Greenland was colonized by Norse migrants ca 985.
As it was considered as a dependency of Iceland it became subject to the Norwegian
crown in 1261, in this way also joining the Danish - Norwegian Union of 1380.
In 1536 Denmark toke over the administration of Norway and its dependencies, but by
then the Norse settlements had however disappeared and for nearly two centuries the
island was only a Danish/Norwegian dependency in name.
It was only in 1721, after Hans Egede (1686 - 1758) had established a first mission
post at Godthåb, on the Western coast of the island, that a new period of effective
Danish presence started.
In 1814, by the Treaty of Kiel, Greenland formally became a Danish dependency. (1)
In 1941, when Germany extended its war zone to Greenland, Henrik Kauffmann,(1888 -
1963), the Danish Minister to the US - who had already refused to recognize German
occupation of Denmark - signed a treaty placing Greenland under US protection and
allowing the US forces to use all facilities for military purposes and to establish
meteorological stations (at Narssarssuaq, Sonderstrom, Thule, etc) (2)(1) Until the 20th century actual Danish sovereignty only extended over Western
(= Northern) and Southern Greenland.
North Western Greenland and Eastern Greenland were only added in 1921 when
Denmark fomally proclaimed its rule over the whole island.
(2) US Representatives :
Consul General
1940 - 1945 James Kedzie Penfield 1908 -
Commander of the "Greenland Patrol"
Set up to protect the Greenland coasts against German attacks.
Subordinated to the U.S. Coast Guard)
1941 - 1943 Comm. Edward Hanson "Iceberg" Smith 1889 - 1961
1943 - 1945 Comm. Earl G. Rose
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DANISH OFFICIALS IN CHARGE OF GREENLAND AFFAIRS
From 1776 to 1908 all administrative and financial Greenland affairs were managed
by the "Royal Greenland Trade" (Kongelige Grønlandske Handel - KGH) a state company
which also held the trade monopoly with the indigenous Inuit and was successively
under the supervision of :
1776 - 1848 The Rentekammer
1848 - 1858 The Heads of the Icelandic Department
at the Ministry of the Interior (until
1855) and at the Ministry of Justice
(since 1855)
1858 - 1908 The Ministers of the Interior
(through the Bureau of Public Works
until 1863 and thereafter through
the Bureau of Municipal Affairs)
In 1908 the management of Greenland Affairs was divided between :
- the Ministry of the Interior, which toke charge of the general administration.
- the KGH, which remained in charge of commercial affairs.
As this dual administraion didn't work, the KGH lost its independence and was placed
under the Ministry in 1912.
Danish ministers and officials in charge of Greenland since 1908 now were :
1908 - 1929 The Ministers of the Interior
1929 - 1933 The Minister of Marine and Fishery
(Søfart og Fiskeri) : Thorvald August
Marinus Stauning 1873 - 1942
1933 - 1955 The Prime Ministers
Heads of the Greenland Administration
Grønlands Styrelse Chefer
1908 - 1912 Carl Ryberg 1859 - 1929
1912 - 1938 Jens Daugaard-Jensen 1871 - 1938
1938 - 1948 Knud Honore Petersen (Oldenow) 1892 - 1975
HEADS OF THE ROYAL GREENLAND TRADE
Directors
Direktør
(until 1857 : members of the Board of Directors, possibly incomplete)
1825 - 1848 Jonas Heinrich Gedde 1775 - 1856
1835 - 1857 Peder Bentzen 1785 - 1866
1839 - 1850 Wilhelm August Graah (2x) 1793 - 1863
1846 - 1857 Lauritz Swendsen 1794 - 1857
1857 - 1866 ...
1866 - 1870 Christian Søren Marcus Olrik 1815 - 1876
1871 - 1882 Hinrich Johannes Rink 1819 - 1893
1882 - 1890 Hugo Egmont Hørring 1842 - 1909
1890 - 1902 Hannes Peter Stephensen 1833 - 1908
1902 - 1908 Carl Ryberg s.a.
1908 - 1912 Oscar Wesche
Heads of Trade
Handelschefer
(subordinated to the Heads of the Greenland Administration)
1912 - 1921 Carl Siegfried Ryder
1921 - 1951 Sigurd Lyngbæk
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DANISH CHIEF ADMINISTRATORS IN GREENLAND
Except for the period 1941 - 1945 (s.b.) there was no single administrator for all
Greenland.
EASTERN GREENLAND
(Including Norwegian ERIK THE RED'S LAND)
Until 1894, when a first Danish settlement was established at Ammassalik, Eastern
Greenland was largely outside the Danish zone of activities and had in fact become
a Norwegian hunting and fishing ground.
In 1921 Denmark formally annexed the area, hereby initiating a diplomatic conflict
with Norway. An agreement - allowing the Norwegians to continue fishing and hunting
without any restriction in North Eastern Greenland for a period of 20 years - was
reached in 1924. (3)
Troubles continued however and in 1931 Norwegian hunters proclaimed the annexation
of Eastern Greenland - called Eirik Raudes Land (Eric the Red's Land) - to Norway,
a move which was immediately recognized by the Norwegian government. (4)
In 1933 the International Court of Justice however assigned the area to Denmark.
Inspector
Inspektør for Østgrønland
1933 - 1950 Ejnar Mikkelsen 1880 - 1971
(3) This was followed in 1925 by the establishment of a second Danish "frontier"
settlement at Scorebysund.
(4) Norwegian Officials of Erik the Red's Land
Leader of the Norwegian Eastern Greenland expedition.
1931 - 1933 Adolf Hoel, Director of
Norway’s Svalbard and Arctic Sea Research Body (promoter
of Norwegian expansion in
the Arctic and de facto
leader of the enterprise) 1879 - 1964
Governor
Sysselmann
1932 - 1933 Helge Ingstad 1899 - 2001
NORTHERN GREENLAND
The Inspectorate of Northern Greenland - covering the western coast of the island
(center : Godhavn) - was established in 1782. It became a Governorate in 1925.
Inspectors
Inspektør for Nordgrønland
1846 - 1866 Christian Søren Marcus Olrik s.a.
1866 - 1867 Carl August Ferdinand Bolbroe 1833 - 1878
1867 - 1882 Sophus Theodor Krarup-Smith 1834 - 1882
1882 - 1883 Hjalmar Christian Reinholdt
Knuthsen* 1859 -
1883 - 1898 Niels Alfred Andersen 1843 - 1900
1898 - 1900 Johan Carl Joansen* 1857 - 1907
1900 - 1912 Jens Daugaard-Jensen s.a.
1912 - 1913 Anders Peter Olsen* 1862 -
1913 - 1924 Harald Lindow 1886 - 1972
Governors
Landsfoged for Nordgrønland
1925 - 1928 Philip R. Rosendahl* 1893 - 1974
1928 - 1929 Jørgen Berthelsen
1929 - 1939 Philip R. Rosendahl (2x.)
1939 - 1941 Eske Brun, thereafter Governor
of Greenland under the authority
of Henrik Kauffmann (s.a.) 1904 - 1987
NORTH WESTTERN GREENLAND
Danish permanent presence in North Western Greenland started in 1910 when explorer
Knud Johan Viktor Rasmussen (1879 - 1933) established the post of Thule - so named
after the farmost northern land in ancient texts - in the area. (5)
The post served not only as a base for his scientific expeditions (1912 - 1924) and
as a trading and gathering place for the native Inughuit, but also as an embryonic
administrative center for what became the Cape York District (Kap York Distriktet),
a semi-independent unit of which Rasmussen was administrator.
In 1929 Rasmussen gave the area a kind of constitution - the so-called Thule Lov -
and established a council to govern it.
In 1931 Danish authority was formally proclaimed over Kap York and in 1933, after
Rasmussen's death, the Danish government assumed direct control, the area keeping
however its separate law and organization until the 1950's. (6)Heads of the Trading Post of Thule
Handelsstationsleder i Thule
(also de facto administrators of the area in the absence of Rasmussen)
1910 - 1920 Peter Elfred Freuchen 1886 - 1957
1920 - 1837 Hans Nielsen
(5) Originally North Western Greenland was an isolated region only visited by
whalers and scientific expeditions, like those made between 1886 - 1900 by
US Capt. Robert Edwin Peary (1856 - 1920), who established that Greenland
was an island.
The first Danish expedition - actually the starting point of Rasmussen's
activities in the area - was that of 1902 - 1904 by the so-called Danish
Literary Greenland Expedition (Danske Litterære Grønlandsekspedition)
headed by Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen (1872 - 1907).
The area was then claimed by Denmark and the US until 1917, when the US
relinquished their claim in exchange for the cession of the Virgin Islands.
(6) Danish governmental rule became only complete in 1937 when Rasmussen's
widow, Dagmar Theresia Andersen (1882 - 1965), sold her last rights on
the post to the government.
SOUTHERN GREENLAND
The Inspectorate of Southern Greenland - covering the southern coast of the island
(center : Godthåb) was established in 1782. It became a Governorate in 1925.
Inspectors
Inspektør for Sydgrønland
1828 - 1856 Carl Peter Holbøll 1795 - 1856
1856 - 1857 Jørgen Nielsen Møller* 1801 - 1862
1857 - 1868 Hinrich Johannes Rink s.a.
1868 - 1869 Albert E. Blichfeldt Høyer 1822 - 1879
1870 - 1882 Hannes Peter Stephensen s.a.
1882 - 1884 Frederik Tryde Lassen* 1838 - 1920
1884 - 1890 Carl Julius Peter Ryberg 1854 - 1929
1890 - 1891 Johan Carl Joansen* s.a.
1891 - 1892 Conrad Poul Emil Brummerstedt* 1857 -
1892 - 1899 Edgar Christian Fencker 1844 - 1904
1899 - 1902 Regnar Stephensen 1866 - 1902
1902 - 1903 Oscar Peter Cornelius Koch 1860 -
1903 - 1914 Ole Bendixen 1869 - 1938
1914 - 1915 Oluf Hastrup 1875 -
1915 - 1923 Carl Frederik Harries 1872 -
1924 Christian Simony* 1881 - 1961
1924 Knud Honore Petersen (Oldenow)* s.a.
Governors
Landsfoged for Sydgrønland
1925 - 1932 Knud Honore Petersen (Oldenow) s.a.
1932 - 1941 Aksel Svane 1898 - 1991
1941 - 1945 none. Eske Brun (s.a.) Governor
of Greenland
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