Greenlanders of Kalaallit Nunaat, an Inuit Nation of the Arctic

On the coasts of the largest island on earth, at the edge of the Arctic ice, live the Greenlanders, who call themselves Kalaallit, an Inuit people whose homeland is counted among the lands of Europe. Descended from Arctic hunters who mastered the kayak, the harpoon, and the ice, and speaking an Inuit language that is the official tongue of a self-governing country, they are one of the most distinctive of the peoples associated with the continent.

This is the story of who the Greenlanders are: where they came from, how they lived by the seal hunt and the sea, what they believe, and how they preserved an Inuit language and identity through colonization and into an age of self-rule. It is a tale of the Thule hunters, of drum songs and beaded costumes, of a people whose language, traditions, and bond with the Arctic carry their heritage toward an independent future.

The Greenlanders on Film

Origins
The Name
The Language
The Homeland
The Old Way of Life
Society and Community
Religion and Belief
Traditions
Crafts
Food
Festivals
History
Today

Origins

The Greenlanders, who call themselves Kalaallit, are an Inuit people, the indigenous inhabitants of Greenland, the great island of the far north between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans. They are one of the Inuit peoples of the circumpolar Arctic, closely related to the Inuit of Canada and Alaska, and they form the majority of the population of Greenland, giving the island its distinctly Inuit character.

The ancestors of the Greenlanders were Inuit hunters who came to Greenland from Arctic North America, the last and most successful being the people of the Thule culture, who spread across the Arctic and reached Greenland around a thousand years ago. Master hunters of the sea and the ice, equipped with the kayak, the dog sled, the harpoon, and a deep knowledge of the Arctic, these Thule Inuit are the direct ancestors of the modern Greenlanders.

The Thule Inuit found Greenland already touched by others, for Norse settlers from Iceland had established colonies in the south around the same time, but the Norse eventually vanished, while the Inuit, superbly adapted to the Arctic, endured and spread along the coasts of the vast island. Their way of life, built on hunting the seal, the whale, and the other creatures of the Arctic sea and land, sustained them for centuries.

From these Thule Inuit ancestors, superbly adapted to one of the harshest environments on earth, grew the distinct Greenlandic people, the Kalaallit. Living along the coasts of the great ice-covered island, they preserved a rich Inuit culture and language, and today they form one of the most distinctive of the peoples associated with Europe, an Inuit nation with a homeland of its own.

The Name

The Greenlanders call themselves Kalaallit, and their country Kalaallit Nunaat, meaning the land of the Kalaallit, while in English the island and its people are called Greenland and Greenlanders, and in Danish Grønland. The name Kalaallit is the self-designation of the Greenlandic Inuit, distinguishing them within the wider Inuit world.

The name reflects the identity of the Greenlanders as an Inuit people with their own homeland, distinct from the Danes who long ruled the island and from the other Inuit peoples of the Arctic. Kalaallit Nunaat, the land of the Greenlanders, is a name worn with pride as the island moves toward ever greater self-rule.

The flag of Greenland, called Erfalasorput, meaning our flag, shows a design of red and white divided by a circle, understood to represent the sun setting and rising over the ice and sea, a distinctly Greenlandic emblem chosen to express the identity of the island and its people. It flies alongside, and increasingly in place of, the Danish flag as a mark of Greenlandic nationhood.

Greenland is today an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, with wide self-government and a growing movement toward full independence, and the Greenlandic name carries a strong sense of a distinct Inuit nation. The Kalaallit speak of Kalaallit Nunaat and their heritage with pride, conscious of belonging to an Inuit people with an Arctic homeland of their own.

The Language

The Greenlandic language, Kalaallisut, is central to the identity of the Greenlanders, an Inuit language of the Eskimo-Aleut family, related to the Inuit languages of Canada and Alaska. It is one of the few indigenous languages of the Americas and the Arctic to be the majority and official language of a self-governing country, a rare and remarkable position.

Greenlandic is famous among linguists for its structure, for it is a highly polysynthetic language, in which long words built up from many parts can express what would be a whole sentence in other languages. This makes it strikingly different from the European languages and a subject of great interest, as well as a deep source of pride for the Greenlanders.

The language has several dialects across the vast island, the western Kalaallisut being the basis of the standard, alongside the northern Inuktun of the Thule region and the eastern Tunumiit speech. Written in the Latin alphabet, Greenlandic developed a written form and literature above all through the work of missionaries and scholars from the eighteenth century onward.

Today Kalaallisut is the official language of Greenland, spoken by the great majority of the population and used in schools, government, media, and daily life, alongside Danish, which remains widely known. The strength and official status of Greenlandic, unusual for an indigenous Arctic language, is a central pillar of Greenlandic identity and a foundation of the island’s distinct nationhood.

The Homeland

The homeland of the Greenlanders is Greenland, the largest island in the world, lying in the far north between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, most of it within the Arctic Circle. It is a land of extremes, the vast majority of it covered by a great ice sheet, the largest in the northern hemisphere, with human life clinging to the ice-free fringes along the coasts.

The great ice sheet dominates the island, a dome of ice kilometers thick, from which glaciers flow down to the sea, calving the icebergs that fill the fjords, above all at the famous Ilulissat icefjord. Between the ice and the sea lies a rim of rock, mountain, and tundra, where the settlements of the Greenlanders are found, scattered along the deeply indented coasts.

This is an Arctic world of ice, sea, and rock, of long dark winters and bright summers when the sun does not set, of the northern lights and the midnight sun, of a nature at once harsh and of overwhelming beauty. The sea, rich in seals, whales, fish, and other life, has always been the source of life for the Greenlanders, whose settlements look out upon it.

There are no roads between the towns, which are linked by sea and air, and the settlements, from the capital Nuuk to the smaller towns and villages, cling to the coasts beneath the mountains and the ice. This vast, ice-covered island, with its fringe of coast and its surrounding Arctic seas, is the homeland at the heart of Greenlandic identity.

The Old Way of Life

The traditional way of life of the Greenlanders was that of Arctic hunters, superbly adapted to one of the harshest environments on earth, and built above all on the hunting of the seal, which provided food, clothing, fuel, and materials for a whole way of life. The seal was the mainstay of survival, and the Greenlanders developed a deep knowledge of the sea, the ice, and the creatures of the Arctic.

The tools of this life were marvels of Arctic technology: the kayak, the sleek skin boat from which the hunter pursued the seal with the harpoon, the larger umiak, the dog sled for travel over the ice and snow, and the warm and ingenious clothing of sealskin and other furs that made survival possible in the extreme cold. These were the inventions of a people perfectly attuned to their world.

Life followed the seasons and the movements of the animals, and the Greenlanders lived in small communities along the coasts, moving with the hunt, dwelling in houses of turf and stone in winter and tents of skin in summer. The sharing of the catch, and a rich body of custom, story, and belief, bound the community together in the struggle for survival.

This world of the seal hunt, the kayak, and the dog sled, though transformed by the coming of the Danes, by Christianity, and by the modern world, remains close to the heart of Greenlandic identity, and hunting and fishing continue to be important, above all in the smaller communities. The traditions of the Arctic hunting life are cherished as the roots of the Greenlandic people.

Society and Community

Traditional Greenlandic society was built around the family and the small hunting community, bound together by kinship, cooperation, and the sharing of the catch, values essential to survival in the Arctic. In a world where a single hunter’s success or failure could mean life or death for the group, the sharing of food and mutual support were deeply ingrained.

The community was small and close-knit, and society was relatively equal, without the sharp divisions of rank found in many other peoples, though the skilled hunter enjoyed great respect. A rich body of custom, of story and song, and of belief in the spirits of the animals and the land ordered the life of the community and its relationship with the natural world.

The coming of the Danes and of Christianity from the eighteenth century transformed Greenlandic society, bringing new religion, trade, and eventually towns and a colonial administration, and drawing the Greenlanders into a wider world. Over time a distinct Greenlandic society took shape, blending the Inuit heritage with Danish and modern influences.

Today Greenlandic society, while modern, retains strong ties to its Inuit heritage and to the traditions of the hunt and the community, above all in the smaller settlements, even as most Greenlanders now live in towns. The values of family, community, and the bond with the land and the sea, and a growing pride in Inuit identity, remain central to the life of the Greenlanders.

Religion and Belief

The church of Nuuk — The old church and Hans Egede monument in Nuuk.

The Greenlanders are today a largely Christian people, most belonging to the Lutheran church in keeping with the Danish tradition, a legacy of the Christianization of Greenland that began in the eighteenth century. Christianity, brought by Danish and other missionaries, above all Hans Egede, became woven into the life and calendar of the Greenlandic communities.

Before Christianity, the Greenlanders followed the traditional Inuit spiritual world, a belief in the spirits of the animals, the sea, the land, and the weather, and in the power of the angakkoq, the shaman, who mediated between the human community and the unseen powers, above all the great spirit of the sea who controlled the animals on which life depended.

The Christianization of Greenland, associated above all with Hans Egede, the Danish-Norwegian missionary who came to the island in the early eighteenth century, transformed the religious life of the Greenlanders, and the church, with its Greenlandic-language services and hymns, became an important part of community life and of the culture.

Today the Lutheran faith is central to the religious life of most Greenlanders, its churches, festivals, and traditions woven into the culture, even as interest in the old Inuit spiritual heritage has revived as part of the assertion of Greenlandic identity. Faith, in its Christian form, and the memory of the older beliefs, remain part of the heritage of the Greenlandic people.

Traditions

Greenlandic traditions are rich in music, story, and the customs of an Arctic hunting people, and they have enjoyed a strong revival as part of the growing assertion of Inuit identity. The rich heritage of Inuit story and belief, of the customs of the hunt, and of music and song lies at the heart of Greenlandic culture.

Among the most distinctive of Greenlandic traditions is the drum song and dance, in which a performer sings and beats a shallow frame drum, an ancient Inuit art that served both for celebration and, in former times, for the settling of disputes through song duels. This drumming, once suppressed under Christianity, has been revived as a proud symbol of Inuit heritage.

The traditional costume of Greenland, above all the striking women’s dress with its intricate beadwork collar, sealskin, and fine craftsmanship, is worn with pride on great occasions and is among the most beautiful of the world’s national costumes. Story-telling, the rich body of Inuit myth and legend, and the customs surrounding the hunt and the community are part of the living heritage.

The customs of the Christian year and the great celebrations of the community, above all the National Day and the events that mark the seasons, bring the Greenlanders together. These traditions, above all the revived drum song and the beautiful national costume, together with the heritage of Inuit story and the customs of the hunt, are cherished as vivid expressions of the Greenlandic people.

Crafts

A Greenlandic tupilak — A carved tupilak figure, a distinctive Greenlandic craft.

The crafts of the Greenlanders grew from the materials of the Arctic and the needs of the hunting life, and they show a remarkable skill in turning the products of the hunt into the tools, clothing, and art of a people living at the edge of the possible. The working of sealskin and other furs into warm and beautiful clothing was a vital craft, above all the province of the women.

The making of the traditional costume, with its intricate beadwork, its sealskin, and its fine detail, reaches great heights of artistry, and the beaded collar of the women’s national dress is a masterpiece of the craft. The sewing of sealskin clothing and boots, the kamik, both practical and beautiful, was an essential and highly developed skill.

Carving is another celebrated Greenlandic craft, and the carving of figures and objects from bone, ivory, antler, and stone is an ancient Inuit art. The most distinctive of these is the tupilak, once a magical figure made to harm an enemy and now carved as a striking work of art in bone or ivory, a signature of Greenlandic craft.

The tools of the hunt, above all the kayak and its equipment, the harpoons, and the sleds, were themselves crafted with great skill and knowledge, marvels of Arctic technology. These traditions, above all the beadwork and sealskin sewing of the costume and the carving of the tupilak, are cherished and kept alive as a valued and celebrated part of Greenlandic culture.

Food

Seal meat, a traditional staple of the Greenlandic diet.

Greenlandic cuisine is the food of an Arctic hunting people, rooted above all in the creatures of the sea and, to a lesser extent, the land, in an environment where little can be grown. The traditional diet, rich in the meat and fat of sea mammals and fish, was superbly suited to the extreme cold and the demands of the Arctic hunting life.

The seal has long been the mainstay of the Greenlandic table, its meat eaten in many ways, above all in the national dish suaasat, a hearty soup of seal, along with the meat of whale, reindeer, musk ox, and seabirds, and the fish of the rich Arctic seas, above all the halibut and the cod. The fat and skin of the whale and seal, eaten as mattak, are prized delicacies.

The traditional foods were often eaten fresh, dried, or fermented, methods suited to a land without agriculture, and the diet was rich in the nutrients needed for survival in the Arctic. Berries and a few plants gathered in the short summer added to the fare, but the sea and its creatures were the true source of life.

Today, while imported and modern foods are widely available, the traditional foods remain important and cherished, and the hunting and eating of seal, whale, and fish continue to be central to Greenlandic identity and life, above all in the smaller communities. Rooted in the Arctic sea and the hunt, Greenlandic cuisine is a distinctive expression of the way of life of the people.

Festivals

The festivals of the Greenlanders blend the Christian calendar, the celebration of national identity, and the customs of the Arctic year, and they are cherished as expressions of a distinct Inuit people. The great feasts of the church, the National Day, and the events that mark the dramatic rhythms of the Arctic seasons fill the Greenlandic year.

The National Day of Greenland, held on the twenty-first of June, the longest day of the year and the summer solstice, is the great celebration of Greenlandic identity, marked across the island with the raising of the flag, the wearing of the national costume, singing, feasting, and festivity, a joyful assertion of Greenlandic nationhood at the height of the Arctic summer.

The feasts of the Christian year, above all Christmas and Easter, are celebrated with their own Greenlandic customs, foods, and traditions, bringing the communities together through the long Arctic winter and the returning light. The rhythms of the seasons, above all the return of the sun after the polar night and the endless days of summer, shape the festive year.

Alongside these, cultural events and celebrations that display the drum song, the national costume, and the heritage of the Inuit are part of the growing assertion of Greenlandic identity. These festivals, blending Christian faith, national pride, and the customs of the Arctic year, above all the National Day at the summer solstice, are vivid expressions of the Greenlandic people.

History

The history of the Greenlanders begins with the coming of the Inuit to Greenland from Arctic North America, culminating in the Thule people who spread across the island around a thousand years ago and are the direct ancestors of the modern Greenlanders. For centuries these Inuit hunters lived along the coasts, superbly adapted to the Arctic, while the Norse colonies of the south rose and then vanished.

The modern history of Greenland turns on the arrival of the Danish-Norwegian missionary Hans Egede in 1721, who came seeking the lost Norse colonists and instead began the Christianization and colonization of the Inuit, founding the settlement that became Nuuk. From this beginning, Greenland became a colony of Denmark, and the Greenlanders were drawn into the Danish and European world.

Under Danish rule, Greenland was long kept isolated and its trade monopolized, and the Greenlanders lived as an Inuit hunting people under a distant colonial administration. In the twentieth century, especially after the Second World War, came rapid and often disruptive modernization, the growth of towns, and the drawing of Greenland fully into the modern world, with great social change.

In the later twentieth century the Greenlanders won growing self-government, achieving home rule in 1979 and expanded self-rule in 2009, gaining control over most of their own affairs and recognition as a distinct people with the right to independence. Today a strong movement toward full independence reflects the growing confidence and pride of the Greenlanders as an Inuit nation.

Today

Today the Greenlanders are an Inuit people numbering some tens of thousands, forming the great majority of the population of Greenland, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark with wide self-government. Nuuk, the colorful capital, is the center of Greenlandic life, while towns and smaller settlements are scattered along the coasts of the vast, ice-covered island.

Modern Greenland faces the challenges of a small population in a vast and harsh land, of an economy dependent on fishing, and increasingly on the prospects opened, for good or ill, by climate change and the melting of the ice, which draws the attention of the wider world to the island’s resources and its strategic position. The Greenlanders navigate these pressures while asserting their own future.

Greenlandic identity is strong and growing, expressed in the official status and vitality of the Greenlandic language, the revival of Inuit traditions such as the drum song, pride in the national costume, the flag, and the National Day, and above all in the movement toward ever greater self-rule and eventual independence. The Greenlanders increasingly see themselves as a nation.

Through the centuries since the Thule Inuit spread across the island, the Greenlanders have preserved a distinct identity as an Inuit people of the Arctic, holding to their language, their traditions of the hunt, and their bond with the ice and the sea. An Inuit nation with a homeland of its own, proud of Kalaallit Nunaat and moving toward its own future, the Greenlanders remain one of the most distinctive of the peoples associated with Europe.