Robert wrote:
> Iceland had so much land showing..some of it green, most of it brown...while
> the parts of Greenland we saw were entirely ice-covered. Names and sights
> seemed quite incongrous.
Western and especially southern coast of Greenland can be surprisingly
green. Pasturage is possible; I was told that Greenland lamb is the best
in the world.
The eastern coast, where I was
(http://www.ntfgeo.uni-lj.si/marko/Terra_Nullius/), is a different
story. Along the entire 3000 km or so of the coastline, only one place
was inhabitable. Archeological remains indicate that the eastern coast
was inhabited by two tribes of native Greenlanders coming from the
western coast: one group traveled around the southern tip of the island,
looking for a proper place to settle down, the other around the
northern. They both settled at the same place...
The Vikings, who named Greenland Greenland in 982, settled on the
southern coast which indeed is green (to some extent, locally). Note
also that at the time the climate was significantly warmer and the area
probably was greener than it is today.
Lex has already hinted that the name "Greenland" could also simply be a
marketing ploy to attract new settlers from the Iceland. Many similar
cases are known in history. Did you know that the Cape of Good Hope was
originally (and much more appropriately) named the Cape of Storms? The
ominous name was soon changed by the King of Portugal, who thought it
was bad for business.
Best regards,
Marko Vrabec
Kamnik, Slovenia
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