President Donald Trump’s persistent talk of taking over Greenland, known to its inhabitants as Kalaallit Nunaat, has caused significant concern both there and in Denmark. When Trump spoke of buying Greenland during his first presidential term, Danes and Greenlanders, the Kalaallit Inuit, took it as a joke. Trading in countries and peoples was something that was done back in colonial times, as when Denmark sold the Danish West Indies (now the US Virgin Islands) to the United States in 1917. After the end of World War II and the formation of the United Nations, that practice was supposed to be a thing of the past.
It wasn’t until Donald Trump Jr.’s lightning visit to Nuuk on Jan. 7, 2025, that we grasped the reality of it. The result has been a new phase in Denmark’s ongoing reckoning with the colonial past. This process has not been cancelled or delayed, but the tone has become more subdued, as it has become more relevant to talk not only about the things that divide Greenlanders and Danes, but also about what connects us.
Greenland was colonized in 1721. Officially, the colonial era lasted until 1953, when Denmark incorporated the former colony as an ostensibly “equal” part of the Danish realm—its northernmost county. However, different laws still applied to the Greenlanders, and they were paid less for the same work. Even though Greenlandic society had been fundamentally transformed by colonization, Danes still viewed the Greenlandic Inuit as a “primitive” people of nature, over whom they had a duty to rule. This attitude was summed up in the metaphor of Denmark as a loving mother who was to care for her children and raise them until they were grown up and able to stand on their own.
Denmark’s continued dominance was reflected in the fact that all place names on maps remained in Danish, and the country continued to be referred to by the name given to it by the Vikings: Greenland. That began to change in 1979, when Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) was granted home rule, and kalaallisut (West Greenlandic) became the territory’s official language. In 2009, the arrangement was expanded, giving Greenland full authority over its own internal affairs and control over its natural resources. Only foreign policy and security remain under the jurisdiction of the Danish state, though now handled in consultation with Greenland. It is only recently, however, that replacing “Greenland” with Kalaallit Nunaat and “Greenlanders” with Kalaallit Inuit has become common practice. This shift can be seen as part of a broader decolonization movement driven by a new generation of highly educated, self-aware Greenlanders.
When Greenland was incorporated into Denmark, a referendum was held in Denmark—but not in Greenland. There is no indication that the Greenlanders demanded or even wanted such a vote. They were glad to become Danish citizens, precisely because citizens cannot be bought or sold.
They had followed the Danish debate over the sale of the Danish West Indies closely, and were well aware that even after World War II, the possibility of the United States purchasing Greenland was still on the table. The very idea of being bought and sold—like enslaved people—is degrading for any population. The Greenlandic author Hans Lynge (1906–1988) wrote about how people would lower their gaze in shame at the mere thought of it.
Greenlanders have never been interested in becoming Danes, let alone Americans. The ongoing decolonization process in Greenland’s relationship with Denmark is about freeing themselves from foreign dominance, not submitting to a new external power. As Greenlanders have repeatedly told President Trump: “We are not for sale, but open for business.” That said, most of them believe the best path for a peaceful development toward greater independence is through cooperation with Denmark. As many have said: “We know the Danes.”
“Transfers to Greenland have always been talked about as a gift.”
If Greenland is seen as a part of Denmark, there is nothing unusual about economic surpluses from some regions being transferred to others (what is known as the block grant). Unfortunately, transfers to Greenland have always been talked about as a gift. As Greenland moves toward greater autonomy, economic inequality has become a barrier to political independence. But even more important than the money itself are all the emotions tied to it.
For outsiders, it can be hard to understand why the block grant provokes such strong feelings in the relationship between Greenland and Denmark. The reason is that it activates the narratives that once served to legitimize Danish rule. When Denmark colonized Greenland, the Danish state was there to make money. Denmark profited greatly from the blubber and skins that the Kalaallit Inuit sold to the Royal Greenland Trading Company. Like all colonial powers, Denmark justified its presence by claiming it was also for “the benefit of the natives.” But behind the fine words, there was little substance.
At the time, blubber was used for lighting, but in the mid-1800s, the arrival of the kerosene lamp pushed seal blubber out of the market. Gradually, seal hunting began to decline, and the North Atlantic colony became less of a profitable venture. However, the population had grown accustomed to Danish trade goods, and the Danish state church—along with the school system it maintained—had become an essential part of the social fabric. Denmark, for its part, had taken on a responsibility and could not simply let the population “fall back into heathenism.”
By that time, Denmark—once an imperial power with holdings in India, Africa, the West Indies, and the North Atlantic—was under pressure. One by one, it had to give up its overseas possessions, and its great-power ambitions faded. The most painful losses were Norway in 1814 and Schleswig-Holstein in 1864. In the wake of 1864, a new national narrative began to take shape. Danes began saying “small but good” and “what is lost outwardly must be gained inwardly.”
The country turned its focus to cultivating its heathlands and making the most of what territory it had. Strong efforts were made to hold on to Iceland and the Faroe Islands, which were not seen as proper colonies, but as “dependencies.” And then there was Greenland—like the Danish West Indies, home to people who were not considered part of the Nordic family.
The Danes, however, had a very different relationship with the Greenlanders than with the enslaved peoples they had transported across the Atlantic to the West Indies. Early on, there had indeed been plans to enslave the Greenlandic “Eskimos,” as they were called at the time, but it was soon realized that it was far more profitable to collaborate with them in producing the much-coveted blubber and valuable skins. Greenlanders gained access to European goods and, to some extent, European culture—for example, they learned to read and write. In return, they helped Denmark profit from gaining access to their resources. Now, with the colony no longer profitable, the arrangement was more tenuous.
Between 1863 and 1864, a Danish lieutenant named Emil Bluhme stayed in the Greenland colony, and in 1865, he published a book of his impressions. Bluhme recognized the economic problems Greenland faced, and was critical of the poor conditions there. He also offered a plan, one that involved converting Danish kroner into a form of moral capital. Through a project of moral and economic uplift, the Greenlanders could become “living witnesses to little Denmark’s use of civilization and freedom.” For this reason, the Danes would have to accept that the colony was neither profitable nor self-sustaining, and might even end up running at a significant loss.
Bluhme’s narrative fit beautifully with the image of little, friendly Denmark that was emerging in this period, and the book was widely read. One enthusiastic reader was Carl Theodor Zahle, who later became prime minister. During budget negotiations in 1905, Zahle would declare: “There must not be even a trace of self-interest in our relationship with the Greenlanders!”
The motto “For the Benefit of Greenland—For the Honor of Denmark” resounded through negotiations, speeches, and articles over many decades, and the mindset still lives on. Along with the mistaken idea that Denmark was the first nation to abolish slavery, the peaceful referendum on national affiliation held in Southern Jutland in 1920, and the rescue of the Danish Jews in 1943, the story of Denmark not exterminating the indigenous people under its control but helping them to establish a modern welfare state has become a source of Danish national pride, and we are reluctant to let go of it.
The feeling of love is an important element in the narrative. Around 1921, state documents replaced the old expression of “sovereignty” over Greenland with the term “care,” thereby lifting Denmark’s colonial role out of the realm associated with state power and territorial claims, and into a sphere of concepts that evoked family, closeness, tenderness, and nurturing.
“Emotions and capital were linked in how Danes perceived the relation to Greenland.”
In this way, emotions and capital were linked in how Danes perceived the relation to Greenland, particularly after World War II when it was incorporated into the kingdom and modernization efforts were set in motion. Driven by love and care, “Mother Denmark” sent engineers, doctors, teachers, goods, medicine, and so on to Greenland. However, all this love was extended with the expectation of reciprocal love, gratitude, and a certain degree of subordination.
Gift-giving is a delicate matter. When gifts are not based on reciprocity, the eternal givers find themselves in a position of power over the eternal receivers. This is why Greenlanders have contested the “Mother Denmark” narrative and tried to extricate themselves from its suffocating embrace. They have done this by pointing out that the flow of value did not only go one way, but that Denmark benefited at least as much from Greenland as the other way around.
Blubber is not the only resource the Danes have extracted from Greenland. There have been several mines, such as the cryolite mine in Ivittuut, and it is debated how much profit they have generated for the metropole over the years. During World War II, cryolite was shipped to the United States instead of Denmark. It was used there, among other things, to manufacture aircraft.
But some of the benefits Denmark has gained from its Arctic colony are unquantifiable. Danish politicians are now willing to acknowledge Greenland’s significance for Denmark, not just economically but politically and culturally. In this acknowledgement lies the recognition and respect that the Kalaallit Inuit seek, similar to many other indigenous peoples around the world who are tired of being looked down upon.
It is thus true when Trump points out that Greenlanders are engaged in a reckoning with the Danes. But at the same time, the Danes have been increasingly willing to take part in this reckoning. Several commissions have been set up between Denmark and Greenland to shed light on issues that still cause pain among the Kalaallit Inuit, including a series of cases involving children who were more or less illegally adopted to Denmark, and the so-called “spiral case,” where young girls were given intrauterine devices without proper information and, in many cases, without parental consent. Such stories challenge the narrative of the benevolent colonial power, prompting Danes to reconsider their history and Greenland’s place in it.
It is no secret that the Kalaallit Inuit dream of the day they see Erfalasorput, the Greenlandic flag, raised alongside the other nations’ flags at the United Nations. However, they are aware that, as a tiny nation, they cannot stand alone. Greenland will need close cooperation in the future, with the Nordic countries, Brussels, and Washington alike. Even the most revolutionary independence advocates would not deny that Denmark will hold a special position for the foreseeable future, not least because nearly all Kalaallit Inuit are related to Danes. They have been marrying each other for generations, and the two peoples frequently travel back and forth across the Atlantic. It is estimated that around 4,000 people born in Denmark currently live in Greenland, while about 17,000 people of Kalaallit Inuit descent live in Denmark.
In both Denmark and Greenland, we have been raised to see the United States as our friend and ally. There are existing agreements that give the United States broad rights to establish military bases in Greenland, in addition to the existing Pituffik Space Base. Greenland is part of NATO and has no plans to change that. Greenlandic politicians have emphasized that the Americans are more than welcome to invest in Greenland, as long as it is done in accordance with existing laws and regulations. What the Greenlanders ask is to be allowed to pursue greater autonomy within the Western sphere of influence until they reach the point where they can decide which alliances to form and how to structure them.