Media Milwaukee

Student-Powered News | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Edge of the Arctic: Greenland, the Land of the People

A Media Milwaukee Special Project

Posted on by , , and

When stepping off the plane in Nuuk, Greenland, the first thing that hits a person is the wind. The strong, biting gusts almost knock people off their feet and nips faces. These cold conditions sink deep into the bone, making it hard to warm up, even when back inside next to a heater. This is what the people of Greenland face every day, but not once did any of them complain.

One word that comes to mind when thinking of the people of Greenland: Resilience. Resilience to overcome the harsh landscape (they literally live on an icy rock) but also to overcome the effects of Danish colonization and how they have been treated and still are today. From demonization of their traditional practices to forced sterilization of young girls, it is a wonder that these people still maintain their kindness and compassion and continue to face all these challenges head on. Yet they do within a landscape of austere and frozen beauty on the edge of the world.

“I have thought a lot about a conservative politician from a few years ago,” Troels, a Danish man who moved to Greenland with his partner for work, said. “He was running for the Prime Minister (of Denmark). He called Greenland ‘Africa on ice’, and that’s so insensitive. I remember another situation from about 10 years ago. Someone called 911 and [the ambulance] wouldn’t go out because it was a person from Greenland.”

None of this oppression has stopped the Inuit people from continuing to live their lives and culture to the fullest (about 89% of the roughly 56,000 who live in Greenland are Inuit or Inuit-Danish). All throughout Nuuk are depictions of their art, from murals to sculptures, proving their place in the world. Much of this art uses materials that they have either hunted or gathered, including seals, because for them, it is of the utmost importance that nothing goes to waste as a sign of respect to the land.

No country on earth has a greater proportion of indigenous people than Greenland. Its remoteness, previous policies limiting tourism, and small population ensure that the indigenous identity dominates the country today, although it is intermingled with a complex relationship with Denmark through family, politics, and, in some cases, shared DNA.

A team of student journalists traveled to this icy wonderful in an effort to understand, and chronicle, the complexities of Greenland beyond the political clash frame that has dominated the U.S. media. We tried to place the frame around the Greenlandic people, who sometimes get left out of a conversation focused on major superpowers who desire its strategic position in the Arctic and, perhaps, its rare earth metals beneath the icy crust.

In some ways, the desolate, cold landscape resembles all that the people of Greenland have faced for hundreds of years. Yet, seeing these towns and roads carved straight through the rocks into the mountain sides shows their dedication to continue thriving, despite any objections or obstacles put in their way.

Inuit History: Kalaallit Nunaa

About four and a half thousand years ago, people arrived in Greenland: the Arctic Small Tool tradition (ASTt). They’d existed long before left the Beiring Strait region, from Alaska to Canada, all the way across the Arctic until they arrived at the giant ice sheet. History is complicated, so archaeologists are unsure of why, where and how they moved throughout Greenland. Experts do know, however, that the ASTt people are the ancestors of the modern Inuit people, sharing both language and DNA.

The Inuit people were advanced, Dr. Frank Sejersen said. “They had dog sleds, they had boats, they were hunting whales and they were moving quite fast. They were, one could say, top of the pups as Arctic peoples,” he said, also noting their ability to adapt and change with complications like climate change.

The colonization of Greenland is marked by Lutheran Minister Hans Egede’s arrival in 1721. He originally sought to rekindle a connection with the Norse Viking settlements, but they had mysteriously died out, and Egede only found the local Kalaallit people. Instead of helping the Vikings maintain their Christianity, he began to convert the Inuit people. Egede’s presence is still felt in Greenland, as a statue of him sits atop a hill on the edge of Nuuk, Bible in hand.

Denmark’s presence in Greenland was not the first time the island was connected to global dynamics—trade already existed with Dutch and Scottish whalers, Sejersen said. Even if the goods the Danes brought were “pretty awful compared to the Dutch,” what Denmark did bring was education, resources and urbanization.

Even as Greenland changed massively, it didn’t become a political entity of its own until 1857, when local councils were established. Improvements to their political autonomy became more frequent, leading to 2009, when the island gained full self-government.

Greenlanders may have more of a say in their home, but many of them still desire independence. According to a January 2025 poll by Danish polling group Verian, about 56% of them would vote for independence on a referendum. This might be the next big step for Greenland, but as interviews with residents revealed, it may not be time yet.

The Culture of Silence

Snow makes the world feel quiet. Even in late April, Nuuk’s small city center is covered in ice and snow. A tiny but bustling hub of cold, community and culture. Greenlandic pride is ever-present on the island—the flag flies high, workers don a satirical MAGA cap simply saying, “Already Great.”

The Greenlandic people have a unique sense of quiet among them, echoing the silence of falling snow. There is a “culture of stillness and quietness. We speak to each other, we don’t speak to the whole space we are in,” said Nuuk Art Museum Director Hanne Kirkegaard. “We listen to each other; we listen to our surroundings. We give space to each other.”

Despite Denmark’s long colonial efforts to sanitize the island’s Inuit culture, traditional art, food and customs are still alive. Just as hunters would in early Inuit settlements, every part of the animal is used, souvenir shop keeper Sophie Marie Korniussen explained. “It’s everything,” she said. “We eat the seal and we take the skin off and make them to clothes and jackets or bags or wallets.” The latter she gestured to in her shop, the seal fur adorning everything from slippers to hats. Down the road, you can buy a reindeer burger at the local cafe.

While happy to relish in the deliciousness and resourcefulness of the seal, Korniussen deferred to local guides in Nuuk about further cultural practices and beliefs. Guides and museums are filled to the brim with information, but the locals are often not eager to share what is closest to them. Even though Greenlandic and Inuit culture has long been at risk of disappearing, the tradition to not speak about the ethereal (or the spirit) as to not influence it may still hold strong.

Still, you’ll see jewelry carved out of animal bone, women dawning traditional Inuit tattoos and adoring images of beloved polar bears and seals throughout Nuuk, a testament to the culture’s resilience and resurgence. Indigenous art covers stodgy apartment buildings, which are more functional than elegant. Young people in Greenland may frequent American TikTok and speak English more than before, but the history and presence of the Greenlandic Inuit cannot be ignored.

Feelings Toward Trump and Greenland’s Relationship with Denmark

Greenland’s population, despite being in the spotlight of recent geopolitical developments, is united. Through extensive interviews conducted by Media Milwaukee in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, Greenlanders reached a unanimous agreement on one common enemy: U.S. President Donald Trump.

At the World Economic Forum in January, Trump said that while he has “tremendous” respect for the people of Greenland and Denmark, “No nation or group of nations is in any position to be able to secure Greenland other than the United States.”

“That’s the reason I’m seeking immediate negotiations to once again discuss the acquisition of Greenland by the United States, just as we have acquired many other territories throughout our history,” Trump said.

Trump’s threats to Greenland’s sovereignty have lit a fire under Greenlanders, provoking responses to his threats that have made him look “childish” and prompting interviewees to ask, “Can I use a swear word?” when describing what they would say to Trump if they had the opportunity.

“He’s [Trump] a piece of sh*t,” said Ilanguaq, a worker at Royal Greenland, which is a fish processing factory by the Port of Nuuk. Ilanguaq requested that Media Milwaukee remove his last name due to his employment. “We don’t want to be part of [the] United States.”

Greenlanders point to the universal healthcare provided by Denmark as one of the perks of being under the Kingdom of Denmark’s rule. Greenland has a limited number of hospitals. Most of them are regional hospitals outside Nuuk, the capital; however, there is a main hospital in Nuuk, Queen Ingrid’s Hospital, that not only serves as one of the regional hospitals but also the national hospital.

Patients typically go to their regional hospitals for smaller check-ups or illnesses. If a patient has a health condition or event that requires more assistance beyond what regional centers can offer, the patient is transferred to the national hospital in Nuuk. The most serious surgeries or conditions are transferred to Denmark, and the Danish government provides transportation to pick up patients from Greenland. All of these hospitals and services are free of charge if the citizen is a resident in either Greenland or Denmark.

“It can be discussed what the quality of the health care system is here for minor things, like it can take forever to get to the dentist, for instance, but you don’t pay for it,” said Olle Westlund, an owner of a tourism boat in Nuuk. “But if you come in with a serious disease like cancer or something like that, then you get treated and you get sent to Denmark where they have even better care. If it’s super critical, then they can be brought up with a helicopter to an airport where we have either a King Air [airplane] or one of the Dash 8 [airplanes] come and pick them up with a medical team. They meet up with a jet from Denmark that comes here, an ambulance flight, flying them to Denmark for care. They still pay nothing.”

It is common for Greenlanders to travel to Denmark for health and education, which is also free. The deep cultural ties between the two countries feature a shared history. A majority of the Greenlanders Media Milwaukee interviewed had Danish heritage and many have lived in both countries. Aqqalu Jensen, a fisherman in Greenland, has family living in Denmark and visits them multiple times a year.

“Maybe twice a year,” Jensen said. “Last time I went to Denmark [was] at Christmas time. We love to go to Denmark in the summer.”

Wild Arctic

Flying over Greenland truly makes it feel like the edge of the world. Ice for as far as the eye can see, there is a sense of uninhabitability not found in many other places. It feels like flying to another world, one free of humans, and overtaken by cold hard ice.

Dr. Spruce Schoenemann, a geology professor at the University of Montana, described his experience as “going to Greenland and being able to see the landscape and see the ecosystems that are there. There’s muskox, there’s arctic fox, and there’s incredible wildflowers. It’s a very vibrant and beautiful place, especially in the summertime.”

The first sign of human life when flying in is the small city of Nuuk. Nestled between the rock and the snow, the colorful houses stick out like tulips on the harsh white background. The city was truly carved out of the rock and snow, with roads flanked by sheer cliff faces and sharp coastlines. The roads are contained within the city however, as the only viable way to travel between towns is via the air or sea.

The hostility of the landscape mixed with the warmth of the city makes for a stark contrast. Sweeping fjords and towering mountains surround the city, making it feel like an oasis in the coldest desert. The rocky coastlines give way to arctic waters, sprinkled with ducks and seagulls near the shore. The mountains surrounding the town seem like solid ice from a distance, but near the base they are much rockier, and even provide life to small shrubbery.

The landscape of Greenland truly makes it feel like a final frontier. Small towns clawed out of the rock are the only respite in the otherwise stark white ice sheets that cover the majority of the land. Here total connection between the people and the land is needed to have any hope of survival in one of the harshest environments on Earth.

Color Along the Coast

Nuuk is unlike any other coastal town—at least, in terms of views. No one is visiting Greenland expecting a warm, sunny oceanside vacation, but the drab skies of Nuuk were unexpected. The cold breeze from the Atlantic Ocean and the billowing gray clouds accompany picturesque views of the island’s rocky terrain, almost unreal or otherworldly to an outsider.

But Nuuk has color. A lot of it, actually. Everywhere you look, there are little Danish-inspired houses contrasting the grayscale landscape that are almost all decorated in one of the three primary colors. They vary—from fire truck red to a muted brick, a well-loved denim to a vibrant ultramarine or a butter yellow to a zesty lemon.

There are outliers, of course, with the occasional forest green, but the amount of color on these houses would send shock waves through a modern American suburb development. The variety makes a white or gray home look bland.

A blend of functionality with aesthetics, sustainability and natural materials are hallmarks of Danish architecture, but in Nuuk, the homes look like if you picked up the famous Danish town homes, separated them, stretched them out and sanded off all unique design. Nuuk is not absent of interesting architecture, but the homes are simple. They sit atop icy hills and are built on rock, so they do what they can.

Nuuk is a major port and harbor home to many container facilities. When a town is situated on rock, they rely on a lot of imports, and their economy is dependent on exports, too. These large, metal rectangular boxes sit on the edge of town, called Old Nuuk, and add even more color. Shipping containers may be an eyesore to some, but contrasted with Greenland’s frequently cloudy skies, they almost feel necessary. The containers and the homes are not dissimilar. They are colorful, frequently long and skinny, aplenty and essential to survival.

Dark Side of Danish Colonialization

Greenland’s air in downtown Nuuk reeked of cigarette smoke, with cigarette buds sprinkled in the icy ditches like ashtrays. Each street corner had at least one person blowing cigarette smoke into the dry and cold air, polluting the air with a distinct and recognizable smell. Cigarettes and alcohol are common; shedding light on the sometimes depression-filled population exacerbated by the brutal climate and relentless winters that feature little to no daylight from December through February. Greenlanders seek sunlight that sparks energy, morale and beaming smiles.

Most public spaces feature smoke rooms that seep smoke into common areas. For example, a bar in downtown Nuuk, Daddy’s, had a smoke room packed with people, and when they went to and from the common bar area to the smoke room, they dragged the smell with them.

Alcohol use is also prominent in Greenland, leading to an increase in poverty. A homeless man in Greenland, Svend Jensen, says that after the loss of his father in 2023 due to cancer, he turned to drinking, which led to him losing his house. Being homeless in a place with a harsh climate like Greenland begs a question: “Where do ‘homeless Greenlanders sleep where it is warm?”

“In streets, stairs and buildings,” Jensen said. “Sometimes I use homeless shelters but because of my drinking, I cannot sleep in the shelter. Only when I don’t drink, I can sleep there.” While major countries battle rhetorically over his homeland, Jensen is sleeping in a stairwell.

Jensen continued that “a lot of people drink a lot,” and the alcohol problem in Greenland could be attributed to homelessness. He says that a lot of people share his story of becoming homeless due to alcohol use disorders, but the Greenlandic and Danish governments are not helping.

“I have shown my personality to the government, seeking help, and never get a result from it,” Jensen said. “I don’t have a secret of all my life for [the] government. They know all about me.”

Greenland and Denmark share a special relationship, rooted in cultural ties. However, from the 1960s through the 1990s, the Danish healthcare system and Danish boarding schools for Greenlandic students disrupted the future of Greenlanders and affected birth rates by inserting IUDs in Greenlandic women and girls without their consent or their parents’ consent.

According to a September 2025 independent investigation of the IUD scandal, translated to English, the report concluded that while the exact number of Greenlandic women and girls who had IUDs forcibly inserted is unknown, over 4,070 had IUDs inserted by the end of 1970.

“That’s one way of the Danish government making it impossible for a lot of [Greenlandic] women to have children,” said Troels, a Danish tourist Media Milwaukee interviewed inside the Greenland National Museum. Troels asked Media Milwaukee to remove his last name after the interview.

But according to Troels, the IUD scandal is not the only instance where Denmark sought to suppress Greenlanders. Recently, under 20 years ago, Troels described the Greenlandic educational system as “segregated,” where some people are only taught Greenlandic, and others are only taught Danish.

Greenlandic Food

Greenland’s food is a reflection of the harsh climate, but also the ingenuity of the local peoples. The lack of natural resources has shaped the traditional food; however, international influences have also changed the food landscape.

Reindeer and musk ox can be found in several of the restaurants in Nuuk, however, there are very few traditional Greenlandic restaurants. Most restaurants offer a mix of Asian influences, Danish, American, and Greenlandic options. The diversity in options at restaurants speaks to the global influences on Greenland.

Novelty shop owner Sophie Marie Korniussen describes the unique taste of seal by saying, “It’s good. It’s good for the health. And when the winter comes, we eat a lot of seals because it’s cold. The whale and narwhal, we also eat their meat and skin. We also eat it.”

Fresh seafood is also a staple in many restaurants in Nuuk. Fishing is the biggest industry in Greenland, so naturally that translates into the food culture. Chard, herring, and wolffish are found in many dishes, often served raw or smoked. Seafood has a heavy influence on the local food scene and is some of the freshest available.

Grocery stores offer many options that would be familiar around the world, but also some delicacies that are specific to the region. Lots of cuts or reindeer meat, seal, and other local animals are available in the grocery stores, although people still hunt these animals as they have for generations.

Take a look inside Media Milwaukee’s project on the culture of silence becoming the forefront of geopolitics.

This story is part of a semester-long investigative reporting project into Greenland’s people, history, and culture. It was created by an advanced reporting class in the Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies program at UW-Milwaukee. Other stories from the project are available on Edge of the Arctic: Greenland, the Land of the People.

This work was made possible through the support of MPC Endowment Ltd., the philanthropic affiliate of the Milwaukee Press Club, and a private donor.