A seven-day sailing trip along the incredible east coast of Greenland

There has been a lot of talk lately about Greenland, due to the US's aspirations over that territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.

The landscapes of the Faroe Islands, a beautiful Danish archipelago in the North Atlantic
Exploring one of the torfbæir, the turf houses of Iceland, abandoned since 1986

Greenland, known as Kalaallit Nunaat in Greenlandic, has an area of ​​2.16 million square kilometers, making it the world's largest island (as Australia is considered a continental landmass). Despite its enormous size, it has only 56,831 inhabitants, making it the territory with the lowest population density in the world: 0.026 inhabitants per square kilometer.

This enormous island was discovered by the Norwegian Viking Erik the Red in 982. Ironically, its name, of Danish origin (Grønland), means "Green Land," which can be considered one of the most famous cases of false advertising in history, as it is believed that with this name Erik wanted to attract settlers to Greenland by making them believe that it possessed beautiful green landscapes, in the belief that knowing what it was really like would have made them change their minds.

Greenland became a dominion of the Kingdom of Norway in 1261. The kingdoms of Norway and Denmark were united in 1380 under King Olaf II of Denmark. Following the separation of the two kingdoms in 1814, Greenland became a Danish dominion. In 1979, Denmark granted the island greater autonomy, with a referendum held in 2008. Greenland currently forms a Commonwealth with Denmark, considering itself one of the three constituent nations of that kingdom: Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands.

Approximately 80% to 82% of Greenland's surface is covered by an ice sheet, located in the interior of the country. As a result, the island's settlements are situated along the coast. Greenland's capital, Nuuk (population 20,113), is in the southwest. Despite the harsh climate, this island boasts spectacular landscapes, including Scoresbysund, the world's largest fjord system, and over 200 large glaciers flowing into the sea, in addition to some 20,300 smaller ones.

A few days ago, Finnish photographer Konsta Punkka posted an interesting video showing a seven-day sailing trip he took along the east coast of Greenland:

You can see here some screenshots of the spectacular landscapes that appear in this video.

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Main image: Konsta Punkka