ABSTRACT
A carpenter-turned-missionary in Greenland, David Crantz, wrote a book (title of English translation “A History of Greenland”) in 1765 Current Era (CE) in which he mentioned that when Denmark had a mild (severe) winter, Greenland had a severe (mild) winter. A missionary named Hans Egede Sabye in the 1770s CE also observed, along with other missionaries and traders, that temperatures in Greenland and Denmark appeared to vary with opposite phases. It is very appropriate that the history of North Atlantic Oscillation research began near the northern center of the phenomenon. In recorded history, people from Scandinavia began colonizing Greenland towards the end of the 10th century CE. Ships plied between Scandinavian countries – especially Denmark – and Greenland frequently, exposing sailors and passengers to vagaries of weather variability.
