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hidden europe 22

Greenland banknotes

by hidden europe

Summary

This autumn the population of Greenland has a referendum that could usher in full self-government for the island nation. Greenland is confidently asserting its very distinctive identity - and a new set of banknotes are just part of the story.

hidden europe 22 / Snippet  / By hidden europe

The career prospects of banknote designers have taken a big hit in recent years with the steady spread of the euro across the continent. Slovenia ditched its own banknotes in favour of the euro last year and both Malta and Cyprus followed suit in 2008. Slovakia will abandon the Slovak koruna in January 2009 to adopt the euro, so consigning to monetary history a currency that is only fifteen years old. (The Slovak koruna, you will recall, was born out of the disintegration of Czechoslovakia).

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hidden europe 35: Europe beyond Europe
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For a brief period in the early 1930s, the Norwegian flag fluttered over two remote settlements in eastern Greenland: Myggbukta and Antarctichavn. This is the story of Eirik Raudes Land (Erik the Red Land), an upstart territory named in honour of one of the Viking World's most celebrated mediaeval scoundrels.

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