Date of Issue : 17 January 2011
Kay Mail
Greenland Post issued a set of 3 stamps on 17 January 2011 featuring communication in Greenland in different era. Kay mail was the special way to transport mail in 17th and 18thn century.
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe (specifically Norway and Denmark) for about a millennium. The largest island in Greenland is also named Greenland, and makes up most of the country's land area.Greenland is, by area, the world's largest island that is not a continent. With a population of 56,615 it is one of the least densely populated dependencies or countries in the world.
Kay Mail
Kay mail was the common way to transport mail in the old days. This was, of course, as a supplement the dog sledge transport. The kay mail letters were folded in a certain way so that they would fit into a kamik, the traditional Greenlandic boot.A few of the kay mail letters, back from the 17th and 18th centuries, are preserved in private collections today. During the 1950s and 60s, as motor boats were more common in Greenland, the need for kay mail disappeared gradually.
In 1861, the newspaper Atuagagdliutit, was founded. The Danish geologist, Inspector H.J. Rink started the newspaper in Nuuk. H.J. Rink believed that the population of Greenland was losing its cultural identity. The newspaper Atuagagdliutit was, from its conception only printed in the Greenlandic language.
During the Second World War there was also printed a Danish-language newspaper in Nuuk with the name “Grønlandsposten”. In 1952 Atuagagdliutit and Grønlandsposten were merged into a single two-language newspaper. In everyday language the newspaper is therefore called ”AG”.
POST Greenland's holding company, TELE Greenland A/S, established during the period 2006 - 2009, the submarine cable Greenland Connect, which began operation on 23rd March 2009. For large parts of Greenland, the submarine cable enabled a much faster IT and telecommunications link in and out of Greenland than the previous satellites. With the submarine cable, large parts of Greenland were now connected to what is popularly known as broadband.
The cable goes from Newfoundland in the west across Greenland, to Iceland in the east, from which the submarine cable is powered. All these stations only supply green energy.
The submarine cable has improved communications between Greenland and the rest of the world considerably
