An employee of the Royal Greenland Trading Company : 'Danish Lieutenant'

Photograph of a three-quarters length portrait of a young Danish Lieutenant, seated and facing three-quarters right. He wears Naval uniform of the Danish Navy and sits with his hands folded in front of his chest.

This portrait shows an employee of the Royal Greenland Trading Company. The company was founded in 1774 to administer the colony of Greenland by the Danish authorities and to oversee trade with the local Inuit population. In 1782, Greenland was divided into northern and southern halves and forbade marriage between European settlers and the local Inuit populace. Following the Islands re-unification in 1953 and its full integration with Denmark, the company's power base began to collapse and was eventually overseen by the Danish Government during the 1980's.