Denmark committed atrocities during the conquest of Greenland.

I. Conquest - My oponent has argued that because Norse settlers increased in number, that conquest occurred. This is not the case, as conquest requires "The subjugation and assumption of control of a place or people by use of military force". The Danish people never used military force, as I will now demonstrate. 1.1 - Norse settlement - The Norse (Norwegians not Danish people) - discovered Greenland in the 10th century (estimated). "when Gunnbj"rn Ulfsson, sailing from Norway to Iceland, was blown off course by a storm, and happened to sight some islands off Greenland." During the 980s, explorers from Iceland and Norway reached the southwest coast of Greenland, found the region uninhabited, and settled there. SOURCE: http://www.academia.edu... There was no conquest, as the regions were uninhabited. 1.2 - The Nordic Settlements flounder due to cold Icelandic sagas detail the voyages and explorations of Erik the Red. In the sagas, it is detailed how he was exiled from Iceland for a period of three years for committing a murder. (940 AD) SOURCE: http://www.greenland-guide.gl... He sailed to Greenland, where he explored the coastline and claimed certain regions as his own. There was no conquest, because the regions were uninhabited. He then returned to Iceland to persuade people to join him in establishing a settlement on Greenland. The Icelandic sagas say that 25 ships left Iceland with Erik the Red in 985 AD, and that only 14 of them arrived safely in Greenland. He even named the island Greenland to attract settlers, as the southern coast was virtually uninhabited. http://en.wikisource.org... Many of these original settlers died. The mini ice age was very hard on the trade settlements in Iceland, and many died. Those who survived intermarried with Inuit natives from the northern icecap of Greenland. SOURCE: http://www.academia.edu... 1.3 - The Norse settlers traded with the Thule natives in the north, they did not conquer them, and the only violence recorded between the two cultures was on the part of the migrant Thule tribes from the north. The Norse settlers traded peacefully with the few Thule's who lived on the norther portion of the Island. There is evidence of Norse trade with the natives (called Skraelings by the Vikings). The Norse would have encountered both Native Americans (the Beothuk, related to the Algonkians) and the Thule, ancestors of the Inuit. There was no conquest, only peaceful trade. There are historic accounts of raids performed by the migrating Thule (Inuit) tribes. They even took Greenlanders into slavery. "Although Greenland seems to have been uninhabited at the time of initial Norse settlement, after a couple of centuries the Norse in Greenland had to deal with the Inuit. The Thule-Inuit were the successors of the Dorset who migrated south and finally came into contact with the Norse in the 12th century. There are limited sources showing the two cultures interacting; however, scholars know that the Norse referred to the Inuit (and Vinland natives) as skraeling. The Icelandic Annals are among the few existing sources that confirm contact between the Norse and the Inuit. They report an instance of hostility initiated by the Inuit against the Norse, leaving eighteen Greenlanders dead and two boys carried into slavery." SOURCE: Wahlgren, Erik (1986). The Vikings and America. New York: Thames and Hudson SOURCE: Fitzhugh and Ward, 2000: p. 336 (FOUND: http://en.wikipedia.org...) 1.4 - The Christianization of Greenland and how it became a colony or Norway In the 12 century, Norse settlers, enamored with the Christian tradition taking hold in Europe, request a missionary. " In 1126, the population requested a Bishop (headquartered at Gar"ar)" This bishop served under the archdiocese of Norway's Nidaros (now Trondheim) region. Shortly after, the residents of southern Greenland agreed to be subject to the Norwegian King, though the colony retained legal autonomy. In 1380 the Norwegian kingdom entered into a personal union with the Kingdom of Denmark. (and Sweden, though Sweden dropped out quickly) The three kingdoms then united in the Kalmar Union in 1397. Sweden broke out of this union and re-entered it several times, until 1521, when Sweden finally left the Union, leaving Denmark"Norway (including overseas possessions in the North Atlantic, such as Greenland, as well as the island of Saaremaa in modern Estonia). The Danes never set a single military force in Greenland. There was no conquest. SOURCE: Wahlgren, Erik (1986). The Vikings and America. New York: Thames and Hudson. SOURCE: http://en.wikisource.org... SOURCE: http://www.academia.edu... SOUREC: http://www.greenland-guide.gl... SOURCE: http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu... (Inuit perspective) SOURCE: http://www.tacitus.nu... (For Danish speakers) SOURCE: http://www.sa.dk... (Norwegian) 1.5 The Napoleonic War and the destruction of the Union. Without going into too much detail about the Napoleonic war, Denmark chose to side with France, which lost. (1801) Copenhagen was sacked by the British, and as a result of the peace settlement with the rest of Europe, Denmark was forced to break it's union with Norway, but retained claim on their colonies. As a matter of fact, no blood was shed to establish this deal between Norway and Denmark, it is the only territorial dispute in history to be decided by an international court (see source below) SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org... SOURCE: http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca... 1.6 The Eksperimentet (1951) This is an excellent example of an overreach by a government, it is also a tragic case of xenophobia which was rampant in Europe during the mid 1900's. It is not an example of an atrocity committed during conquest, as it did not occur during conquest. It is also only a single example. It also led to the peaceful independence of Greenland, just two years later, as it was widely regarded as a human rights abuse. It was not an atrocity, which is defined as: an extremely wicked or cruel act, typically one involving physical violence or injury. And it certainly did not occur during any form of conquest. My opponent claims Greenland had no representation, which is false: In 1953, Greenland was raised from the status of colony to that of an autonomous province or constituent country of the Danish Realm. Despite its small population, it was provided nominal representation in the Danish Folketing. SOURCE: "International relations". Archived from the original on 2007-02-21. (FOUND: http://en.wikipedia.org...)