Inuit in northern Greenland were using iron blades for centuries without knowledge of metallurgy. They made them by breaking pieces off of a huge iron meteorite and shaping them with heavy stones. They built their settlements close to the meteorite and used its iron for generations.
Greenland
2,400-year old ruins where found on…
2,400-year old ruins where found on the northern coast of Greenland, more than 300 miles north of the current northernmost town in the world.
Inuit legends recount them encountering people they called the Tuniit (singular Tuniq) or Sivullirmiut “First Inhabitants”. According to legend, the first Inhabitants were giants, taller and stronger than the Inuit but afraid to interact and “easily put to flight.”
These people existed in that area before the Inuit, who later replaced them. Today we know them as the Dorset.
At a prison facility in Nuuk…
At a prison facility in Nuuk, Greenland some inmates reportedly hold the keys to their own cells (to afford them privacy), and others may leave the premises during the day to go to work or school. Perhaps surprisingly, inmates are even allowed to go hunting with rifles to shoot birds and seals.
Tété-Michel Kpomassie, a Togolese writer, fell…
Tété-Michel Kpomassie, a Togolese writer, fell in love with Greenland as a child because of the absence of snakes in the country, his biggest fear. Due to this, he ran away from home and after 12 years he finally reached Greenland. He then wrote a book about it called: “An African in Greenland”.
200-1200s AD, Inuit and Vikings colonized Greenland…
200-1200s AD, Inuit and Vikings colonized Greenland multiple times, but they often missed the other and found the ruins of the other’s attempt. First Contact finally happened in the 1200s, with Inuits colonizing the Vikings.
Camp Century, a top-secret US military base…
Camp Century, a top-secret US military base, was built under the ice sheets of Greenland in 1960 to house missiles. Built under the cover of climate research, it housed 200 people and was powered by the world’s first portable nuclear reactor. Denmark didn’t uncover the base’s existence until 1995.
Greenland got its name because the Viking…
Greenland got its name because the Viking who discovered it was banished from Iceland and felt lonely in his new homeland, so he named and advertised it as the lush ‘Greenland’ to attract settlers, despite the fact that it was actually a completely barren and largely uninhabitable land.
Prisoners on Greenland are allowed to leave their…
Prisoners on Greenland are allowed to leave their cells between 06.30am-09.30pm, work, visit relatives, have their own cell key, and use firearms.
Greenland has a university, with 14 staff and 150 students…
Greenland has a university, with 14 staff and 150 students. It is so small because the Government pays for students to have a free university education anywhere in Europe or North America.
Some inmates in Greenland hold the keys of their own cells…
Some inmates in Greenland hold the keys of their own cells, may leave the premises during the day to go to work/school and are even allowed to go hunting with rifles to shoot birds and seals.