Greenlandic Scenery 1978, Royal Copenhagen Christmas plate

1978 Royal Copenhagen Christmas plate, designed by Kaj Lange, has as its motif a Greeland Scenery. Royal Copenhagen's Christmas plate from 1978 is the fourth Christmas plate to depict a Greenlandic scenery. (see plates from 1939,1958 and 1968 ). Greenland is the world's largest island and the most northerly of Denmark's possessions. Colo- nized by Norway during the Viking era. It came under Danish rule in 1380 when ten year old King Oluf of Denmark inherited the Norwegian throne. While Viking settlements perished, the native population was better adapted to the harsh conditions of the country. The dog- sledge is just one example of how skill- fully the turned the few available resour- ces to account. It is fashioned from drift- wood and pieced together without the use of one single nail, yet it can sustain the carrigage of heavy loads across almost impassable arctic areas, it still surpasses modern means of transportation on land and on ice fields. Even today modern scientific expeditions ude the dog-sledge for transportation. Alongside the umiak and the kayak, the dog-sledge enabled the Greenlanders to conquer vast coastal areas.