"The name Greenland comes from those Scandinavian settlers. In the Norse sagas, it is said that Eiríkur Rauði (Erik the Red) was exiled from Iceland for murder. He, along with his family and slaves, set out in ships to find the land that was rumoured to be to the Northwest. After settling there, he named the land Greenland in order to attract more people to settle there. The fjords of the Southern part of the island are lush. This proved successful, and the settlements seemed to be getting relatively well along with the new coming Inuit, bearers of the Thule culture, who had arrived in Northern Greenland from the West around AD 1200, and a Christian bishop was sent. In 1386, Greenland became part of the Kingdom of Norway, which were part of the Kalmar Union and later of the double monarchy of Denmark-Norway."

[en.wikipedia.org]