Honestly, if you look at a standard wall map in a classroom, Greenland looks like this absolute titan of the north. It’s this massive, white blob that seems to rival Africa in size and makes Australia look like a tiny pebble. But here’s the thing: your map is lying to you.
Geography is weird. It’s a game of trying to peel an orange and flatten the skin without tearing it—spoiler alert, you can’t. This is the core reason why the Greenland location on world map is one of the most misunderstood spots on the entire planet.
The Mercator Problem: Why Greenland Looks Huge
Most of us grew up looking at the Mercator projection. It was created by Gerardus Mercator way back in 1569. He wasn't trying to trick us; he was trying to help sailors. Because the map keeps lines of constant bearing straight, it’s a dream for navigation. But to make those lines straight on a flat sheet, the map has to stretch everything as you move away from the equator toward the poles.
Since Greenland sits way up there in the high latitudes, it gets stretched like crazy. On a Mercator map, Greenland and Africa look roughly the same size. In reality? Africa is about 14 times larger. You could fit Greenland into Africa fourteen times and still have room for a few European countries.
If you use a tool like "The True Size Of," and drag Greenland down to the equator, it physically shrinks before your eyes. It goes from looking like a continent to looking like exactly what it is: the world's largest island. It’s actually about the size of Saudi Arabia or Mexico, which is still huge, but it's not "dominating the northern hemisphere" huge.
Where Exactly Is This Place?
So, if the size is a lie, where is it actually? Greenland is sandwiched between the Arctic Ocean to the north and the North Atlantic Ocean to the south. It’s basically the gatekeeper of the Arctic.
To the west, it’s separated from Canada's Baffin Island by the Davis Strait and Baffin Bay. Fun fact: Greenland and Canada actually share a land border now. For decades, there was a dispute over a tiny, barren rock called Hans Island. In 2022, they finally agreed to just split the island in half. So, technically, you can walk from Greenland into Canada, provided you can get to a tiny rock in the middle of a freezing strait.
To the east, across the Denmark Strait, lies Iceland. While they are neighbors, they couldn't be more different. Iceland is the "Land of Fire and Ice," but Greenland is almost entirely "Ice."
🔗 Read more: Finding Your Way: The Map of Toronto PATH Most People Get Wrong
- Geographic Coordinates: Roughly 72° N, 40° W.
- Northernmost Point: Cape Morris Jesup (one of the closest landmasses to the North Pole).
- Southernmost Point: Cape Farewell (which is actually on the same latitude as Oslo, Norway).
The Geographic Glitch: North America or Europe?
This is where it gets really confusing for people. If you look at a tectonic plate map, Greenland is 100% part of North America. It sits on the North American Plate. Geographically, it’s a neighbor to Nunavut, Canada.
But politically? It’s European. Sorta.
Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. Even though it's over 2,000 miles away from Copenhagen, Danish is spoken there, the Danish Krone is the currency, and the King of Denmark is the head of state. It’s a massive geographic glitch where the land belongs to one continent but the laws and culture are heavily tied to another.
The people who live there, the Greenlandic Inuit, have a history that stretches back thousands of years, migrating across the ice from North America. So while the government looks toward Europe, the roots of the people are firmly planted in the American Arctic.
Why the Location Matters in 2026
You might have heard some noise in the news recently about world leaders wanting to "buy" Greenland. This isn't just some weird real estate obsession. The Greenland location on world map is becoming the most strategic piece of "real estate" in the world.
As Arctic ice melts, new shipping lanes are opening up. If you control Greenland, you control the "GIUK gap" (Greenland, Iceland, and the United Kingdom), which is a naval choke point. Plus, the island is sitting on a goldmine—literally. It has massive deposits of rare earth minerals that we need for smartphones and electric car batteries.
Realities of Visiting the "Big White Blob"
If you’re planning to actually go there and not just stare at it on a map, forget about road trips. There are no roads between towns in Greenland. None.
To get from the capital, Nuuk, to the world-famous icefjords of Ilulissat, you have to hop on a small Dash-8 plane or take a coastal ferry. The location is so remote that almost all international flights have to funnel through Iceland or Denmark.
What to actually do next
If you're fascinated by how maps distort reality, stop looking at flat 2D maps. Go pull up Google Earth or a physical globe. Look at Greenland from the top down, looking directly at the North Pole.
You’ll realize it’s not this wide, stretched-out wall of ice, but a rugged, mountainous wedge that serves as the bridge between the old world and the new. To get a true sense of scale, compare it to the United States: Greenland is roughly three times the size of Texas. Big? Yes. Africa-sized? Not even close.
Check the "Equal Earth" projection if you want to see a flat map that actually respects the true sizes of countries. It'll make the world look "upside down" compared to what you're used to, but it's much closer to the truth.