Greenland: The name given by Eric the Red in 983 to the sheltered nook where he founded his colony from Iceland, thinking that "much people will go thither if the land has a pleasant name." The name is not altogether unsuitable, as the place chosen by Eric for the settlement which he named Greenland is the pleasantest spot in the country, a smooth grassy plain at the head of Igaliko fiord, near the modern Julianshaab. The name was afterwards inappropriately extended to the whole ice-clad country.

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