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Why is greenland majority of ice but iceland is a majority of green? |
Travel Info Why is greenland majority of ice but iceland is a majority of green? Travel Tips The theory is that Viking explorers from Scandinavia sailed across the Atlantic following a northerly route. They bypassed what we now know as Iceland and first made landfall at what we call Greenland. Claiming it as their territory the called the icy land Iceland. They then continued on and discovered what we now call Canada and again claimed it for themselves and called it Greenland. After a while, they returned home to tell of their discoveries. The next expedition set out to colonise Greenland (Canada), but this time they made first landfall at what we now call Iceland. It was certainly a cold and unfriendly place. Thinking this was the first area of land the previous Expedition had found, they continued to call it Iceland, but found it less inhospitable than previous reports had suggested. In fact, it was certainly good enough to be used as a staging point to Greenland. Of course when they got to 'Greenland' they found it covered in ice. It was far too inhospitable to be settled. It's not certain how much time passed between that first expedition and the second. Whether the Vikings continued on to Canada again is uncertain. Whatever the case, the incorrect names stuck. So it's not that Iceland should be called Greenland and vise-versa. Greenland should indeed be called Iceland, but Canada (and maybe most of North America) should be called Greenland. If they had thought about it, Iceland would probably have been called Fireland. Others Hrafna-Fl贸ki was one of the first men who came to Iceland. He stayed the winter, which was a hard and cold one. In the spring he climbed up to a mountain and looked from there down to a fjord full of ice. Therefore he gave the land the name Iceland. Others came to the island before him and gave it other names, i.e. Sn忙land (snow-land) and Gar冒ars-h贸lmi (Gar冒ar's isle, after himself), but Iceland was the one that stuck. Later, Eir铆kur the red was an Icelander who discovered Greenland and settled there. He deliberately named the country Greenland so that people would want to come there. |
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