Population.— Except a few hundred Danish officials, the population is entirely Eskimo, whose origin is unknown. The inhabited litorals are Danish Greenland, along the south west coast between Cape Farewell and Tasiausak, 78.6° N. latitude; the Angmagsalik district, at the Arctic circle, east coast; and the Smith Sound coast, between Cape York and Etah. The Eskimo have increased steadily since 1840 when they numbered 8,128. By the last census, 1 Oct. 1911, the population regis tered 13,459, distributed as follows: North Inspectorate, 102 Europeans, 5,858 Eskimos; South Inspectorate, 280 Europeans, 6,652 Eskimos; Angmagsalik, 10 Europeans, 431 Eskimos. These Eskimos live by seal-hunting, are religious and educated. The isolated Etah natives, not included above, number about 250.
History and Exploration.— Greenland was discovered in the latter part of the 10th cen tury by the Norsemen, who settled the extreme southern portions. The colonies vanished, their fate being one of the mysteries of history. In the course of the search for a Northwest Passage the island was rediscovered, and its west coasts were followed from Cape Farewell to Hakluit Island, Smith Sound, by the voyages of John Davis, 1585-88, and of William Baffin, 1616. Hudson sighted the east coast in his voy age of 1607, and occasionally it was seen by whalers. Greenland again passed out of his
tory until 1721, when the foundation of Danish Greenland was laid through the appointment by the King of Denmark of Hans Egede, a Lutheran, as a missionary. His settlement at Godthaab eventually led to the Moravian and Danish Missions, to the initiation of the Royal Trade, and to the establishment of colonial government. The exploration of the west coast has been completed by expeditions during the past 70 years as follows: Inglefield, 1852, to 78° 28' N.; Kane, 1853-55, to 80° 35' N.• Hall, 1870-71, to 82° 9' N.•, Nares, 1876, to 82° 20' N.• Greely, 1882, to 83° 24' N.; Peary, 1902, to about 83° 35', and thence southeast to about 83° N. The exploration of the east coast was due to the Scoresbys, father and son, who re constructed the cartography of east Greenland by their explorations between latitudes 69° 30' and 74° N. in 1817-22.
Apart from Scoresby's preliminary work, the east coast has been explored as follows: Graah, 1829, from Cape Farewell to 65° N.; Holm and Knutsen 1884, to 66° N.; Amdrup. 1898-1900, to 69° N.; Ryder, 1892, 69° to 27' N.; Koldewey, 1870, 70° to 77° N.; Mylius Erichsen, 1907, to 82° 5' N.; Koch, 1907, to N. By filling in the 300 miles of unknown coast, Mylius-Erichsen and Koch completed the coast survey of the great island of Greenland.