Erik the Red's Land ( no, Eirik Raudes Land) was the name given by

Norwegians Norwegians ( no, nordmenn) are a North Germanic peoples, North Germanic ethnic group and nation native to Norway, where they form the vast majority of the population. They share a common culture and speak the Norwegian language. Norwegians a ...

to an area on the coast of eastern

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...

occupied by

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

in the early 1930s. It was named after

Erik the Red Erik Thorvaldsson (), known as Erik the Red, was a Norse explorer, described in medieval and Icelandic saga sources as having founded the first settlement in Greenland. He most likely earned the epithet "the Red" due to the color of his hair ...

, the founder of the first Norse or

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

settlement Settlement may refer to: * Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building *Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

s in Greenland in the 10th century. The

Permanent Court of International Justice The Permanent Court of International Justice, often called the World Court, existed from 1922 to 1946. It was an international court attached to the League of Nations. Created in 1920 (although the idea of an international court was several cent ...

ruled against Norway in 1933, and the country subsequently abandoned its claims. The area had once had an

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territorie ...

population, but the last member was seen in 1823 by

Douglas Clavering Captain Douglas Charles Clavering RN FRS (8 September 1794 – mid-1827) was an officer of the British Royal Navy and Arctic explorer. Biography Early life and career Clavering was born at Holyrood House, the eldest son of Brigadier-General H ...

Clavering Island Clavering Island ( da, Clavering Ø) is a large island in eastern Greenland off Gael Hamke Bay, to the south of Wollaston Foreland. The Eskimonaes ''(Eskimonæs)'' radio and weather station was on this island. It was staffed by Danish scientists ...

. By 1931, that part of Greenland was uninhabited and included only three main Norwegian stations (

Jonsbu Jonsbu was a Norwegian hunting and radio station (Jonsbu Radio/LMW) located on the coast of Eastern Greenland in present-day King Christian X Land. Administratively the area where the hut stood belongs now to the Northeast Greenland National Par ...

Myggbukta Myggbukta, meaning "Mosquito Bay" in Norwegian, was a Norwegian whaling, meteorological and radio station (Myggbukta Radio/LMG) located on the coast of Eastern Greenland in present-day King Christian X Land. The site is located at the head of Ma ...

and Antarctic Havn) and numerous smaller ones.

Origin of the claim

The first European settlement in

was established by Norse colonists from Iceland around the year 1000. There were two main Norse settlements on Greenland, but both were on the southwestern coast of the island, far away from the area that later became Erik the Red's Land. From the 1260s the Norse colony in Greenland recognized the

King of Norway The Norwegian monarch is the head of state of Norway, which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system. The Norwegian monarchy can trace its line back to the reign of Harald Fairhair and the previous petty kingd ...

as its overlord. When Norway was under Danish rule as part of Denmark-Norway, from 1537 until 1814, official documents made it clear that Greenland was part of Norway. However, contact with the settlements there was lost in the

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Ren ...

and the Norse population died out, possibly around 1500. Centuries later a Dano-Norwegian evangelist,

Hans Egede Hans Poulsen Egede (31 January 1686 – 5 November 1758) was a Dano-Norwegian Lutheran missionary who launched mission efforts to Greenland, which led him to be styled the Apostle of Greenland. He established a successful mission among the Inui ...

, heard about the Norse colony on Greenland. He then asked King

Frederick IV of Denmark Frederick IV ( Danish: ''Frederik''; 11 October 1671 – 12 October 1730) was King of Denmark and Norway from 1699 until his death. Frederick was the son of Christian V of Denmark-Norway and his wife Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel. Early l ...

for permission to try to find the long-lost colony and eventually to establish a

Protestant Christian Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to ...

mission there to convert the population of the land, who were presumed, if any survived, to still be

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

or to have completely lost the Christian faith. Egede reached Greenland in 1721, and finding no Norse population there, started his mission among the

. This led to his becoming known as the "Apostle of Greenland" and he was appointed Bishop of Greenland. He founded the current capital of Greenland,

Nuuk Nuuk (; da, Nuuk, formerly ) is the capital and largest city of Greenland, a constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the country's largest cultural and economic centre. The major cities from other coun ...

(formerly ''Godthaab''). In 1723, the

Bergen Greenland Company The Bergen Greenland Company ( da, Det Bergen Grønlandske CompagnieOswalt, Wendell H. Eskimos and Explorers'. Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1999.) or Bergen Company (''Bergenkompagniet''Culture Greenland.." Sisimiut Museum. Accessed 2 May 2012.) was a D ...

(''Det Bergenske Grønlandskompani'') received a concession for all trade with Greenland. For the remainder of the union between Norway and Denmark, the relationship between Greenland and the state was organised in different ways. Modern historians disagree as to what point in history Greenland went from being a Norwegian possession to being a Danish one. However, the

Treaty of Kiel The Treaty of Kiel ( da, Kieltraktaten) or Peace of Kiel ( Swedish and no, Kielfreden or ') was concluded between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Kingdom of Sweden on one side and the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway on t ...

, signed in 1814, indicates that Greenland was at least politically regarded as having been Norwegian: "...the Kingdom of Norway ... as well as the dependencies (Greenland, the Faroes and Iceland not included) ... shall for the future belong to ... His Majesty the King of Sweden ...". Norway never recognised the validity of the Treaty of Kiel.

History

In 1919, Denmark claimed the whole of Greenland as its territory, with Norway's acquiescence (see Ihlen Declaration). However, in 1921, Denmark proposed to exclude all foreigners from Greenland, creating diplomatic conflict until July 1924, when Denmark agreed that Norwegians could establish hunting and scientific settlements north of 60°27' N. In June 1931,

Hallvard Devold Hallvard Ophuus Devold (8 November 1898 – 10 September 1957) was a Norwegian Arctic explorer, trapper and meteorologist. He was instrumental in the attempt to establish Eric the Red's Land in 1931. His brother Finn Devold (1902–1977) share ...

, one of the founders of the Norwegian

Arctic Trading Co. Arctic Trading Co. ( no, Arktisk Næringsdrift) was a Norwegian company founded on 24 June 1929. The company had commercial interests in East Greenland in the areas of fishing, hunting and trapping. It also operated the Myggbukta radio and meteorol ...

, raised the Norwegian flag at

and on 10 July 1931, a Norwegian royal proclamation was issued, claiming Eastern Greenland as Norwegian territory. Norway claimed that the area was

terra nullius ''Terra nullius'' (, plural ''terrae nullius'') is a Latin expression meaning " nobody's land". It was a principle sometimes used in international law to justify claims that territory may be acquired by a state's occupation of it. : : ...

: it had no permanent inhabitants and was for the most part used by Norwegian

trapper Animal trapping, or simply trapping or gin, is the use of a device to remotely catch an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including food, the fur trade, hunting, pest control, and wildlife management. History Neolithic ...

s and fishermen. The area was defined as "situated between

Carlsberg Fjord Carlsberg Fjord ( kl, Kangerterajitta Itterterilaq) is a fjord in King Christian X Land, eastern Greenland. Administratively it lies in the Sermersooq Municipality. History This fjord was first noted by British explorer William Scoresby (1789 – ...

in the South and Bessel Fjord in the North", extending from latitude 71°30' to latitude 75°40'N. Although it was not explicitly stated in the proclamation itself, it was assumed that the area was limited to the eastern coast, so that the Inland Ice constituted its western limit. (The Inland Ice covers five sixths of Greenland's total area, so that only a narrow strip of varying width along the coast is free of permanent ice.) Norway and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

agreed to settle their dispute over Eastern Greenland in what became known as the "Greenland case" (''Grønlandssaken/Grønlandssagen'') at the

in 1933. Norway lost and after the ruling it abandoned its claim. During the 1940–1945 German occupation of Norway in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the territorial claim was briefly revived by the

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods or strings to move ...

Quisling regime The Quisling regime or Quisling government are common names used to refer to the fascist collaborationist government led by Vidkun Quisling in German-occupied Norway during the Second World War. The official name of the regime from 1 February 19 ...

, which extended it to cover all of Greenland. A small-scale invasion to "reconquer" the island for Norway was proposed by

Vidkun Quisling Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling (, ; 18 July 1887 – 24 October 1945) was a Norwegian military officer, politician and Nazi collaborator who nominally list of heads of government of Norway, headed the government of Norway during t ...

, but the Germans rejected this after deeming it not feasible in light of the then ongoing

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allies of World War II, ...

.''Buskø-affæren - hvordan ei norsk selfangstskute ble USAs første fangst i andre verdenskrig'', Artikkel i tidsskriftet Historie nr 1, 2007
/ref>

References

Bibliography *

External links

Full Text of the PCIJ Judgment: Legal Status of Eastern Greenland (Den. v. Nor.), 1933 P.C.I.J. (ser. A/B) No. 53 (April 5)

Eirik the Red’s Land: the land that never was
*
''Aftenposten'' article
*
''Karmøybladet'' article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erik The Red's Land Former Norwegian colonies

1933 in international relations Denmark–Norway relations 1930s in Norway 1930s in Denmark 1930s in Greenland 1931 establishments in North America 1933 disestablishments in North America Territorial disputes of Norway

Origin of the claim

History

See also

References

External links