Greenland is the biggest island on Earth, and it belongs to Denmark. But on 3 November 2026, Greenland's own parliament approved a deal that lets America guard it: new US bases, US planes free to land anywhere, and no end date. So whose island is it, really?

The story in one map: the Thule people and the Norse, a missionary in 1721, the treaty of 1814 that kept Greenland Danish when Norway left, the 1933 court case Norway lost, a secret American offer of $100 million in gold, the base at Pituffik, Greenland's road to self-government, and the 2026 deal, with what Washington, Copenhagen and Nuuk each say about it.

Chapters
0:00 Whose island is it?
0:40 Vikings and a missionary
1:50 The court case
3:11 America knocks
4:43 A country in waiting
6:22 The deal
8:42 What happens next

Sources (every number on screen has its source line in the video)
- Al Jazeera: Greenland parliament approves security deal (3 Nov 2026); Trump signs Arctic security deal (22 Sep 2026)
- Reuters via The Star: Greenland parliament ratifies security deal (4 Nov 2026)
- Statistics Greenland: population on 1 January 2026
- Permanent Court of International Justice: Legal Status of Eastern Greenland, judgment of 5 April 1933
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: Greenland; Treaty of Kiel
- Library of Congress: Greenland's Home Rule Act (1979) and Act on Self-Government (2009)
- European Parliament briefing (2025): Greenland and the EU
- Verian for Berlingske and Sermitsiaq: opinion poll Greenland, January 2025
- AP / NPR: the 1946 US offer; Arctic Today: US interest since 1868 and the 1916 treaty
- history.com: the 1941 and 1951 defence agreements
- High North News / Euronews: the 2025 apologies
- States Newsroom: Davos "framework" and tariffs (21 Jan 2026)

Maps: Natural Earth (public domain). Art: drawn for Inkball Atlas. Voice: AI narration (Google Gemini TTS). Music: AI-generated (Google Lyria). We explain each side's view in its own words; quotes are tagged with who said them and when.

Inkball Atlas: the world, explained one map at a time.