Hans Egede was born in the city of Harstad, 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Norway, to a Danish priest and a Norwegian mother from a merchant family. Egede established the Bergen Greenland Company with merchants from the Norwegian shipping and commercial city of Bergen, opening new contact with Greenland, which had been broken for more than 300 years. From 1721, the company was given broad power over Greenland, which at that time was thought to be a peninsula.
The capital, Godt-Haab (Good Hope), now Nuuk, was originally the main fort of the colony founded by Egede. He and his wife Gertrud, with four children and forty other colonists, settled in Greenland. Part of the missionary work included translation of major parts of the Bible so that the Inuit could understand the new religion. In addition, commercial activities were introduced. Many colonists returned home after some time, but new ones replaced them.
With the arrival of missionaries, colonists and sailors to the isolated island, new diseases were also brought, to which the local population had no natural immunity. Many Inuit died from epidemics, especially smallpox, which ravaged many communities. Gertrud Egede died in 1735 and was buried in Denmark the following year. Hans Egede was appointed Superintendent of the Greenland Mission Seminary in Copenhagen, and in 1741 he became Bishop of Greenland. In 1747, a catechism book for use in Greenland was completed. Egede holds the legacy of a national ‘saint’ of Greenland. Hans and Gertrud Egede’s son, Poul Egede, continued the missionary work in Greenland, and later their grandson, Hans Egede Saabye, became a missionary there, publishing a celebrated diary of the Greenland mission.
Danish rule and the Christianisation of Greenland continued throughout and after Egede’s arrival in 1721. However, it was not until 1953 that Greenland became a fully integrated part of the Kingdom of Denmark. In 1979, Greenland was granted ‘home rule’, which was expanded further in 2009. A full independence movement has since been established, but with no specific timeline or modalities for implementation, nor clarity on how to continue ties with Denmark—and certainly not with any plans for transfer to the USA as a new colonial power. After all, modern Greenlandic history is deeply intertwined with that of Denmark.
Much can be said about Denmark’s rule over Greenland, as can always be said about rule by neighbouring countries or distant colonial powers. It should be noted that the 400-year history of the Kingdom of Denmark–Norway contains clear aspects of inequality and dominance by Denmark, both culturally and economically. When Norway separated from Denmark in 1814, it entered into a union with Sweden until 1905, when it became fully independent.
Today, the small Scandinavian countries enjoy very friendly relations. This also includes Iceland, which gained independence from Denmark in 1944, and Finland, which over the centuries was under Russia and Sweden until achieving full independence in 1917, and now enjoys friendly relations with all the other Nordic and Baltic countries. Greenland is already part of this community and political space, and will continue to be so when fully independent. Yet, due to its small population, large size and strategic geographic location, Greenland needs close cooperation agreements with its neighbours, even more so if and when a major Northern Sea Route becomes a reality—from the Pacific Ocean in the Far East, along the northern coast of Russia, to the North Atlantic Ocean, linking Western Europe and the east coast of North America. This route would offer a shorter Asia–Europe passage than the Suez Canal, though it faces significant ice-related challenges.
This means that Greenland, the countries in the Arctic region, Norway with the Svalbard Islands, and Russia, Canada and the USA will become more important and integrated parts of the world. It is no wonder, then, that the USA wants a say in this development. However, Greenland’s future must be shaped through a sound understanding of history and present and future realities, and through full diplomatic dialogue with all neighbouring countries—and in the end, it will not matter much what President Trump says in the media.
Atle Hetland
The writer is a senior Norwegian social scientist with experience from university, diplomacy and development aid. He can be reached at atlehetland@yahoo.com
