The most wanted piece of real estate on Earth has never been on the market. A Viking colony vanished from it without saying goodbye. The American Army hid a city under its ice. Four hydrogen bombs came down on its frozen bay. Presidents have tried to buy it. One threatened his own allies over it.

Its entire population would fill half of a big college football stadium, and four-fifths of it sits under ice. So why do great powers keep fighting over it? Because Greenland has a landlord problem. Too empty, and you can't keep a landlord out. Too useful, and you can't make one leave. For almost 800 years, somebody far away has claimed to own it.

Who gets to sign?

From a 4,000-year-old tuft of hair and Erik the Red's first real estate listing to a bishop bought with a polar bear and a wedding at Hvalsey, from Hans Egede, the fine print of the Treaty of Kiel and Peary's meteorites to the Sledge Patrol, Thule Air Base and the secret city of Camp Century, from the B-52 crash, home rule and the Whisky War to the 2019 talk of buying the island, the crisis of January 2026 and the deal signed at the United Nations, this is the story of who gets to sign for Greenland.

Chapters
0:00 The Most Wanted Real Estate on Earth
1:21 Chapter 1: A Tuft of Hair
2:20 Chapter 2: Erik's Listing
4:09 Chapter 3: Bought With a Bear
5:41 Chapter 4: Just a Wedding
7:48 Chapter 5: The Island of Hope
11:07 Chapter 6: The Buyers
17:09 Chapter 7: Security Guards
22:24 Chapter 8: The Keys
26:53 Chapter 9: A City Under the Ice
30:22 Chapter 10: Forward
33:36 Chapter 11: Not for Sale
40:08 Who Gets to Sign?

The short comedy scenes are dramatized for fun. The events around them come from historical records and news reports.

Map imagery: NASA Earth Observatory (Blue Marble)

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#Greenland #History #Arctic