# Greenland **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 13, 2003, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenland/207238 "2003-10-13T19:17:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oktberfest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@Oktberfest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oktberfest)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenland/207238/1 "2003-10-13T19:17:44Z")
Why is called Greenland? When Europeans first was Greenland was it covered by forests, not glaciers? ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenland/207238/2 "2003-10-13T19:30:33Z")
Supposedly in order to attract settlers. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenland/207238/3 "2003-10-13T19:33:19Z")
Because on the map, it’s colored green. Of course, that’s probably just because Denmark is colored green. ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenland/207238/4 "2003-10-13T19:35:28Z")
Greenland was called Greenland as an early example of Viking spin-doctoring. See [Arctic Studies Center](http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/html/resources_glossary.html) of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. “{Erik the Red}established colonies on Greenland, naming it such “so that people would be encouraged to go there”.” ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenland/207238/5 "2003-10-13T19:37:40Z")
Surely this is a high-simulpost-risk thing, but I’ll give it a try: [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/micegreenland.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/micegreenland.html) > [@](#): > > He [Erik the Red, an Icelander who was the first European to sail toGreenland] used the time to explore the rumored lands to the west. When his term of banishment expired, he returned to Icleand to invite his neighbors and friends to settle the new country with him. He purposely chose the pleasant name Grænland (“green land”) to attract settlers, but the choice wasn’t exactly misleading. Some parts of Greenland, especially the parts the Norse settled, really are green, as these pictures from the tourist board attest (www.greenland-guide.dk/outdoor\_life\_photo.htm). He may have been a killer, but at least he wasn’t a real-estate scam-artist. He didn’t have that much to gain by lying anyway, since he didn’t charge anyone for the land. As in Iceland a century before, the land was free for the taking. > > […] > > The unoccupied land in southern Greenland really was of much higher quality than anything that remained unclaimed in Iceland. The greenery that most interested the settlers was the pasturage, which was good enough to support their sheep, goats, horses, swine, and cattle. ---
**Author:** ![Oktberfest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@Oktberfest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oktberfest)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenland/207238/6 "2003-10-13T19:43:48Z")
So is the climate on Greenland basically the same today as when Europeans first discovered it? ---
**Author:** ![Matchka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Matchka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Matchka)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenland/207238/7 "2003-10-13T19:57:52Z")
Maybe, but in the interrim it got real crappy & the Viking-dudes had to face starvation or move to Minnesota. That’s why no more Viking dudes … in/on Greenland at any rate. Some say… ---
**Author:** ![Not\_In\_Anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@Not\_In\_Anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_In_Anger)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenland/207238/8 "2003-10-13T20:13:22Z")
No it was quite a bit warmer then than now. And yes, it got extremely cold during the “Little Ice Age,” approximately 1250-1500 AD. The Norse failed to change their way of life to adapt, despite the example given by the Inuit who migrated south into the Norse area during this period, and with agonizing slowness gave up the ghost. ---
**Author:** ![Oktberfest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@Oktberfest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oktberfest)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenland/207238/9 "2003-10-13T20:28:45Z")
Despite it being warmer was most of Greenland still covered with ice? ---
**Author:** ![Matchka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Matchka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Matchka)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenland/207238/10 "2003-10-13T20:37:45Z")
This could be [helpful.](http://www.discover.com/mar_00/featvanished.html)