Allow me to introduce myself – the name’s Greenland. I am Mars on Earth. The comparison honors me because it is based on my incomparably beautiful scenery.
No farmer has ever spoiled my landscape – because there are no farmers here, except in my very south. From this map, you can’t even tell that I am the largest island in the world. After all, I have huge reindeer antlers above me, a radiance, you see: the coastlines of Canada and Alaska stretch out to the left, and on the right is the second coastline, first a tiny section along Norway, then the huge stretches that mark Russia and Siberia. And at the very top, at the point where the two lines would touch, is the Bering Sea. From there, the Chinese travel toward me with their merchant ships. That’s why the north of my island looks so wired, with listening posts, the U.S. Air Force, ice core drills, and Arctic Command, the national defense, an exemplary 40 men strong.
I’ve been blossoming since people have started saying that my ice sheet is melting. Traditionally, every blossoming begins with culture. First came the Inuit, the Vikings, the Norwegians, the Danes, and then there was a lot of punk-style attitude and rebellion in Greenland because no one could get used to the colonialism of the Danes, who resettled the Inuit after World War II: out of their kayaks and into the prefabricated buildings provided all over by the state.
But now that theArctic Silk road is to be errected, my culture is forming a whole new line of defense. Now, European values are being defended in the Arctic Circle and rare earth elements are being sought in the country, which is melting just as slowly as it is attracting more and more people: dancers of every stripe, for example – from ballet to aerial, hip-hop to contemporary. And because there are no limits here, not even real roads, everyone can do what they have always done: art for all kinds of engineers and surveyors, including a brand new dance studio and a rock musical against colonialism, financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers with its affilited organisations, the Nordic Institute in Greenland and the Nordic Culture Fund. Have fun traveling and learning and reading about my capital.
This big, expansive, white country is the bridgehead between Canada and Scandinavia – and Europe’s largest colony. Famous for its icebergs and a culture built on Inuit land, Greenland beckons visitors to break dance and polka on melting ice floes.
… or as a lover read for free
