14 Jun 21 Fun Facts About Greenland (That You May Not Have Known)
In light of the recent coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, not a lot of people will be traveling at the moment. Travel is a luxury and privilege, which even we are having to reconsider for the foreseeable future. But we know a time will come when we’ll all be free to roam and explore again (Greenland and other beautiful places), so until then, we will continue to dream, sharing inspiring stories, travel tips (and facts about Greenland, obvs) that you can bookmark for a more relevant time.
This week we’re exploring the interesting country of Greenland. Incase you haven’t been following along on Instagram – we’ve recently been taking “virtual trips” to locations around the world we’re dreaming of visiting, featuring some of our favourite photographers, creators and small businesses, and, well, this week it’s all about Greenland!
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It’s such an interesting and unique place that we thought we’d dedicate an entire post, trying to share all the fun facts about Greenland that we found whilst doing our research. We’ll also be doing a quiz this week on our InstaStories as well, so if you’re up to the challenge, join us for it!
Now back to the reason you visited our blog! Here are:
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21 Fun Facts About Greenland (That You May Not Have Known)
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Greenland is the world’s largest island.
Despite its name, less than 1% of the country’s landmass actually accounts for green space.
There are fewer people than there are seals in Greenland – only 56,000 humans and approximately 2 million seals.
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The country of Greenland is part of two continents – geographically it is part of North America, and politically and culturally, it is part of Europe.
Greenlandic people are masters of reading body language, so you could easily answer a few simple questions by changing your facial expressions slightly – for example, lifting your eyebrows and throwing your head back would mean “yes”, and pulling your eyebrows together (as if you were frowning) would mean “no”.
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The Inuit people have 35 different words for “ice”.
The midnight sun can be experienced in Greenland (anywhere north of the Arctic Circle), for a period lasting from a single day and up to five months, depending on how far north you travel.
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An Airbus could never land at Nuuk International Airport because at just 1,799 meters / 1.1 miles in length, the runway is too short.
There are twice as many helicopters in the Air Greenland fleet as there are fixed-wing airplanes.
Michael Smith’s record-setting flight around the world in his Searey a.k.a. #SouthernSun (which crossed 25 countries, took 82 flying days, 480 flight hours, 2588 gallons of fuel and covered more than 35,000 miles) departed from Kulusuk in Greenland.
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Towns in Greenland can only connect via helicopters, planes, sleds, and boats, as there are no roads and no railway systems in Greenland.
Sled dogs can only be found where there is sea ice – so in East Greenland, and above the Arctic Circle on the west coast.
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Historically, wooden houses in Greenland (post-Danish colonization) were color-coded: fish factories were blue, hospitals were yellow, houses were red, and the telephone company was green.
Temperatures do not generally exceed 10 degrees Celsius / 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
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If Greenland’s ice sheet was to melt entirely, it could raise global sea levels by more than 7 meters / 23 feet, causing both Miami and Lower Manhattan to flood.
Greenland’s ice is picking up speed, as one of the country’s main glaciers has become the fastest-moving structure of its kind, getting up to 17 kilometers / 10.5 miles per year.
That same glacier is supposedly the one that spawned the deadly iceberg that sank the Titanic.
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There are around ten different species of whale in the waters surrounding Greenland, including humpback, sperm, beluga and killer whales.
It’s not only Greenlandic cuisine that thrives on fish – the economy relies heavily on it too, with fisheries representing up to 30% of Greenland’s gross national income.
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During Christmas, the Inuit delicacy known as ‘Kiviak’ is eaten. This bizarre dish consists of numerous dead auk birds being stuffed into a dead seal, which is then left for three months to ferment under a rock.
In a study done by two Danish doctors, it was discovered that Greenland’s Inuit people were much less likely to die from heart disease than Danes or Americans, due to the high volume of omega-3 fats in their diet (which they get from whale blubber and seal fat).
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We hope you enjoyed this post, and learned a few things about this incredibly unique country.
If there’s any fun facts about Greenland that we missed, feel free to share them in the comments below!
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If you enjoyed this blog post with facts about Greenland, you may want to follow our journey on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, browse our online photography shop, or get yourself a copy of our TRAVEL AROUND THE WORLD eBook.
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