How Did Greenland Get It’s Name?

The name “Greenland” is one of history’s most successful and enduring marketing ploys, dating back over a millennium to the Viking explorer Erik the Red.

After being exiled from Iceland around the year 1000 AD, Erik discovered the massive, largely ice-covered island and, hoping to attract settlers, deliberately gave it the appealing name “Greenland” because he believed “people would be attracted there if it had a favorable name.”

This strategic branding has persisted for centuries, despite the fact that the island is mostly covered by a vast ice sheet, a truth that makes its name famously puzzling.

In its native Inuit language, the territory is known as “Kalaallit Nunaat,” meaning “land of the people.”

Today, the name is ironically gaining a new layer of accuracy as climate change causes Greenland’s ice sheet to melt, revealing more of the underlying land, even as the island’s name and strategic location continue to place it at the center of modern geopolitical discussions.