Greenland

Greenland

AREA	2,166,086 sq km (836,300 sq miles).
POPULATION	56,076 (1998).
POPULATION DENSITY	0.026 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Nuuk (Godthåb).
CAPITAL POPULATION	13,024 (1998).
GEOGRAPHY	Greenland is the world's biggest island. The surrounding seas are either permanently frozen or chilled by the mainly cold currents caused by the meeting of the Arctic and the North Atlantic Oceans. The inland area is covered with ice, stretching 2500km (1500 miles) north–south and 1000km (600 miles) east–west. In the centre, the ice can be up to 3km (2 miles) thick. The ice-free coastal region, which is sometimes as wide as 200km (120 miles), covers a total of 410,449 sq km (158,475 sq miles), and is where all of the population is to be found. This region is intersected by deep fjords which connect the inland ice area with the sea. The Midnight Sun can be seen north of the Arctic Circle; the further north one is, the longer is the period of the Midnight Sun. The arctic night in the winter results in a continuous twilight and, in the far north of the country, complete darkness. The Northern Lights can be seen during the autumn, winter and early Spring.
GOVERNMENT	Part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Head of State: HM Queen Margarethe II since 1972. Head of Government: Prime Minister Jonathan Motzfeld since 1998.
LANGUAGE	The official languages are Greenlandic, an Inuit (Eskimo) language, and Danish. Greenlanders connected with tourism will normally speak English.
RELIGION	Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark majority, with small groups of Roman Catholics and other Protestant denominations.
STANDARD TIME	East Greenland/Mesters Vig: GMT (summer and winter). Scoresby Sound: GMT - 1 (GMT from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in September). Ammassalik and west coast: GMT - 3 (summer and winter). Thule area: GMT - 4 (GMT - 3 from April to October).
ELECTRICITY	220 volts AC, 50Hz.

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