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When we talk about Denmark, we often think of Hans Christian Andersen and his fairytale kingdom.
Other than that, many people don't have a special impression of Denmark.
Even those who have been to Denmark have only been aware of it on the basis of high welfare and small size.
As for other aspects of knowledge, there is almost nothing.
But today I want to tell you that Denmark is actually the second largest country in Europe, can you believe it?
Strictly speaking, Denmark's small size is actually disguised.
Although it is only a small piece of land on the surface, it is actually hidden.
If you add up the hidden territory of Denmark, its area can exceed 2 million square kilometers, directly dominate the Nordic continent, and become the second only existence to Russia.
It stands to reason that Denmark is only so large in size, how exactly did it expand its size? Could it be that the Danish government still uses earth change?
1. Is Denmark really small?
Before that, let's briefly introduce the basic situation of Denmark, which has a land area of 43,000 square kilometers and a population of nearly 6 million.
Although Denmark is small and small, it is a developed country.
Denmark's per capita GDP is as high as $66,000, ranking among the top eight in the world.
Its happiness index has reached the second place in the world, second only to Finland, and Denmark is free in fields such as education and medical care.
In this case, who is happy if the Danes are not happy?
As for why is the GDP of the Danes so high? This is mainly due to the following aspects.
The Danes have fewer resources and more resources, and they can get rich every year just by exporting fishery resources and mineral resources.
Denmark also has a well-developed industry, such as marine main engines, cement equipment, enzymes and artificial insulin, which are the most accessible products in Denmark.
Located near Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, the Medicine Valley is home to Europe's largest biotechnology cluster.
With so much anti-sky technology, who is rich if Denmark is not rich?
Many people may not know that the Lego toys that our children play with are actually Danish brands.
Today, LEGO employs 18,800 people and sells its products in more than 130 countries and territories around the world.
In almost every corner of the world, there are LEGO toys.
The core factor for Denmark's ability to get rich is mainly because it is located in the heart of Northern Europe.
Its geographical location is similar to that of Singapore, which is a place of wealth.
Merchant ships and cargo ships come and go, and wealth is constantly imported into this small island.
In this case, the Danish economy is also on the rise.
Of course, although we have always said that Denmark is small.
But if you include the Overseas Territories, Denmark is the second largest in Europe.
Is the situation really that exaggerated? This so-called overseas territory actually refers to Greenland.
The island covers an area of 2.16 million square kilometers and has a population of nearly 70,000 people.
If Denmark were to add this island, it would be the second largest land area in Europe after Russia.
2. Greenland, which is fought over by two countries
As for Greenland's historical origins, it's worth talking about here.
The Inuit migrated from North America to Greenland a long, long time ago.
This migration process lasted for more than 5,000 years and brought a great deal of Inuit culture to Greenland.
Just as the Inuit were preparing to live in peace during these years, the Europeans came.
In 982, the Norwegian pirate Eric the Redbeard was expelled from Iceland for murder.
Wandering, he could only row a small boat alone, wandering around the oceans.
Wave after wave, and he went to Greenland.
When he first arrived in Greenland, Eric spotted a green meadow and called it the "Green Continent", which translates to "Greenland".
Since then, Greenland has officially communicated with the outside world.
In 1261, Norway was in its heyday.
At this time, the king of Norway directly incorporated it into his ruling territory.
More than 100 years later, with the beginning of the alliance between Norway and Denmark, the island began to enter the era of co-management.
However, a few hundred years later, as Denmark grew stronger, it began to claim Greenland as its own.
In 1776, the Danish government began to monopolize all trade in Greenland and closed the coast of Greenland to the outside world.
By 1841, with the partition of Denmark and Norway, the island had become a Danish colony.
Of course, in the face of Denmark's "forcible seizure", Norway is obviously not convinced.
In the decades that followed, the two countries were at loggerheads over the right to rule Greenland.
In 1933, the two countries even went directly to the international tribunal in The Hague.
Two years later, Denmark finally gained sovereignty over Greenland through a series of means.
In this way, under the operation of the Danes, Greenland was officially owned by Denmark.
3. A place where soldiers must fight
Of course, although the Danes gained sovereignty over Greenland, they were not able to protect Greenland.
Especially during World War II, this sense of vulnerability was vividly reflected.
On April 9, 1940, it took only six hours for the Germans to occupy all of Denmark.
After taking Denmark, Germany set its sights on Greenland.
Seeing that the situation was not right, the United States hurriedly sent troops to garrison Greenland to prevent the invasion of the German army.
After all, once Germany takes Greenland, it will have to threaten the gateway to North America.
At that time, it is estimated that the United States will also have to fight on its own soil.
In this way, under the vigorous protection of the United States, Greenland escaped the catastrophe.
After the end of World War II, the United States began to look at Greenland's strategic position.
In 1946, the United States tried to bid $100 million for Greenland, but the Danish government refused.
After all, this land is the world that the Danish ancestors fought for for several lifetimes, and now they want to buy it for only 100 million US dollars? There are no doors.
In this way, under the strong resistance of the Danish government, the US plan to purchase the island ended in failure. Since you can't buy it, let's just garrison it.
In 1950, the United States began to establish the Thule Air Base on the northwest coast of Greenland.
This base, known as the northernmost and coldest base of the US military, is home to the US 12th Space Early Warning Squadron.
The radar installed at the base has an extremely wide coverage area, which can scan almost the entire Arctic Ocean and the northern coast of Russia.
At the same time, the base has also become an important base for intercontinental missile and satellite early warning, which can monitor and lock short-range missiles in a very short time.
In addition, it is also home to a deep-water port and airfield for the U.S. military, and serves as a military logistics center for the U.S. military in the Arctic.
It can be said that this base, like a wedge, penetrated deep into the Arctic Circle and became a sword of Damocles hanging over the head of Russia.
During the Cold War, the U.S. Department of Defense made an assertion.
They believed that if the Soviet Union were to carry out a nuclear strike on the United States, it would inevitably attack the Thule airbase first in order to pull out the nail.
In order to cope with this situation, the US military has been cruising near the base in B52 bombers carrying nuclear bombs since 1961.
As soon as it encounters a nuclear attack, the US military will immediately fly directly to Moscow and launch an attack on it.
It can be seen how important Greenland's strategic position was back then.
Even in modern times, Greenland is still a powerful weapon used by the United States to contain Russia.
For example, in 2013, Russia began to formally deploy Arctic forces.
Faced with this situation, the United States was not far behind and directly expanded the size of its garrison in Greenland.
At the same time, the US military has deliberately set up an early warning system for ballistic missiles to destroy missiles that attempt to fly over the Arctic horizon.
It has to be said that in terms of strategic struggle, Greenland has indeed been reduced to a place of four wars, and if it is not careful, it may become a front line.
Fourth, environmental issues cannot be ignored
In addition to the prominent military problems, the environmental problems on Greenland Island cannot be ignored.
As a result of global warming, the ice shelves in northeastern Greenland continue to fall off.
As of 2020, Greenland has lost more than 160 square kilometres of ice shelves.
It is precisely because of the melting of these ice shelves and ice sheets that global sea levels have risen by 1.1 centimeters over the past 20 years.
If this rate continues, Greenland will one day raise global sea levels to terrifying proportions.
In addition to global warming, many human activities, like many, are also causing serious damage to Greenland's environment.
For example, the Cowane Bay mining project in southern Greenland produces a large amount of radioactive by-products due to the presence of uranium.
Once the waste is produced, the project leader piles up the waste directly near the tailings.
Over time, it polluted the nearby lakes of the Nasak Valley.
As the lake's water flows downstream, these pollutants return to the human settlement, which happens to be the granary of Greenland.
Under such circumstances, the food security of Greenlanders cannot be effectively guaranteed.
From the results of the later investigation, it is clear that some substances such as mercury and organochlorine do appear in the traditional diet of Greenlanders.
Once humans ingest these substances for a long time, their health will be greatly damaged.
In short, the lack of adequate environmental regulation of Greenland's minerals has led to heavy metal contamination in several legacy mining areas.
The slightest mistake can lead to a cascade of environmental problems.
Because of this, when the United States, Canada, and European mining companies wanted to continue to develop Greenland, they were directly blocked by the Danish government.
After all, if we dig any further, something big could happen to Greenland.
By July 2021, the local government of Greenland halted all future oil exploration in order to protect the fragile ecology of the country.
After all, if the money is gone, you can make it again, and if the environment is destroyed, it will be really ruined.
end
Overall, Greenland, as Denmark's largest overseas territory, has indeed been a great source of empowerment for Denmark.
With this territory, Denmark has directly broken through the barrier of its small size and firmly established itself at the top of the power rankings on the European continent.
Denmark is not as strong as it used to be, but it still has full control over Greenland.
After all, Denmark's degree of development and happiness index are so high, Greenland follows Denmark, and it is indeed possible to eat and drink spicy food.
Once you follow someone else, you may only be able to drink the northwest wind.
References:
"A big country "disguised" as a small country: it has more than 2 million square kilometers of land, but it is unwilling to admit it" 2024-05-13 Weilu Discussion Law
"A big country "disguised" as a small country: it has more than 2 million square kilometers of land, but it is unwilling to admit it" 2024-05-12 Whale Observatory