Iceland and Greenland Both are countries Um, well, Greenland is not exactly its own country It’s part of the Kingdom of Denmark, considered a self-governing constituent country. So it’s almost a country? Kind of a country? Well, most of the people who live there are not Danish. They are Inuit. Iceland is a country. Wait a second. Let me double check. Hey Iceland. Are you a country? Iceland: Uh, yeah. Mr. Beat: That's what I thought. Both are way north. In fact, north of 60 degrees north of the Earth’s equator. So in the winter they have little sunlight, but in the summer the sun doesn’t seem to ever go down. The Vikings, or more accurately the Norsemen, were the first European settlers of both Iceland and Greenland, reaching the two places hundreds of years before Columbus sailed west. However, Greenland was first settled by various Inuit tribes thousands of years before European arrival. The Norseman were the first settlers of Iceland, arriving around the year 870. So Iceland is one of the most recent islands ever settled by humans. Islands? Yeah, both Iceland and Greenland are islands. Greenland is the largest island in the world. Wait, it's not THAT big. Stupid Mercator projection. Both have hardly any people. Iceland has a population of around 350,000, while Greenland has a population of around 57,000, despite being about 21 times bigger than Iceland. There are more people in the city of Omaha, Nebraska, than both Iceland and Greenland COMBINED. Both have hardly any native species of plants and animals. There are absolutely no native reptiles or amphibians on the two islands. Get this, Greenland has mosquitoes, that can be pretty relentless in the summer especially since it’s been getting warmer there, but Iceland? Nope. Iceland apparently has no mosquitoes. Most residents of both are concentrated in one single city. More than half of Icelanders live in or around Reykjavík, Iceland’s largest city, and about a third of Greenlanders live in Nuuk, Greenland’s largest city. The biggest religion in both countries is Christianity, specifically having ties with Lutheranism. The Church of Denmark dominates in Greenland, and the Church of Iceland dominates in, um, you know, Iceland. But really, Iceland is much less religious than Greenland. It’s a very secular country, and church attendance tends to be low there. Both are more politically and culturally aligned with Europe than North America, despite the fact that Greenland is part of North America. Both have a parliamentary system of government. As I mentioned earlier, Greenland is technically still part of the Kingdom of Denmark, but it governs itself. Denmark only still controls Greenland’s defense and foreign relations. Both have economies that revolve fishing and fish processing and the metals. Not heavy metal. No, not that kind of metal. Like metals, like...yes, that kind of metal. Greenland, however, is heavily dependent on Denmark in terms of investment dollars. Tourism is much bigger in Iceland than Greenland. Both are members of NATO. Steven: Playdoh? Mr. Beat: No, NATO. Both are not members of the European Union. Well, Denmark is so Greenland is closely linked to it. Both Iceland and Greenland have universal health care. Based solely on the names of the two, it may seem that Iceland and Greenland are two very different places, and yep, they mostly are. First of all, why is Iceland called Iceland and Greenland called Greenland, anyway? Well, according to the Landnamabok, aka The Book of Settlements, a Viking named Floki Vilgerdarson named it that after experiencing some bad luck on the island due to cold weather. Erik the Red gave Greenland its name after he settled there in 982 after getting kicked out of Iceland for killing a dude. Erik and his fellow Norsemen called it Greenland partly because it was a bit warmer there back then, meaning the area where they settled actually was green, but also because they wanted to attract new settlers to the area. So yeah, you could argue it was a bit of a marketing scheme. While both Iceland and Greenland have permanent ice caps, Greenland has a lot more ice than Iceland. Iceland’s covered in 11 percent of permanent ice, whereas Greenland’s covered in about 80 percent of it. Due to warmer sea temperatures around Iceland, it has more moderate temperatures than Greenland. It gets warmer in the summer in Iceland, and colder in the winter in Greenland. So yeah, Iceland is more green than Greenland and Greenland is more icy than Iceland. Confused yet? Most Icelanders are descendants of Norse and Gaelic settlers, and their culture reflects that. Most Greenlanders are Inuit. Get this. Icelandic is the official language of Iceland, and Greenlandic is the official language of Greenland. That just makes sense, man. By many standards of living accounts, Iceland comes out ahead versus Greenland. Iceland is wealthier. It has a GDP per capita of $48,100, while Greenland has a GDP per capita of $37,900. Iceland has the 7th most productive economy in the world. It also has one of the lowest rates of income inequality in the world. The average lifespan in Iceland, which is among the highest in the world, is 83 years, whereas it’s just 73 in Greenland. In Iceland, the unemployment rate is just 2.8%. It’s 9.1% in Greenland. Babies born in Iceland are around 77% less likely to die in infancy than babies born in Greenland. Iceland has a much more developed internet presence than Greenland. And no offense Greenland, but both Iceland’s music scenes and film contributions are more world-renowned than Greenland’s. Iceland uses a heck of a lot more energy than Greenland, but it’s fairly cheap due to the easy access to geothermal and hydroelectric power there. Speaking of geothermal...(The Secret Life of Walter Mitty clip) Iceland has lots of volcanoes, and Greenland has none. Thanks to sitting right smack dab on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Iceland has hundreds of volcanoes...about 30 of them are active. One volcanic eruption there in the 18th century caused a freaking famine that killed about a quarter of the island’s population. Iceland is one of the most geographically active places on the planet. Probably the most fascinating and disturbing part of my research for this video was looking at how happy each island was. While it’s always challenging to measure the happiness of a large group of people, I found out that Greenland has had the world’s highest suicide rate for decades. This, despite the fact that the World Happiness Report lists Denmark, a country Greenland is still technically a part of, as the second happiest country in the world. The third happiest country according to that list? Iceland. That's the first time I've compared places outside the United States. So looking to branch some more in the future. I know I didn’t cover it all, but what do you think? Are any of you from Iceland or Greenland? Have you been to either place? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. I can’t wait to visit both places. Hey now, thanks for watching. I’ll be back next week with another episode of Supreme Court Briefs.
