Why is Greenland called "GREENland" if it aint green?

Question

Why is Greenland called "GREENland" if it aint green?

Answer 1

Because there is ICELAND which is green.

Answer 2

Greenland is called that to confuse the Vikings into thinking that that is where they wanted to go, rather than Iceland because Iceland was the green one, and Greenland is ice.

Basically:

To confuse the Vikings.

Answer 3

marketing.  They wanted the land to be settled.  At least that was the story I was taught.

It also was greener (a relative term, not really lush but at least parts of it on the south end near the coast were habitable) about a thousand years ago during the warm period that happened just before the cold period we just came out of.  When the climate turned cold over the next few hundred years, most of the settlements failed.

Answer 4

Hi, dude,

it was called Greenland by its discovererd, Eirik Raude - Eric the Red in English - because he was going to move there, and wanted it to sound tempting to others, since he didn't want to move alone. He had been convicted to exile for a murder in Iceland, where he lived because he'd been exiled from his native Norway, also for a killing. Definitely a man who could use some impulse control, and not one you'd like to insult! So he left Iceland, found Greenland, which was greener at that time than it is now, the climate being warmer, and returned briefly to Iceland to pick up his family. But to settle in a "new" land as the only family wasn't an option, so he enticed several others to join him. One of his methods was calling the place Greenland.

His son, Leiv Eiriksson, grew up on Greenland, and went on to discover Vinland, which has been proved to be on the coast of North America. Not having his dad's uncontrollable temper, he had not murdered anyone at all, as far as we know. He also travelled to Norway, met the King there, Olav Trygvasson, and was baptized. He may have found religion, or possibly not. If Olav Trygvasson told you to get baptized, you took your hat off and complied. If not, you might find yourself without a head at all. His Majesty had rather a forthright way of persuasion.

The colony on Greenland flourished for centuries, and even had their own bishop at some time. And then they died out, and it is still uncertain why. Explanations put forward include epidemics like the plague, war with the native Inuit, starvation following a climate change and quarrels between the settlers leading to a devastating civil war.

Whew, that was a long answer to a short question! To recapitulate, the name Greenland was an early example of marketing propaganda.