Greenland pushes back on US takeover threats
Greenland says it has “no intention to become American,” stressing alliance with U.S. while staying with Denmark.
President Donald Trump is hoping to take control of Greenland, a Danish territory covering more than 836,000 square miles —three times the size of Texas, with about 80% covered by a massive ice cap.
Flawed maps have often made the island appear smaller or larger than it is. On some maps, it looks similar in size to Africa.
So, how big is Greenland? Here’s everything to know.
Scale
One of the biggest places in the world, Greenland is approximately 20 times the size of Denmark and 14 times smaller than Africa, according to VisitGreenland.com.
Comparison: The world’s largest island that’s not a continent, Greenland is larger than France, Germany, Spain, and the UK combined. It’s also larger than the state of Alaska but smaller than the contiguous United States.
Who lives in Greenland?
The island has a population of roughly 56,480 and is among the least densely populated in the world. Roughly 88% of the people who live on the island are Inuit or mixed Danish and Inuit. The remaining 12% of inhabitants are of European descent, primarily Danish.
People who live on the island speak both Greenlandic and Danish.
About one-quarter of the population lives in the capital city of Nuuk, which is the biggest settlement on the island and has museums, cafes and fashion boutiques, according to the tourism website.
How is the area connected?
Despite the country’s size, there are no roads or railway system that connects towns to each other. Each town has its own roads but they stop at the end of the towns. Boats are the most popular mode of transportation. Travel between towns is often done by plane, boat, helicopter, snowmobile or dogsled, the tourism website states.
Michelle Del Rey is a trending news reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected]
