Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Danish Realm and the world's largest island, located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North
America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe (specifically Norway and
Denmark, the colonial powers) for more than a millennium, beginning in 986, The majority of its residents are Inuit, whose ancestors migrated from Alaska through Northern
Canada, gradually settling across the island by the 13th century. In the early 17th century, Danish explorers reached Greenland again. To strengthen trading and power,
Denmark–Norway affirmed sovereignty over the island. Because of Norway's weak status, it lost sovereignty over Greenland in 1814 when the union was dissolved. Greenland became Danish in 1814 and was fully integrated in the Danish state in 1953 under the Constitution of
Denmark. With the Constitution of 1953, the
people in Greenland became citizens of Denmark.
