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Married by lottery and sent to Greenland: 'It seems completely insane today' | Culture | DR Forget all about Married at first sight - in 1728, 12 former convicts were married by lottery and sent to Greenland to create a larger Danish population. Of It sounds most of all like a dating experiment on speed. former military convict one spring day in 1728 was married by lottery and sent north to create a larger Danish in Greenland, would you believe that? But it is good enough.The former convicts who were on the fringes of society were matched coincidentally with 12 young women from the so-called orphanage in Copenhagen, who later changed their name to Forbedringshuset. Here, petty criminal women were sent who more or less lived off. However, the purpose of the separate matchmaking was not only to increase the Danish in what was then a Danish colony. It was also a way to get cheap in Greenland, where the economy sailed after the Danish-Norwegian missionary Hans Egede's arrival in 1721, and where they also wanted to send a signal that Greenland belonged to Denmark. Does it still sound too wild to be true? So just listen to what Peter Toft says: - It was a serious investment in whether you could not really get this colony up and running - among other things with a larger military. They wanted to get rid of the Dutch whalers, because it was the whale pack that had to make money back home to Denmark, explains Toft, who has a PhD. and project researcher knows where he researches in Greenland, among other places. The new DR1 series 'The story of Greenland and Denmark' tells, among other things, the story of the experiment. Watch a clip here. The strained relationship between Danes and Dutch - who also wanted a share in the lucrative whale blubber - was expressed in Nipisat near Sisimiut, among other places. Here Denmark had a short transition a small colony, but in 1725 the Danes the colony, after which the Dutch immediately came and burned it all off. Denmark could not have it sitting on it, so they went back again, rebuilt the colony, built a fort and had a whole garrison of soldiers on the spot. It is also in this connection that the Danish convicts were sent to Greenland. Peter Toft quickly admits that today it may seem "very strange" that the state chose to forcibly marry the 12 convicts and 12 women by drawing lots and sending them to Greenland. However, the men had a military background and could therefore be sent north rather than being sentenced to penal labor, where they had to help build ships - a bone-chilling and grueling job. - It seems completely insane today, but at this time it was not much different than if you lived out in the country, where men and girls were lined up against each other, while the gentleman then decided who we It would be sensible to get married to each other. Exactly getting married was an important factor in relation to being sent to the cold north. It was not possible to send unmarried women to Greenland, Peter Toft explains. -Norwegian missionary Hans Egede had enough to do with keeping track of his mission and his crew at this time, and if you sent unmarried women away, he should also prevent a lot of extramarital affairs. However, the marriages did not help much. on the project of getting cheap and building a colonial society.The male convicts and their new wives were drunk, and the women were then described as "crazy, naughty and without female decency" .Then comes this ship full of convicts who drink , whores and fights. So the Inuit suddenly get a very extreme contrast to what they have experienced the last 10-12 years. Kirstine Eiby Møller, PhD fellow at the Greenland National Museum and Archive, researches colonial cultural encounters. And that surprises Greenlanders. This is explained by Kirstine Eiby Møller, who is a PhD fellow at Greenland and the Archives, where she researches colonial cultural encounters. tried to live a good Christian life and appear as the examples they should be to the Inuit, she says and elaborates: - Then comes this ship full of convicts who drink, whore and fight. So the Inuit suddenly get a very extreme contrast to what they have experienced the last 10-12 years. to Hans Egede's son, Poul Egede, reflects on the development he has seen since the "wild" convicts came to Greenland, explains Kirstine Eiby Møller. - He also writes that if they now take good care of them, then they can after all, learn to be real "Inuit". I like that, because "Inuit" means "people", so in other words he has written with a hope that the Danes could become "real people" - like the Greenlanders - instead of what wild, European something.- It is really interesting that it has been on the part of the Greenlanders. They have thought that they have not learned that, those poor Danes who came to Greenland. I like that it is just being turned around. In 1729 Hans Egede wrote that he was afraid that the former prisoners would commit mutiny, so he did not leave his home without having a gun under the priest's dress. Peter Toft, Museum Inspector for, among other things, Arctic research at the National Museum That there was no doubt that the Danish convicts were a wild herd, according to Peter Toft. In fact, they were so wild that Hans Egede feared for his life and livelihood when he went outside his door: - In 1729 he wrote that he was afraid that the former prisoners would commit mutiny, so he did not see his home without to have a rifle under the priest's robe. He felt safer when he missioned among the Greenlanders than when he walked around the colony among the Danes. Soon, however, there were fewer Danes to walk around sometimes. After a few years, the disease scurvy had taken the lives of a large part of the Danes. Thus, it was both so-so with the cheap and the desire to create a greater Danish in Greenland. In 1731, the king drew the plug on the project. You simply could not get it to run around financially, and the soldiers and former convicts were dragged home to Denmark. The same year, the Dutch came past Nipisat again and burned it all down once more. we follow in the footsteps of some of the events and people who have shaped Greenlandic-Danish history. From the first meeting in 1721, when the priest Hans Egede went ashore, to the struggle for self-determination and home rule in 1979. You can watch 'History of Greenland and Denmark' at 20.00 on DR1 Sunday or .The mission to create a greater Danish in Greenland therefore ended with Peter Toft's words as "one big failure". Kirstine Eiby Møller agrees: - It created more trouble than it was beneficial. You can learn more about the history of the convicts - and many other events from Greenland and Denmark more than 300 years of common history - in 'The story of Greenland and Denmark', which can currently be seen on DRTV and DR1.