From 986, Greenland's west coast is settled by Icelanders and Norwegians in two settlements on fjords near the southwestern-most tip of the island.

They shared the island with the late Dorset culture inhabitants who occupied the northern and western parts, and later with the Thule culture arriving from the north.

Norse Greenlanders submitto Norwegian rule in the 13th century, and the kingdom of Norway enters into a personal union with Denmark in 1380, and from 1397 is a part of the Kalmar Union.After centuries of rule by Denmark–Norway, Greenland becomes a Danish colony in 1814.