| Erik the Red's Land | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrecognized territory | |||||||||
| 1931–1933 | |||||||||
 | |||||||||
 Erik the Red's Land | |||||||||
| Capital | Myggbukta(unofficial) | ||||||||
| Government | |||||||||
| King | |||||||||
• 1931–1933 | Haakon VII | ||||||||
| Governor | |||||||||
• 1932–1933 | Helge Ingstad | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Norwegian proclamation | 10 July 1931 | ||||||||
• Territory awarded to Denmark | 5 April 1933 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Northeast Greenland National Park | ||||||||
Erik the Red's Land (Norwegian:Eirik Raudes Land) was the name given byNorwegians to an area on the coast of easternGreenland occupied byNorway in the early 1930s. It was named afterErik the Red, the founder of the firstNorse orVikingsettlements in Greenland in the 10th century. ThePermanent Court of International Justice ruled against Norway in theEastern Greenland Case in 1933, and the country subsequently abandoned its claims.[1][2]
The area once had anInuit population, but the last member was seen in 1823 byDouglas Clavering onClavering Island. By 1931, that part of Greenland was uninhabited and included only three main Norwegian stations (Jonsbu,Myggbukta andAntarctic Havn) and numerous smaller ones.[3]
The first European settlement inGreenland was established byNorse 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 theKing of Norway as its overlord. When Norway was a part ofDenmark-Norway, from 1537 until 1814, official documents made it clear that Greenland was part of Norway.[4] However, contact with the settlements there was lost in theLate Middle Ages and the Norse population died out, possibly around 1500.
Centuries later a Dano-Norwegian evangelist,Hans Egede, heard about theNorse colony on Greenland. He then asked KingFrederick IV of Denmark-Norway for permission to try to find the long-lost colony and eventually to establish aProtestant Christian mission there to convert the population of the land, who were presumed, if any survived, to still beCatholic or to have completely lost the Christian faith. Egede reached Greenland in 1721, and finding no Norse population there, started his mission among theInuit. 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 (formerlyGodthaab). In 1723, theBergen Greenland Company (Det Bergenske Grønlandskompani) received a concession for all trade with Greenland.[5]
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, theTreaty of Kiel, 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 ...".[6] Norway never recognised the validity of the Treaty of Kiel.
In 1919, Denmark claimed the whole of Greenland as its territory, with Norway's acquiescence (seeIhlen 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, one of the founders of the NorwegianArctic Trading Co., raised the Norwegian flag atMyggbukta and on 10 July 1931, a Norwegian royal proclamation was issued, claiming Eastern Greenland as Norwegian territory. Norway claimed that the area wasterra nullius: it had no permanent inhabitants and was for the most part used by Norwegiantrappers and fishermen. The area was defined as "situated betweenCarlsberg Fjord in the South andBessel 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 theInland 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.)[7]
Additionally,Iceland attempted to stake their own claim over the island, and tried to gain international recognition over their claim with little success.[8]
Norway andDenmark agreed to settle their dispute over Eastern Greenland in what became known as the "Greenland case" (Grønlandssaken/Grønlandssagen) at thePermanent Court of International Justice in 1933. Norway lost and after the ruling it abandoned its claim.[9]
During the1940–1945 German occupation of Norway inWorld War II, the territorial claim was briefly revived by thepuppetQuisling regime, which extended it to cover all of Greenland, which had been occupied byUnited States. A small-scale invasion to "reconquer" the island for Norway was proposed byVidkun Quisling, but the Germans rejected this after deeming it not feasible in light of the then ongoingBattle of the Atlantic. One ship,SS Buskø, went there in the summer 1941 to establish a weather station, but was seized by the United States.[10]
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