Greenland is the largest island in the world and the vast majority of it lies above the Arctic Circle.  Its northern-most point is the closest land on Earth to the North Pole.  Its southern tip shares the same latitude as Oslo and the British Shetland Isles.

A glance at a map will show apparently nothing but an expanse of whiteness.  This is the Greenland Icecap, the second largest in the world after that of Antarctica.  It covers 80% of the island and, in places it is more than 2 miles thick.  This huge desolate mantle of glacial ice and snow has existed for 2-3 million years and has a profound affect on all aspects of Greenland’s geography, climate, culture and politics.  It is no wonder how Greenland attained its Inuit name of Kalaallit Nunaat, or White Earth. Seemingly frozen fast in place, the ice is in fact in perpetual motion, constantly being replenished by snowfall and flowing steadily towards the coast, forming huge sinuous glaciers and ultimately disgorging itself as weird and wonderfully-shaped icebergs into the sea.  As our climate warms the icecap will melt and shrink, or even collapse, forcing global sea levels up and making Greenland’s presence felt worldwide.

A closer look at the map will reveal a thin band of land between the fringes of the Inland Ice and the sea.  This is where life is found in Greenland, and the ice-free belt is home to Greenland’s tiny population of 55,000 – the smallest population of a single country anywhere in the world.  Rugged and mountainous, the coasts are cut by deep winding fjords and dramatic valleys through which glaciers flow from the icecap to the sea, and are covered by rich colourful tundra in summer.  Winter and spring cloak the land in snow and the fjords freeze over, blurring the boundaries between coast and icecap.  This is an Arctic wilderness par excellence.  

Ease of access has allowed the West Coast to become relatively populated and developed, and recently industrial activities have become significant here.  Long ago, migrants from other Arctic regions across Siberia, Alaska and Canada settled in the west first, and European colonists found their way here long before ‘discovering’ other parts of the island.  It is home to 51,000 of Greenland’s inhabitants, and here one finds the capital Nuuk.

By contrast, the East Coast of Greenland is very remote and wild, and its ruggedness and isolation have a direct bearing on how one finds it today.  To the west, the Inland Ice bars any overland connection to the populous and developed west coast.  To the east and out to sea the East Greenland Current flows along the entire coast, dragging vast quantities of icebergs and dense Polar ice with it, effectively blocking access to all but the most determined or lucky seafarers, rendering it an unattractive prospect to Western colonisers and delaying their arrival until very recently.  For these reasons East Greenland remains undeveloped and populated by only 3,000 within a handful of settlements; an ancient Inuit hunting society with intact customs and traditions has persisted here.  Its isolation is such that other Greenlanders put it to the back of their minds and name it ‘Tunu’ – the land at the back.

The administrative ‘capital’ of East Greenland is Tasiilaq (formerly Ammassalik, now renamed with its original name that means ‘like a lake’).  Here are the ‘bright lights’ of the East Coast and Tasiilaq is a lively and modern place by Greenlandic standards.  But hidden amongst the surrounding fjords and mountains is a handful of much smaller settlements and it is in these that one can find the original Greenland where hunting is still the most important way of life for most people.  It is from one such village, Kulusuk, that our operations are based.