Greenland is part of North America by land but belongs to a European country.

Greenland is the largest island in the world that is not its own continent. It covers about 2.16 million square kilometers. It sits on the North American tectonic plate, which is the same giant piece of Earth's crust that holds Canada and the United States.The island is very close to Canada. At the Nares Strait, the distance between Greenland and Canada is only 26 kilometers. Geologists found that Greenland was part of an ancient landmass called Laurentia billions of years ago. This landmass eventually became North America.Even though it is physically in North America, its history is tied to Europe. A Viking named Erik the Red started the first European settlements there in the 10th century. In 1721, Denmark began a permanent colony on the island. Greenland became a province of Denmark in 1953.Today, Greenland has its own government and makes many of its own laws. It is called an autonomous territory. Denmark still handles the island's defense and foreign policy. This makes Greenland a rare place that is geographically in one continent but politically part of another.