Object Details
- Creator
- Egede, Hans
- Book Title
- A description of Greenland.
- Caption
- Old Greenland as to its Eastern and Western parts.
- Educational Notes
- This 18th century map of Greenland with North America tucked into the left corner suggests that the cartographer did not believe Greenland was a part of North America. There is still some controversy over whether or not the island of Greenland is a continent on its own or part of North America. It is a big, big island! It is three times the size of Texas and the next biggest island is Australia, which is, by the way, a continent. Some scientists believe that an island has to have its own tectonic plate to be a continent, and because Greenland is on the North American tectonic plate, it is part of North America. However, if that is how things work, the island of Madagascar near Africa would be a continent, and Europe would be combined with Asia into one continent. Other scientists consider an island to be a continent when it has distinctive plants and animals. For all these scientists, Australia is most definitely a continent, but Greenland? Hmmm. Probably the deciding factor is the attitude of Greenlanders, and they seem to believe they are an island. These beliefs may stem from colonization. Greenland was colonized by the Danes and to this day it shares its governance with Denmark.
- 1745
- Publication Date
- 1745
- Image ID
- SIL-SIL7-227-01
- Catalog ID
- 387052
- Rights
- Not in Copyright
- Type
- Prints
- Place
- Greenland
- Publication Place
- London (England)
- See more items in
- See Wonder
- Smithsonian Libraries
- Topic
- Cartography
- Maps
- Language
- English
- Dutch
- Record ID
- silgoi_68488
