A 13th-century Norwegian chronicler thought long and hard about why anyone would want to settle Greenland – the subject of a recent dispute between Donald Trump and Denmark.
The place was chilly, seal meat appeared on menus with disheartening frequency, and far too many people developed irksome, often deadly, infections of the middle ear. “Desire for fame” was one possible reason to make the trip, while simple curiosity could not be discounted as a potential motive. For the most part, though, it probably came down to the fact that people would always “look for wealth wherever they hear they can get it”. A fireside in medieval Norway’s Bergen or the Oval Office in 2019: plus ça change.
