CULTURAL CONTEXT
HISTORY & CULTURE
Greenland, the world’s largest island, was originally settled by Norwegians over a 1,000 years ago, and became a Danish colony in 1814. A Home Rule government was established in 1979, and after a country-wide referendum, the Greenland Self Government was replaced by a Home Rule government in 2009. Visiting Greenlandic communities gives you an opportunity to discover what it might be like to live in the Far North. The Thule people arrived in Greenland around the 9th century AD and most modern Greenlandic Inuit are
their descendants of this ethnic group. The Inuit people who settled in the area have passed down their traditions of hunting, kayaking, dog sledding and handicraft-making for generations. The Greenlandic language is roughly divided into four dialects: South Greenlandic, East Greenlandic, West Greenlandic and the Thule dialect.
History remains alive today in the traditions of the people of Greenland.
16 | QUARK EXPEDITIONS
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