by Pipaluk, age 9, asks how many Christmas Islands exist worldwide, about Greenland’s ice sheet, and Denmark
Dear Santa,
Aluu from Nuuk. My name is Pipaluk and I am 9 years old. Some of my friends at school like to joke that I basically live right next door to you, since Greenland always looks so close to the North Pole on the map, even though I know that is not exactly true.
My first question is: how many places called Christmas Island are there in the whole world?
My second question is geography: what covers most of Greenland?
My third question is from school: why is Greenland connected to Denmark?
I left you suaasat, a warming meat soup, and a small piece of dried fish.
Love, Pipaluk, age 9, Nuuk, Greenland
From the Desk of Father Christmas
Dear Pipaluk, suaasat was hearty and warming after a very cold stretch of flying, thank you. Now, to your excellent question, and your others.
How many places called Christmas Island are there?
There are officially two islands that share that exact name, one an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean famous for its red crab migration, and the other, called Kiritimati, part of Kiribati out in the Pacific Ocean. But if you widen the search a little, there are quite a few more places around the world named after the season, including Christmas, Florida, a small real town in the United States, and Noel, Missouri, which proudly calls itself the Christmas City of the Ozarks. Many of these places earned their names because early explorers or settlers happened to arrive right around the 25th of December, a pattern that has left a cheerful little trail of Christmas names scattered across the globe.
What covers most of Greenland?
An enormous ice sheet covers around eighty percent of Greenland, one of the largest bodies of ice on Earth after Antarctica itself, in places more than three kilometres thick.
Why is Greenland connected to Denmark?
Greenland has been linked to Denmark since the early 1700s, when Danish and Norwegian expeditions established settlements there. Today Greenland governs most of its own affairs as a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, handling things like education and healthcare itself while still remaining connected to Denmark for matters like defence and foreign policy.
Your friends were closer to right than you think, and I shall see you very soon.
Ho ho ho, Santa
