Greenland has been tied to the Danish crown since the start of Danish–Norwegian colonization in 1721 and has been an official, fully integrated part of the Kingdom of Denmark since 1953.

Quick Scoop

  • In 1721, missionary Hans Egede, backed by the joint Denmark–Norway monarchy, founded a mission and trading post near present‑day Nuuk, marking the start of Greenland as a Danish colony.
  • When Denmark and Norway split in 1814, Denmark kept Greenland, and it continued under Danish colonial rule through the 19th and early 20th centuries.
  • After World War II, pressure to end formal colonial status grew, and in the 1953 revision of the Danish constitution, Greenland stopped being a colony and was incorporated as a county within the Kingdom of Denmark.
  • Counting from colonization, Greenland has been under Danish rule for about 300 years (since 1721); counting from full constitutional integration, it has been part of Denmark proper for a bit more than 70 years (since 1953).
  • Since then, Greenland has gradually gained more self‑government, including Home Rule in 1979 and expanded self‑rule in 2009, but it still remains within the Kingdom of Denmark today.

In everyday terms:

  • “Part of Denmark as a colony”: since 1721.
  • “Part of Denmark as an equal constituent territory under the Danish constitution”: since 1953.

TL;DR: When people ask “how long has Greenland been part of Denmark?” the answer depends on what you mean—about three centuries under Danish rule overall, and just over seven decades as an officially integrated part of the Danish kingdom.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.