Tectonically , Greenland sits on the North American Plate . But when it comes to history , politics , society , and culture , whether it really “ belongs ” to North America is a much more complex interrogative sentence .
TheNorth American Plateis a tectonic plate containing most of the US , Canada , and Mexico , as well as Cuba , the Bahamas , the utmost northwestern edge of Siberia , northerly Japan , and office of Iceland and the Azores .
Despite being bond together beneath the open , these region diverge crisply above it . Iceland and the Azores are politically and culturally European . Cuba is firmly part of Latin America , while the Bahamas belong to to the Caribbean . Northwestern Siberia and northern Japan are signally Asian in geographics and indistinguishability .
A world map showing the main tectonic plates on Earth’s surface.Image credit: brichuas/Shutterstock.com
Curiously , not even all of the United States rest on the North American Plate . Hawaii sits in the middle of the Pacific Plate , as do heavy parts of California that are west of theSan Andreas Fault .
architectonic plates , therefore , do n’t at once line up with the boundaries of countries or continents ( which itself is avery immanent construct ) .
Things get especially mirky when it comes to historic and political connections . Greenlandhas a complex identity shaped by a singular portmanteau of intragroup and international influences , much like any body politic . It has ancient historical and cultural connexion to North America through the Greenlandic Inuit and other Indigenous populations whoshare a uncouth hereditary lineagewith Native Americans .
innovative connections to North America , however , are more limited . One notable example isCamp Century , a US military inquiry stand built in Greenland during the Cold War . Operated between 1959 and 1967 , it reflected America ’s strategical interest in this part of the Arctic , but it was a abbreviated ( andill - doom ) raid , rather than a lasting link .
Politically , it ’s an autonomous soil of Denmark , which intend its modern governing body and some cultural draw are profoundly rooted in Europe . Danish is widely speak alongside Greenlandic , and the island ’s education , effectual , and health care systems are model after Scandinavian frameworks . It simultaneously maintains thou of years of Inuit heritage , and autochthonous culture still determine the everyday life of people across the island .
The Trump administration has lately doubled down on the title that the US should have direct control over Greenland , citing the island as vital to home protection . In December 2024 , soon before his 2nd term in office , then President - elect Trumpwrote on societal medium : " For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World , the United States of America feels that the possession and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity . "
It fathom like an bizarre plan to many foreigner , but the US haspersistently flirtedwith the idea throughout its short history . Nevertheless , Greenlandic authorities havecontinuously defendedthe country ’s rightfulness to self - decision , state the country is " not for sale " . Recent polls have suggested that the immense majority of multitude in Greenland want to become independent from Denmark – and theycertainly have no desireto be part of the US .
In short , Greenland defies easy classification . Geologically North American , historically touch base to autochthonous Arctic peoples , politically link to Europe , and culturally somewhere in between , it resists being confined to any single continental identity . Whether its future will be mould by its own people , its architectonic base , or the geopolitical pastime that orbit it persist to be seen .
