Eric the Red and Donald the Orange – one of them is an invader who has his sights on Greenland, the other… was a Viking!
First came Eric the Red (who earned his nickname because he loved a glass of pinot noir with dinner).
Eric was what we would today call a troubled soul. He was born in Norway, but his family moved to Iceland because his father committed “a string of murders,” according to Greenland's tourism department (it's not a good sign when people stop counting how many murders you've committed).
Unfortunately, the apple didn't fall far from the tree and Eric was kicked out of Iceland for murder after a dispute with a neighbor (who probably borrowed his lawn mower and didn't return it) resulted in several deaths. We all know such situations.
So Eric moved to Greenland, becoming the first Viking on the island. He is credited with coining the name “green land” as either a) a clever marketing ploy to attract people to the place or b) because in Old Norse the word “green” meant “not a bit green.”
One of Erik's sons was Leif Eriksson, who was the first European to reach North America – some 500 years before the lazy Christopher Columbus.
By the way, 400 years after settling in Greenland, the Vikings abandoned the island, in part because of rising sea levels caused by climate change, according to researchers from Harvard and Penn State universities. Yes, the Vikings were concerned about climate change. They were aware!
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Which brings us (skipping over 1,000 years) to today, where Donald Orange has Greenland in his sights.
Trump is so interested in acquiring Greenland for the United States that this week he sent Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President J.D. Vance (acting as good cop and weird cop) to meet with the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland in Washington. On a scale from one to the ambush that was organized against Zelensky (the infamous brawl in the White House on February 28, 2025, during which the president of Ukraine was verbally attacked, among other things, for not wearing a suit), it was about five; it wasn't a disaster, but it was problematic enough that Lars Lokke Rasmussen from Denmark and Vivian Motzfeldt from Greenland had to go to the parking lot to calm down with a cigarette after the meeting.
While we wait for Trump's move, a new poll from Reuters/IPSOS reveals that only one in five Americans support the president's efforts to take over Greenland. However, let us remember that in 1999, a Gallup poll showed that 18 percent Americans believed that the Sun revolves around the Earth (and what's worse, three percent said they had no opinion on this subject), so we can take the polls in the United States with a pinch of salt, just like we do with Sassuma sea salt from the Nuuk Fjord (it is salt produced locally by a company founded by one of the residents – Napaartoq, who learned how to make salt himself from a YouTube video and plans to make Greenland independent of supplies salt).
I’m Ashley Davis as an editor, I’m committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and accuracy in every piece we publish. My work is driven by curiosity, a passion for truth, and a belief that journalism plays a crucial role in shaping public discourse. I strive to tell stories that not only inform but also inspire action and conversation.
