As Greenland comes into geopolitical focus, the past looms over the future of the world’s largest island.
NUUK, Greenland—On a Saturday evening in early May, the future of Greenland packed an arena no larger than a high school gymnasium.
It was Fight Club Nanoq, a place for teenagers in Greenland’s capital to box. The night’s contestants—which also featured overseas fighters—drew a cheering crowd that spanned all ages.
Fists flew and beer flowed. Outside, where temperatures hovered around freezing, the polar day wore on, well past 10 p.m.
Before the evening’s bouts began, people stood for the Danish and Greenlandic anthems, with a younger group whooping for the latter. Greenland is still a territory of Denmark, and although March’s election seems to have deferred any bid for independence, the hope is palpable among the young.
American interest, epitomized by President Donald Trump’s talk of acquiring the island, comes amid new great power competition in the region. As Russia works to improve its position in the Arctic, China has also sought to establish a foothold there, joining military drills with Russia in the region last October.
With the eyes of the world on Greenland, Nuuk finds itself at a crossroads.
As geopolitical realities and ongoing economic growth raise the stakes, U.S. interest in the island and the dream of independence are poised to change things in a big way. But big changes during the 20th century came with great costs—ones that haunt the capital and cloud hopes of a brighter tomorrow.
The Price of Growth
Tour guide Pakkutannguaq Larsen sounded excited about one new symbol of the future—the capital city’s airport, launched as Nuuk International Airport last November.
She and others believe direct flights to Nuuk from the United States could drive tourism, diversifying Greenland’s economy and strengthening the case for independence.
Larsen, however, is less certain about another prospect—namely, the large-scale mining of rare earth metals.
“Some people are positive, and some people are afraid [of] what’s going to happen here,” Larsen told The Epoch Times while on a boat operated by the Nuuk Water Taxi.
Those critical minerals have helped fuel Trump’s Greenland ambitions. So has Greenland’s strategic position in the High North, where thawing ice is opening up waterways like the once-fabled Northwest Passage.
Trump isn’t the only observer who foresees upheavals in the region.
