
The solar is rising over the ice-covered mountains of Nuuk fjord and we’re travelling alongside one of many world’s final wild frontiers.
However there are shadows gathering right here and throughout the remainder of the frozen areas of Greenland.
With Donald Trump about to turn out to be president of america, his refusal to rule out taking Greenland by pressure is reverberating by way of conversations throughout the island.
“He is welcome to return go to for positive,” says the skipper of the transformed fishing boat taking us east. Aware that he must do enterprise with individuals of all political hues, he requested to not be named, however used a phrase I hear repeatedly right here.
“Greenland belongs to Greenlanders. So, Trump can go to however that is it.”
The waters are flat calm as we pull into the remoted settlement of Kapisillit – inhabitants about 40 – the place just a few hunters are getting down to shoot seals.
It is -16C (3F), and with wind chill impact feels extra like -27C.
However close to the harbour I meet a neighborhood church elder, Kaaleeraq Ringsted, 73, a great-grandfather, who’s out drying fillets of cod caught within the fish-rich waters beside his entrance door.
Once I ask about President-elect Trump shopping for or invading Greenland, he chuckles at first. Then his tone turns into critical.

“It’s not acceptable that he says this. Greenland isn’t on the market.”
Then he tells me how he realized to fish and hunt right here along with his father and grandfather, and the way he desires to protect this life for his kids and grandchildren.
Crossing the bay, the boat nosed by way of the damaged floor ice. Two eagles perched on a rock, scanning for fish within the clear waters.
We have been heading to the farm of Angutimmarik Hansen who retains sheep in addition to looking seals, wildfowl and rabbits.
All of his winter feed for the sheep must be imported from Denmark, a reminder of how a harsh local weather defines the probabilities of life right here.
Inside his entrance door is a rack of looking rifles. He notices me them.
“These are in case there’s an invasion,” he jokes.

However his perspective to the bellicose rhetoric from Mar-A-Lago is much from relaxed.
“What a silly particular person on the earth like Trump,” he says. “By no means will we promote Greenland.”
This little farm is about 3,000 miles (4,828km) from Florida the place the incoming US president gave his now notorious press convention final week.
“However Trump isn’t the USA. We are able to work with the individuals of the USA,” Mr Hansen says.
The Trump impact went into overdrive with the arrival in Greenland of Donald Trump Jr, scorching on the heels of his father’s pronouncements. He flew into the capital Nuuk on the household’s 737 jet – Trump Power One – and stayed for 4 hours and thirty-three minutes, assembly some locals and providing solely well mannered remarks.
“It has been extremely good to fulfill individuals, and other people have been very glad to fulfill with us,” he stated, after lunch at a neighborhood lodge. “Dad should come right here.”
Then it was again to the sunnier climes of Florida.

Trump Jr was welcomed by native businessman Jorgen Boassen, who as soon as campaigned for the president-elect.
He advised native media that he was Trump’s “greatest fan” and that “after all they’re desirous about our nation, and they’re welcome to return and see what our nation is like. Additionally it is about opening up for commerce and cooperation.”
The town of Nuuk is the world’s most northerly capital. It has a thriving civil society and a strong press. And there may be some satisfaction right here that the Trump feedback have propelled the controversy about Greenland’s independence onto the worldwide stage.
There should be a Greenland that’s no person’s colony, say campaigners like Kuno Fencker, an MP with the governing coalition and member of the native parliament’s International and Safety Committee.
We meet by the harbour, beneath the bronze statue of Hans Egede, the 18th century missionary extensively seen right here as the person who opened the best way to colonisation.

“Donald Trump is a politician,” says Mr Fencker.
“He is a tough businessman, and we all know his rhetoric, and that rhetoric is one thing we’ve got gotten used to since 2019, and it is only a matter of speaking to a peer, an ally, on how we are able to remedy issues right here within the Arctic and likewise in Nato.”
Mr Fencker provides the central argument of pro-independence campaigners.
“What is important right here is that Greenland as a sovereign state ought to negotiate instantly with america and never Denmark doing that for us.”
Independence from Denmark may come at a big monetary price.
Greenland receives subsidies from Copenhagen price roughly a fifth of its GDP yearly. Mr Fencker suggests, as produce other main figures right here, that the island would negotiate with America and Denmark for assist.
“We aren’t naïve in regard to that. We’d like assist in defence, safety, and likewise financial growth. We wish a sustainable and self-sufficient financial system.”
The editor of the native newspaper Sermitsiaq, Maasana Egede, admits he was anxious by the implied menace of pressure from Donald Trump, however desires to see how actuality matches the rhetoric.
As for independence, Mr Egede has been pissed off by what he sees as a polarised debate within the media – native and worldwide.
“We’re very a lot telling this story that it must be about independence or not independence. However there’s all of this story that’s in between, that individuals need independence, however not at any price. There is a residing customary that must be maintained. There’s commerce that must be maintained. There reside ways in which need to be maintained.”
There may be an expectation that sooner or later – not within the fast future – there will probably be a vote in favour and Denmark will settle for the consequence.
The island’s Prime Minister, Mute Egede, addressed a joint press convention with the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, within the wake of the most recent Donald Trump feedback.
“We don’t need to be Danish, we don’t need to be American, we need to be Greenlandic,” he stated. The Danish PM took care to not offend anyone, least of all of the incoming US president.
“The controversy on Greenlandic independence and the most recent bulletins from the US present us the massive curiosity in Greenland,” she stated. “Occasions which set in movement plenty of ideas and emotions with many in Greenland and Denmark.”

Ms Frederiksen is aware of effectively how deep emotions run in Greenland. Reminiscences of injustice and racism stay recent right here among the many indigenous Inuit individuals.
Scandals just like the marketing campaign to insert IUDs (Intrauterine units) to stop pregnancies in 1000’s of Inuit ladies and ladies within the Sixties and 70s, hang-out the connection between Greenland and Denmark.
It isn’t identified what number of of those procedures have been carried out with out the permission of these concerned, however the numbers are appreciable. The intention was to scale back the Greenlandic inhabitants.
Maliina Abelsen is a former finance minister in Greenland’s authorities, and now a guide for corporations and organisations engaged on the island. She’s additionally labored for UNICEF Denmark and main Greenland companies, just like the seafood group, Royal Greenland.
Ms Abelsen believes way more must be executed to handle the injustices of the previous.

“I feel lots of people are saying, possibly additionally the Danish authorities and state have stated, ‘Oh effectively, you already know this occurred up to now. That is so a few years in the past. How are we going to be chargeable for that? It is time to transfer on.’
“However you can not transfer on if in case you have not been healed, and if in case you have not been acknowledged to what occurred to you. That may be a job that we’ve got to do along with Denmark, not one thing Greenland can do by itself.”
And regardless of her personal excessive profile in civil society and enterprise, Maliina Abelsen says that in terms of racism – for instance jokes about Inuit individuals – she “can communicate for many Greenlanders, that we’ve got all skilled that in our life”.
The problems of self-determination and going through the previous are intimately intertwined.
Now the intervention of Donald Trump has positioned each earlier than the eyes of the world.
However the message we heard – from the distant settlements on the fjord to the capital metropolis Nuuk – is that Greenland’s future should be determined right here, amongst individuals whose voices have been too lengthy neglected.
With further reporting by Adrienne Murray and Kostas Kallergis.