Etymology[edit]
It was the early Norwegian settlers who gave the country the name Greenland. In the Icelandic sagas, it is said that the Norwegian-born Icelander Erik the Red was exiled from Iceland for manslaughter. Along with his extended family and his thralls, he set out in ships to explore icy land known to lie to the northwest. After finding a habitable area and settling there, he named it Grœnland (translated as "Greenland"), supposedly in the hope that the pleasant name would attract settlers.[17][18][19]
The name of the country in Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) is Kalaallit Nunaat ("land of the Kalaallit").[20] The Kalaallit are the indigenous Greenlandic Inuit people who inhabit the country's western region.