Greenland is the world's largest island. Three-quarters of Greenland is covered by the only permanent ice sheet outside Antarctica. It has a small population of about 56,000, which makes it the least densely populated territory in the world. However, this is misleading because bout a third of the population live in Nuuk, the capital and largest city.

The earliest know people to live here settled about 4.500 years ago. Norsemen settled the uninhabited southern part of Greenland in the 10th century, arriving from Iceland. Some of these Norsemen, led by Leif Erikson were the first known Europeans to reach North America. Inuit peoples arrived after the Norse, starting in the 13th century.

The Norse colonies disappeared in the late 15th century, probably due to the Black Death plague. In the early 17th century, Danish explorers claimed Greenland for Denmark.