The Inuit form the indigenous people of Greenland. The Vikings made the first discoveries of Greenland by Europeans. They settled there for several centuries but did not thrive.

The country remained nominally under the Crown of Norway, which in 1380 entered into a personal union with the crown of Denmark. Norway's separation from Denmark after the Napoleonic Wars did not affect the status of Greenland as a Danish dependency.

The 19th century saw increased interest in the region on the part of polar exploreres and scientists: note the expeditions of William Scoresby.

In 1941, when Germany extended its war operations to Greenland, Henrik Kauffmann, the Danish Minister to the United States - who had already refused to recognise the German occupation of Denmark - signed a treaty with the USA on April 9, 1941, placing Greenland under US protection and granting US forces permission to establish stations there.

The Danish parliament granted Greenland self-government in 1978. The law went into effect the following year.