Danish colonization of the Americas

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Denmark and the former

colonial empire from the 17th through the 20th centuries, large portions of which were found in the Americas. Denmark and Norway in one form or another also maintained land claims in Greenland
since the 13th century, the former up through the twenty-first century.

West Indies (1754–1917)

Christiansted, Danish West Indies
Main article: Danish West Indies

Explorers (mainly Norwegians), scientists, merchants (mainly Danish) and settlers from

U.S. Virgin Islands
) in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

Denmark–Norway started colonies on

Danish West India and Guinea Company
until 1755, when the Dano-Norwegian king bought them out. Following the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, the Treaty of Kiel signed on 14 January 1814, Frederick VI ceded the Kingdom of Norway to the King of Sweden. Despite Norway then being under the Swedish crown some Norwegians kept coming due to family connections.

pirates. The British and Dutch settlers became the largest non-slave groups on the islands. Their languages predominated, so much so that the Danish government, in 1839, declared that slave children must attend school in the English language
. The colony reached its largest population in the 1840–50s, after which an economic downturn increased emigration and the population dropped, a trend that continued until after the islands' purchase by the United States. The Danish West Indies had 34,000 inhabitants in 1880.

In 1868, Denmark voted to sell the colony to the United States but their offer was rebuffed. In 1902, Denmark rejected an American purchase offer. On 31 March 1917, the United States finally purchased the islands, which had been in economic decline since the abolition of slavery.

Greenland (1814–present)

Main articles:
Norse colonization of the Americas

Sweden entered the Kalmar Union with Norway in 1397 under the Queen of Norway, and Norway's overseas territories including Greenland later became subject to the king in Copenhagen.[3] Scandinavian settlement in Greenland declined over the years and the last written record is a marriage recorded in 1408, although the Norwegian claims to the land remained. Following the establishment of an independent Sweden, Norway and Denmark were reorganized into a polity now known as Denmark–Norway
in 1536/1537 and the nominal Norwegian sovereignty over Greenland was taken up by the new union. Despite the decline of European settlement and the loss of contact, Denmark–Norway continued to maintain its claim to lordship of Greenland.

Between the years 1605–1607, King Christian IV of Denmark–Norway commissioned three expeditions to Greenland. These expeditions were conducted in order to locate the lost Norse Eastern Settlement as well as to reassert Danish sovereignty over Greenland. The expeditions were largely unsuccessful, partly due to its leaders lacking experience with the arctic ice and difficult weather conditions. Additionally later expeditions were searching on the east coast of Greenland, which was almost inaccessible at the time due to southward-drifting ice. [4] In the 1660s, a polar bear was added to the royal coat of arms. Around this same time Dano-Norwegian ships, joined by ships from various other European countries, began journeying to Greenland to hunt bowhead whales, though no formal recolonization was attempted.

A 1747 map based on Egede's descriptions, including many geographical errors common to the time

In 1721, the Norwegian

Godthaab) failed due to mutiny[5] and scurvy and the retinue was recalled in 1730.[2]

Three

Nennortalik (1797) for a century until the establishment of Amassalik on the eastern shore in 1894. The 1782 Instructions also established separate governing councils for North and South Greenland
.

Denmark–Norway's possessions c. 1800

Danish intervention on

Kalaallisut with minor control over spending decisions at each station. In 1912, Royal Greenland's independence was ended and its operations were folded into the Ministry of the Interior
.

Danish Virgin Islands to the United States in 1917.[6] Norway – which had become independent of Sweden in 1905 – eventually protested and claimed Erik the Red's Land in eastern Greenland during 1931. The Permanent Court of International Justice
ruled against Norway and supported the Danish sovereignty two years later.

The

regional parliament
.

See also

References

  1. ^ The Fate of Greenland's Vikings, by Dale Mackenzie Brown, Archaeological Institute of America, February 28, 2000
  2. ^ a b c d e Marquardt, Ole. "Change and Continuity in Denmark's Greenland Policy" in The Oldenburg Monarchy: An Underestimated Empire?. Verlag Ludwig (Kiel), 2006.
  3. ISBN 0-7368-0939-2
    .
  4. ^ Gosch, C.C.A. Danish Arctic Expeditions, 1605 to 1620. Book I.—The Danish Expeditions to Greenland in 1605, 1606, and 1607; to which is added Captain James Hall's Voyage to Greenland in 1612 London: Hakluyt Society. 1897
  5. ^ Cranz, David & al. The History of Greenland: including an account of the mission carried on by the United Brethren in that country. Longman, 1820.
  6. ^ Cavell, Janice. "Historical Evidence and the Eastern Greenland Case Archived 2020-07-29 at the Wayback Machine". Arctic, Vol. 61, No. 4 (Dec. 2008), pp. 433–441.
  7. ^ Royal Greenland. "Our History Archived 2012-05-26 at the Wayback Machine". Accessed 30 Apr 2012.

External links

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