we know that there were norwegian settlements in greenland from about 1000-1250, but also that it was inhabited entirely by inuit from 1450-1700. the danes should be seen as colonizers, like the english and spanish and french. modern law would argue that if the greenlanders never signed any sort of a treaty, and were never conquered, then it would follow that the land legally belongs to the inuit and not the danes and the danish clam is full throated settler colonialism, in the 21st century.

there was a treaty in 1814 that, for the first time, lists greenland as a part of denmark, but it was a result of the napoleonic wars and the inuit were not a party to it.

i can find no evidence of a treaty between the danes and inuit, which would make the colonial danish occupation of greenland illegal under modern international law. the danes would be required to transfer large sums of money to greenland in compensation, and they would retain full sovereignty to make decisions, as they may.

the americans should keep that in mind if they want to build a serious relationship with the inuit on greenland. so should canada.