I first learned of the strategic value of Greenland in high school, not from any instructors but from the board game Risk. The game involves 2–6 players trying to take over the world, divided into 42 countries as opposed to the 195 currently recognized by the United Nations. Players start with countries randomly distributed and an equal number of armies. At the beginning of each turn, a player gets additional armies based on the number of countries they own and if they own all the countries in the six continents (no Antarctica for you).
North America was a critical continent; if you could hold it, you would get seven additional armies each turn. There were three points at which North America could be attacked: Central America, Alaska, and Greenland. Holding those three was critical to winning, with Greenland being the access point to invading Europe. I often got into trouble with my parents, not for being out in the streets but for being at Robert & Lee Johnsons' house playing Risk after it got dark. It takes time to conquer the world.
I have come to learn that while I was right about Greenland’s strategic significance, I was wrong about everything else, including who lived there. I thought the current inhabitants were the descendants of Vikings. The Vikings were indeed significant at one point. Erik the Red explored and named Greenland around 982 while exiled from Iceland for three years. He brought family members, friends, a crew, and slaves. Erik got serious about settling in Greenland in 986, where he established three settlements with a contingent of fourteen longships.
The word slaves might surprise you (they are often called the nicer-sounding name thralls). The Vikings were slavers, and the kidnapping, sale, and forced exploitation of human beings was always a central pillar of their culture. Everywhere they went, they enslaved people and incorporated them into daily life. Before America was even discovered, the Vikings had chattel slavery and began mating with enslaved women who couldn’t say no. Their slaves came from everywhere they went, including those captured in raids on the African coast. Many Netflix viewers rose up in protest over the inclusion of the character Jarl Haakon in “Vikings: Valhalla.” While the character, played by Swedish jazz singer Caroline Henderson, was fictional. There were Black Vikings in Greenland.
Greenland has been in the news recently because Donald Trump first suggested America might purchase it and later left open the possibility he would take it by military force. Trump wouldn’t be the first president to wish to buy Greenland. In 1867, William Seward, the man responsible for purchasing Alaska from Russia, persuaded President Andrew Johnson to make a similar offer to buy Greenland, but Congress scuttled the project. In 1946, America offered to buy the island from Denmark for $100,000,000; the Danish rejected the offer.
One might wonder why America would purchase Greenland from Denmark, a European nation around 1800 miles away. Iceland lost its grip when the descendants of Erik the Red died out or left around in the 15th Century. Historians differ on whether it was a mini Ice Age, poor agricultural techniques, a battle with Inuits, or a Pandemic that wiped them out, but they were gone. Danish and Norwegian explorers reached the island again in the early 17th Century. In 1721, the Dano-Norwegian missionary Hans Egede convinced the Danish king and private merchants to fund an expedition to Greenland. He aimed to search for lost Vikings who had not yet converted to Protestantism.
When Denmark and Norway separated in 1814, Greenland became Danish territory and was fully integrated into the Danish state in 1953 under the Constitution of Denmark. As a result, the people of Greenland became citizens of Denmark. This lasted until early in World War II after Nazi Germany occupied Denmark. The Nazis moved into Denmark on April 8, 1941. The United States took over Greenland the day before to defend it against a possible invasion by Germany. The United States’ occupation of Greenland continued until 1945. The following year, America offered to buy Greenland from Denmark, which had reassumed control after the war.
America has been no great respecter of Greenland’s autonomy. They were allowed to regain the use of Thule Air Base; it was greatly expanded between 1951 and 1953 as part of a unified NATO Cold War defense strategy. The local population of three nearby villages was moved more than 100 km (62 miles) away in the winter. Despite Greenland’s policy of no nuclear proliferation, America drew up plans to establish a secret nuclear base named Project Iceworm. From 1960 to 1966, this project was managed from Camp Century before abandonment as unworkable. The Danish government did not become aware of the program’s mission until 1997, when they discovered it while looking, in the declassified documents, for records related to the crash of a nuclear-equipped B-52 bomber near the Thule air base in 1968. The collision resulted in a significant release of radiation, and a hydrogen bomb is still missing. A submarine search was conducted without success; that search was also hidden from the Danish government.
The current population of Greenland is under 60,000, and 89.7% of the population is of Greenlandic multiethnic European-Inuit origin. In other words, they are Inuits mixed with other people. I thought of Thor when I should have been thinking darker and shorter. We know Donald Trump won’t be thinking of the people of Greenland should he ever take over. Greenland is rich in minerals, including gold, rubies, and rare-earth minerals, now provided mainly by China. What may interest Trump is that in 2021, Greenland banned all new oil and gas exploration in its territory, with government officials stating that the environmental “price of oil extraction is too high.” Suppose Trump opened Greenland up for more gas and oil production, and if he destroys the ecology, so what? It’s only Greenland.
Trump’s interest in Greenland isn’t new, and we’ve taken it by force before. It might be a place to ship unwanted immigrants in the same manner Abraham Lincoln sent freed slaves to Cow Island after the Emancipation Proclamation as a prelude to his plans after the Civil War ended. There's a chance Trump’s talk is all bluster, and he has no desire to send troops into Greenland unless needed to deflect attention from a serious crime or third impeachment. Then there’s always the Russian interest in Greenland; some view Trump’s comments as providing cover for future Russian expansion into Baltic states.
Greenland is a full part of NATO and eligible for Article 5 mutual protection. If a NATO member is attacked, all the members will send troops and resources to defend that member. Will Trump’s war force the U.S. to fight against itself or disassociate with NATO? That’s something to think about.
Part I, Why Trump Wants to Acquire Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal
Part II, Why Trump Doesn't Want to Acquire Mexico and Panama
This article originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of William Spivey's work on Medium.