How did Hans Egede begin Denmark-Norway’s colonial period in Greenland?

In 1721, the Danish-Norwegian missionary Hans Egede initiated the colonial period in Greenland by traveling to the island with the goal of finding and converting potential descendants of the original Norse settlers to the Lutheran faith.12

Although he found no Norse survivors, Egede remained to establish a mission and a trading company near present-day Nuuk (formerly Godthåb). His efforts were supported by a close alliance between religious objectives—driven by the Pietist movement’s emphasis on missionary work—and commercial interests. By founding a trading company in Bergen and securing permission from the united kingdom of Denmark-Norway, Egede successfully established a permanent European presence that marked the beginning of Greenland’s colonial era.132