Norsemen from Iceland came to Greenland in 986, almost 500 years before Christopher Columbus sailed to North America.
They established two settlements along the southwestern part of the island, which probably was uninhabited at the time.
About 100 years later, Inuit people from the north moved close to the Norse settlers. At first the two groups got along, but in time they began to fight one another.
The Inuit eventually won the conflict. By 1500, the Norse colonists were gone and their settlements destroyed.
Non-Natives did not settle in Greenland again until traders from Denmark established a post there in 1721.
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