Greenland

Greenland
Location of Greenland
National Assembly		Greenland
Statistics:
Total Population
-	UN 2021	56,243
Bahá'í pop.
-	Bahá'í source
-	Non-Bahá'í source	359
History: Firsts
-	Local Bahá'í	Hendrik Olsen
-	Pioneers	Palle Bischoff
-	Local Assembly	1979, Nuuk
-	National Assembly	1992
How to contact:
-	Email	info@bahai.gl
Official Website		http://www.bahai.org/national-communities/greenland
Related media
Categories: Greenland • People

Greenland is an autonomous constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans.

History

‘Abdu’l-Bahá instructed the Bahá'í community to teach the Bahá'í Faith in Greenland in one of the Tablets of the Divine Plan revealed in April, 1916.

The North American Bahá'í community began a teaching campaign in October 1916 aiming to teach the Faith in the many states named in the Tablets of the Divine Plan, and Montreal was designated the center of the Northern Territory of the Campaign, which was assigned the responsibility of teaching the Faith in Greenland.

Johanne Sorensen began sending Bahá'í literature to Greenland in 1946, as far north as Upernivik within the Artic Circle, and continued doing so until 1951. As of 1948 Sorenson had sent literature to forty-eight settlements in Greenland.

In 1947 Shoghi Effendi issued a directive to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada for them to have the Canadian community teach the Faith in Greenland, and encouraged them to send pioneers to the country once an independent Assembly for Canada had been firmly established. In 1948 the newly formed National Spiritual Assembly of Canada established a Teaching Committee for Greenland and Newfoundland.

William J. Carr in his room in Greenland, 1957.

In 1951 Palle Bischoff, a Copenhagen Bahá'í, became the first Bahá'í pioneer to Greenland, having been appointed as the manager of a fishing station in Aasiaat (then Egedesminde) for a four month period. Palle lived in the Country until 1954, and upon his departure he was replaced by William Carr, an American in the U.S. Air Force, who was stationed in Greenland, making him the most northern Bahá'í in the world at the time. As of 1955 Carr was the only Bahá'í living in Greenland, and remained so until 1965.

Hendrik Olsen became the first Greenland Bahá'í in 1965 due to correspondence with Johanne Sorenson (Hoeg), which began in 1946. Johanne, now an Auxiliary Board Member in Denmark, visited Greenland together with Dr. Hooshang Rafat to witness Olsen's Declaration, and a public meeting which was attended by 100 people was held at Olsen's home during their visit.

Johanne Hoeg and Dr. H. Ra'fat with Hendrik Olsen, Jul 1965.

In 1974 a Bahá'í Conference for the Arctic and sub-Arctic region was held and attended by 43 Bahá'ís to discuss the future of the Faith in the area spanning from Greenland, Finland and the Northern Scottish Islands. The National Spiritual Assembly of Denmark purchased a Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds for the Greenland community in September 1974.

Hand of the Cause Bill Sears briefly visited Greenland in 1975, during a refueling stop en route to the Nardvik Youth Conference in Iceland.

On April 17, 1979 the first Local Spiritual Assembly in Greenland was formed in Nuuk, the Countries capital.

In 1982 Ruhiyyih Khanum visited Greenland during her tour of North America and met with the Danish Governor of the Country. Lise Quistgaard Raben, the Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of Denmark, conducted a four-week teaching trip to the Country the same year, holding several teaching institutes and presenting Bahá'í literature to the Municipial Director of Nuuk.

The National Spiritual Assembly of Greenland was formed in 1992.

See also

• All articles about Greenland
• National Spiritual Assembly of Greenland