Greenland - the largest island on the planet

Greenland is the largest island of the earth. Its area is 2.2 million km2, while the largest island of Russia - Sakhalin - covers an area of only 76,000 km2. Greenland in translation means "green country". This is very strange, considering that about 80% of the island's territory is covered with ice. The fact is that in 982 a group of Normans led by Eric Raud landed on the southern part of the island. At that time there grew birches, junipers, meadows with tall succulent herbs, so they called it Greenland.

Although later it turned out that more than 1.8 million km2 are covered with ice and there is nothing alive, but still the name did not change. In summer, the temperature on the island barely reaches 12 ° C, in the winter it coasts around -7 ° C, and closer to the north -36 ° C. In some areas, the minimum temperature is -70 ° C.

The ice shield on the island was formed about the same time as the ice cover of Antarctica. Over the millennia in the territory of Greenland, snow accumulated, not melting because of the low temperature. Over time, it turned into a huge layer of ice, its average thickness varies in the range of 2 - 2.5 km, and in some places reaches 3.5 km.

The largest island holds the incredible heaviness of ice, its layers from the center slowly move closer to the shores of Greenland. Mountain ridges like a gigantic bowl seem to keep the bulk of the ice out of the last forces, but some ice floes break off and fall from the tops into the water, turning into huge icebergs - the main danger of ships plying the Atlantic Ocean.

Until 1536, the largest island belonged to Norway, and then became a colony of Denmark. In 1953, Greenland acquired the status of the Danish province. The population of the island is small - only 50 thousand people. Basically it is the Greenlandic Eskimos, the Danes and the Norwegians. The most densely populated city is Nuuk (Gotthob). It is home to about 14 thousand Greenlanders.

Gotthob was founded in 1721 by the missionary from Norway H. Egede, who came to Greenland to convert local Eskimos to Christianity. At that time there were about 12 families. He even founded the town, calling it "good hope." In 1979, after Greenland became autonomous, Gothhob was renamed Nuuk. It is he who is considered the economic capital of the island, since most of the industry is concentrated there.

The largest island is practically unsuitable for life, as the climatic conditions here are severe. Only on the coasts there are small stripes of land, where the local population actually lives. Basically, the Greenlanders are engaged in fishing and hunting, in warmer regions - in sheep breeding. Greenland is in the first place in the production of processed shrimps, it is here that about 30 thousand tons of fish are caught annually.

The largest island to this day remains virtually untapped territory. There are no railways, you can drive by car only around the city. To get to another village, you need to use a snowmobile or dog sled. Something like Greenland is like a snow queen, as beautiful and unapproachable.