Royal Greenland Trading Department

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The Royal Greenland Dock at Christianshavn in Copenhagen in 1810, painting by N. I. Bredal

The Royal Greenland Trading Department (

Godhavn on Greenland. The company was headquartered at Grønlandske Handels Plads at Christianshavn
.

Following the introduction of

KNI conglomerate, the Royal Greenland fishing company, and the Royal Arctic
shipping company.

History

The Royal Greenland Trading Department was founded in 1774 as a successor to the failed

Lutheran and Moravian missions in Greenland
.

At first, it possessed a monopoly on trade near the Danish trading stations and missions but, in 1776, this was expanded to a monopoly on all trade in Greenland whatsoever between the

Instruction of 1782 divided the colony into northern and southern halves, forbade senior management from intermarriage with native or racially mixed women and lower-ranking employees from intermarriage with native or European women,[2] and banned further attempts to urbanize the Inuit or alter their traditional way of life through improved employment opportunities or sales of luxury items. Large premiums were charged on goods such as sugar and coffee in order to prevent the Inuit from 'softening' and abandoning their demanding work.[1]

Two members of the Royal Greenland Trade Company, 1854

Repeated attempts to end the department's monopoly on trade were defeated, notably by an impassioned defense of the company's practices by its director

Ministry of the Interior took over general administration and, in 1912, the entire trading operation was brought under its supervision as well.[3]

Fleet

The Royal Greenland Trading Department began with a gift of three ships from the king: the large frigate Kongens Gave ("King's Gift"), the smaller frigate Holsteinsborg, and the galiot Den Gloende.[4] In 1776, its fleet consisted of the Bernstorff, the Eichsted, the Godthaab, the Holsteinsborg, the Island, the Kongenshaab, the Krag Juul Wind, the Lovisenborg, the Mariakirke, the Sankt Croix, the Sankt Peter, the Schack Rathlau, the Schimmelmann, Skatmester, the Strat Davis, and the Taasinge Slot.[4] The next year, only 10 vessels returned: the Bernstorff, the Eichsted, the Gregers Juul, the Guldberg, the Holsteinsborg, the Kongenshaab, the Krag Juul Wind, the Schack Rathlau, the Schack, and the Schimmelmann, Skatmester.[4]

In 1781, a royal order granted a number of privileges to crew members of the Royal Greenland fleet. They were made exempt from regular military service except for times of utter need. Furthermore, crew members were freed from any civil obligations, which included tax-free trading for personal provisioning before and after a voyage and a deferral of heritage fees for the families of crew members deceased during a voyage.[5]

The Department began purchasing its own trading vessels again in 1790.[6] Ships operated by the trading department included the Mariane, Tjalfe, Godthaab, Gertrud Rask, Gustav Holm,[3] and Ceres.[7] From 1792, the armed vessel Dorothea served as a coastal patrol in northern Greenland in order to prevent illegal trading between the Inuit and foreign ships and to discourage whaling by other nations in the area.[5] The department also operated the commercial whaler s/s Sonja between 1924 and 1958, with a six-year hiatus during World War II.[8]

Disestablishment

The company's monopoly was finally ended in 1950,

KNI conglomerate.[13] The Royal Greenland fishing company was spun off in 1990,[9] the Royal Arctic Line shipping company in 1993,[14] and the Pisiffik retail chain in 2001.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Marquardt, Ole. "Change and Continuity in Denmark's Greenland Policy" in The Oldenburg Monarchy: An Underestimated Empire?. Verlag Ludwig (Kiel), 2006.
  2. ^ Seiding, Inge. "Colonial Categories of Rule – Mixed Marriages and Families in Greenland around 1800". Kontur, No. 22 (2011).
  3. ^ a b c Doody, Richard. The World at War. "GREENLAND 1721 - 1953". Accessed 28 Apr 2012.
  4. ^ a b c Fogsgaard. Dansk hvalfangst i Nordatlanten 1771 - 1789. 2003. (in Danish)
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-3-924422-95-0
    .
  6. ^ Culture Greenland. "Preliminary Studies in KGH's Photo-Archive Archived 2012-03-06 at the Wayback Machine." Sisimiut Museum. Accessed 2 May 2012.
  7. ^ Meddelelser om Grønland. "Den østgrønlandske Expedition undført i Aarene 1883–85". (in Danish)
  8. ^ WSPA. "Exploding Myths: An exposé of the commercial elements of Greenlandic Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling". 2008. Accessed 2 May 2012.
  9. ^ a b Royal Greenland. "Our History Archived 2012-05-26 at the Wayback Machine". Accessed 27 August 2010.
  10. ^ MIPI. "Pilersuisoq KNI A/S". Accessed 2 May 2012. (in Danish)
  11. ^ Dahl, Jens. Saqqaq: An Inuit Hunting Community in the Modern World. Univ. of Toronto Press, 2000.
  12. ^ Culture Greenland. "Preliminary Studies in KGH's Photo-Archive Archived 2012-03-06 at the Wayback Machine". Accessed 2 May 2012.
  13. ^ KNI. "Kort historie om KNI Archived 2012-04-23 at the Wayback Machine [A Short History of KNI]". Accessed 28 Apr 2012. (in Danish)
  14. ^ Royal Arctic Lines. "Royal Arctic Line Ltd.: History". Accessed 28 Apr 2012.
  15. ^ Pisiffik. "Om os Archived 2010-07-29 at the Wayback Machine". Accessed 28 Aug 2010. (in Danish)

External links

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