Divided Greenland

I was discussing this in my sleep and it seemed to me that Greenland NEVER gets divided in any timeline, and its not even possible to do it in Victoria II. But surely there must have been a CHANCE that part of Greenland ended up belonging to one country, and part to another? Sweden, Britain, Canada, the USA and Russia seem to be candidates to own a swathe...

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
I was discussing this in my sleep and it seemed to me that Greenland NEVER gets divided in any timeline, and its not even possible to do it in Victoria II. But surely there must have been a CHANCE that part of Greenland ended up belonging to one country, and part to another? Sweden, Britain, Canada, the USA and Russia seem to be candidates to own a swathe...

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

There are hardly ever nations interested in what is essentially a piece of glacier. Unless you're going for mass ice cream production, it's not going to be very useful!
 
Only small parts of coastal Greenland are habitable, and those that are are isolated and have terrible climates. The only resources are whales and furs.

The most likely division of Greenland is probably between Norway and Denmark- either in 1814 the Treaty of Kiel, or in the 1930s when Norway unsuccessfully tried to claim portions of Greenland to the League of Nations.
 
Only small parts of coastal Greenland are habitable, and those that are are isolated and have terrible climates. The only resources are whales and furs.

The most likely division of Greenland is probably between Norway and Denmark- either in 1814 the Treaty of Kiel, or in the 1930s when Norway unsuccessfully tried to claim portions of Greenland to the League of Nations.

Aha, its nice to know there's a bit of reality behind my slumbertime musings!

Are not the bits that are habitable spread wide by geography? Could not part of it have ended up settled by one country, part by another?

I wonder if Napoleon would have fancied a bit afterwards

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
Aha, its nice to know there's a bit of reality behind my slumbertime musings!

Are not the bits that are habitable spread wide by geography? Could not part of it have ended up settled by one country, part by another?

I wonder if Napoleon would have fancied a bit afterwards

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

The only possibility I see is some part being settled due to the early Irish explorations, and some of them due to Norse expeditions west. That's the best situation I can think of.
 
I was discussing this in my sleep and it seemed to me that Greenland NEVER gets divided in any timeline, and its not even possible to do it in Victoria II. But surely there must have been a CHANCE that part of Greenland ended up belonging to one country, and part to another? Sweden, Britain, Canada, the USA and Russia seem to be candidates to own a swathe...

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

Norway was the original owner, but lost it in 1814. Theoretically then the Island could have been divided between Denmark and Norway (Sweden)
 
There are hardly ever nations interested in what is essentially a piece of glacier. Unless you're going for mass ice cream production, it's not going to be very useful!

Well today scientist are expecting to find oil and/or gold. Furthermore owning greenland gives dips to owning the North Pole (oil again), and in addition also perhaps the North West passage, opening up due to global warming (if you believe in it).
 
Britain could have laid claim to Greenland's north-western coast (Hall Land), as they explored it first at a time when it could have been considered terra nullis. Today it would probably be part of Canada.
 
As mentioned there was Eric the Red's Land until the League of Nations told Norway to stop being silly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_the_Red's_Land

The trouble with dividing Greenland is that Greenland even as it stands fully intact isn't a very desirable place to own. Not really much point in ruling it....
Maybe it could get caught up in some sort of legal fiction where a few hundred square miles of it get given to another nation purely so they can say to their people 'we conquered a lot of land in that war!' without actually having gained anything they can do something with?
 
At the height of whaling it was useful as a whaling base - but even then ownership wasn't necessary, as you could just pay rent.
 
Erik the Red's Land would be so awkward-looking on maps. Was there any permanent population there? I wish it survived.

Also, perhaps the United States might somehow gain political control over the area around Thule Air Base after WWII.
 
Perhaps the Norweigans make a claim on the East coast during union with Sweden/post-independence, even though they technically ceded it to them in 1818. Its buoyed by Sweden for no other reason than to weaken Denmark's international prestige. Top it off with a Swedish ship bullying some fishermen in the North Sea, have a tiny engagement between a couple of Norweigian and Danish trawlers and a diplomatic breakdown between the two nations for a few months with England intervening on the side of Norway, and you have a perfect useless conflict for the Nordic nations to squabble over in the 20th century and some lingering bitterness for the Danish to want to punish England in football or some medium for their revenge.
 
What if an alt-Tordesillas divides the world based on a meridian that passes through Greenland, and nobody ever redraws the northern end of that line?
 
No, the only population there is the Sirius Patrol a Danish military unit, we have upkept since the Norwegian claimed the area.

No real population but a fur trading company kept a few trappers there in huts. Some of these being Norwegian decided to claim the land for Norway leading to the Hague ruling 1933.
Denmark was recognized as the owner of the land but had to retain a precense there to keep it.

During WWII the sleigh patrol to become the Sirius Patrol was founded to reconnoitre the area for German weather stations and in one instance attack it.

Post-WWII the fur trading company shut down its operation and the Sirius Patrol was the only ones apart from the occasional scientific expedition to be around the area.
 
One time of division could have been the expeditions of Robert Peary during the 1886-1909 when he like Knud Rasmussen did for himself could have claimed North West Greenland for the USA.
 
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