Danish colonization of the Americas

Denmark and the former political union of Denmark–Norway had a colonial empire from the 17th through the 20th centuries, large portions of which were found in the Americas. Denmark and Norway in one form or another also maintained land claims in Greenland since the 13th century.

Greenland, which had been settled by the Norsemen in the 980s, submitted to Norwegian rule in 1261. Norway entered the Kalmar Union with Denmark and Sweden in 1397 and its overseas territories including Greenland became subject to the king in Copenhagen. Scandinavian settlement in Greenland declined over the years and the last written record is a marriage recorded in 1408, although the Norwegian claims to the land remained. Following the establishment of an independent Sweden, Norway and Denmark were reorganized into a polity now known as Denmark–Norway in 1536 and the nominal Norwegian sovereignty over Greenland was taken up by the new kingdom. Despite the decline of European settlement and the loss of contact, Denmark-Norway continued to maintain its claim to lordship of Greenland.

Between the years 1605-1607, King Christian IV of Denmark commissioned three expeditions to Greenland. These expeditions were conducted in order to locate the lost Norse Eastern Settlement as well as to reassert Danish sovereignty over Greenland. The expeditions were largely unsuccessful, partly due to its leaders lacking experience with the arctic ice and difficult weather conditions. Additionally later expeditions were searching on the east coast of Greenland, which was almost inaccessible at the time due to southward-drifting ice. In the 1660s, a polar bear was added to the royal coat of arms. Around this same time Dano-Norwegian ships, joined by ships from various other European countries, began journeying to Greenland to hunt bowhead whales, though no formal recolonization was attempted.

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