Lead
U.S. President Donald Trump has said Greenland is a strategic location that Washington might acquire, while Denmark maintains legal sovereignty over the island. For many Inuit people who have lived on Greenland for centuries, the notion of private ownership of the land is foreign. In their worldview the land is collectively shared, a principle that has endured through three centuries of colonisation and is embedded in Greenlandic law: private ownership extends to houses, but not to the land beneath them.
Voices from Kapisillit
"We can’t even buy our own land ourselves, but Trump wants to buy it - that’s so strange to us," said Kaaleeraq Ringsted, 74, a native of Kapisillit. Ringsted spoke from the church that perches on a cliff above the settlement, now serving as the village catechist. Kapisillit is a tiny community of wooden dwellings clinging to a fjord east of Nuuk, the capital. The remark reflects a local perspective that land is for communal use rather than private sale.
Ringsted explained how, since childhood, the residents have been accustomed to renting land for their homes rather than purchasing it. "We have always been used to the idea that we collectively own our land," he said, characterising a continuity of cultural belief despite long periods of outside rule.
Life in Kapisillit is conditioned by seasonal light and rugged terrain. It is deep winter when Ringsted spoke, with the sun seldom rising above the surrounding mountains. Below the church the settlement contains a school, a grocery store and a service house where villagers can shower and wash clothes. A small emergency room stocks basic medical supplies, and a job advert for a clinic worker was posted on the door.
Transport and subsistence activities are central. The settlement’s small pier is a lifeline - the weekly boat brings supplies from Nuuk and provides the base from which local fishermen and hunters depart to harvest seal, halibut, cod and reindeer. That routine underpins a way of life many describe as "a free life in nature." Heidi Lennert Nolso, the village leader, said residents could sail and travel without restrictions, a reflection of the mobility and subsistence practices long associated with life in the area.
Geopolitics Meets Local Experience
Greenland and its people were thrust into the global spotlight last year when President Trump restarted calls for the United States to take control of the island for reasons of national security and to gain access to its mineral wealth. In subsequent remarks he stepped back from threats the U.S. might seize the island by force and said he had secured total and permanent U.S. access to Greenland in a deal with NATO, though many particulars remain unclear.
Villagers said they follow the headlines but tend not to dwell on geopolitical debate in daily conversation. "People here are interested in the day that is coming. Is there food in the fridge? Fine, then I can sleep a little longer. If there is no food, then I will go out and catch fish or go out and shoot a reindeer," said Vanilla Mathiassen, a Danish teacher who has worked in towns and villages across Greenland for 13 years.
Legal experts in Nuuk underline how Greenlandic land tenure differs from freehold systems elsewhere. Ulrik Blidorf, a lawyer and owner of Inuit Law, noted that Greenland is an autonomous Danish territory and does not permit private freehold ownership of land. "In Greenland, you can’t own the land," Blidorf said. "It’s been like that ever since our ancestors came here. Today you get a right to use the area where you have your house." This reflects statutory arrangements where houses may be privately held but the land itself remains under communal or state-managed frameworks.
Cultural Framing: Guardianship Rather Than Ownership
Nearly 90% of Greenland’s population of 57,000 are indigenous Inuit, communities that have lived on the island continuously for about 1,000 years. For many Inuit, land stewardship is a moral responsibility rather than a property right. Rakel Kristiansen, from a family with a shamanic tradition, said the concept of ownership is misplaced in Inuit understanding. "In our understanding, owning land is the wrong question," she said. "The question should be who is responsible for the land. The land existed before us, and it will exist after us." This sentiment reinforces a view of humans as temporary caretakers of a landscape that transcends individual lifetimes.
Daily Struggles and Demographic Shifts
Back in Kapisillit the immediate concerns are practical. A cold wind descends from the Greenland ice sheet, sea eagles wheel above the fjord and seagulls converge on fishing boats. But the numbers of active hunters and fishermen have declined as education, job opportunities and broader services have drawn people toward larger towns and the capital over recent decades.
At the local school, three children - William, 8, Malerak, 7, and Viola, 7 - are the only remaining pupils studying beneath a map of Greenland printed in 1954. They play outside at recess and go sledding, yet all three will soon move away, raising the prospect that the school may close.
Holiday homes for wealthier residents of Nuuk have been erected along the bay; some include outdoor hot tubs but remain empty and shuttered during winter months. From a cliff near the village an iceberg-strewn fjord is visible, a landscape that could attract tourists, but Kapisillit lacks basic infrastructure to support significant tourism development.
Village leader Nolso warned of demographic decline: "There’s a risk the settlement could die. People are getting old." Kapisillit once hosted nearly 500 residents at its busiest, according to Kristiane Josefsen, a lifelong resident. Today the settlement counts 37 inhabitants. Josefsen, born in 1959, processes sealskin - washing, scraping and preparing it for sale in Nuuk where the material is used in national costumes. She acknowledged the physical toll of the work but said she intends to remain. "I’m staying here. I belong here," she said. "This is my land. Greenland is my land."
Implications
The views expressed in Kapisillit highlight the differences between local Indigenous conceptions of land and notions of purchase or acquisition discussed at the geopolitical level. The legal framework in Greenland, which allows for ownership of houses but not land, aligns with the cultural stance that people act as guardians of the territory rather than private owners. Meanwhile, residents confront practical challenges tied to remoteness, limited services and an aging population.
Note: This article focuses on local perspectives, legal arrangements and day-to-day life in a small Greenlandic settlement in the context of broader political statements; many details about international arrangements remain unspecified.