’s a part of the North American continent and nearer to the U.S. than Copenhagen.

Throughout the Second World Struggle, the U.S. briefly occupied the area and defended it when Denmark was below siege by Nazi Germany.

Noting the area’s geopolitical significance, the U.S. in 1946, after the Struggle, had supplied to purchase it from Denmark. Denmark rejected the provide and ever since Greenland has been part of the Danish realm with dwelling rule granted to the island in 1979. The U.S. runs and operates an air base on the island. Nonetheless, of late, requires full independence from Denmark have been rising within the island particularly after the contraceptive scandal between the Nineteen Sixties and Nineteen Nineties got here to gentle, the place nearly 4,500 Inuit ladies (the indigenous folks of Greenland) had been pressured to put on a contraceptive coil with out their consent. Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Egede in his New 12 months handle talked about taking the “subsequent step” and eradicating the “shackles of colonialism”.

U.S. aspirations

In his first time period in workplace, Mr. Trump had floated the concept of shopping for Greenland. Nonetheless, this time it appears the President-elect is severe. “For functions of Nationwide Safety and Freedom all through the World, the US of America feels that the possession and management of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” he in December. Following such a declaration, Donald Trump Jr., Mr. Trump’s son, visited Greenland this 12 months as a “personal particular person”. Each Greenland and Danish Prime Ministers have shut down such threats and plans. Mr. Egede has categorically said that “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders”.

Mr. Trump appears unfazed. Chatting with the press final week, Mr. Trump underlined the significance of the island for U.S safety and stated he received’t rule out navy or financial coercion to annex/purchase the island.

The island is surrounded by the Atlantic on one facet and the Arctic waters on the opposite. Because of local weather change and international warming, glaciers and ice sheets within the Arctic Sea are melting, resulting in doubtlessly new transport routes, which might vastly improve commerce. Furthermore, Russia and China have already agreed to develop new buying and selling routes within the Arctic waters as relations with the West bitter and tensions in West Asia loom massive.

Final November, each nations developed a subcommittee for cooperation on the northern sea route, which spans 5,600 km from the Barents Sea close to Scandinavia to the Bering Strait close to Alaska. With the specter of Russia-China cooperation within the area, annexing Greenland might give the U.S. important management over the realm, letting it determine who will get to run and function in these strategic waters.

The island can also be wealthy in minerals. As per a 2025 survey, 25 of 34 vital uncooked supplies, that are utilized in EVs and batteries, had been present in Greenland. The melting of just about 28,000 sq. km of Greenland’s ice sheets makes drilling for oil, fuel and different vital uncooked supplies simpler. Presently, China is the world’s largest exporter and producer of vital minerals. Shopping for Greenland might make the U.S. compete with China for that standing. Nonetheless, Greenland has not given out sure mining leases since 2021 fearing the attainable environmental and ecological harms to the area.

Mr. Trump has additionally issued calls to purchase/annex the Panama Canal and Canada. Whereas all of them have been touted as mandatory for the U.S.’s financial and nationwide safety, the U.S. is breaking the primary and basic rule of the UN Constitution: recognising the sovereignty of countries. With respect to Greenland, the U.S. goes in opposition to the NATO settlement as effectively.

Equally, the Arctic waters are a worldwide widespread below the UN Conference on the Regulation of the Sea. The incoming U.S. President’s insurance policies are bringing to the forefront the true anarchical nature of worldwide politics.