- 1916-10-00 — The North American Bahá'í community began a teaching campaign aiming to teach the Faith in the many states named in the Tablets of the Divine Plan, and Montreal was designated the centre of the Northern Territory of the Campaign, which was assigned the responsibility of teaching the Faith in Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, Mackenzie, Keewatin, Ungava, Franklin Island, and Greenland .[SoW Vol 7 No 12 16 October 1916 p112]
- 1947-06-05 — Shoghi Effendi issued a directive to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada. Among other objectives he assigned tasks to the Canadian community in preparation for establishing their own National Spiritual Assembly. They were to carry the message to territories not yet opened in country and externally to Newfoundland and Greenland. [Bahá'í News No 198 August 1947 p8]
In 1948 the newly formed National Spiritual Assembly of Canada established a Teaching Committee for Greenland and Newfoundland. [Bahá'í News No 210 August 1948 p7]
- 1948-04-21 — The newly formed National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Canada launched a Five Year Plan (1948-1953). [Ruhi 8.2 p46; BBRSM158; Letter from Shoghi Effendi dated 14 April. 1948]
Some objectives were;
- To incorporate the National Spiritual Assembly
- To establish national endowments
- To increase to thirty the number of Local Spiritual Assemblies
- To increase to one hundred the number of localities where Bahá'ís reside
- To form a group in Newfoundland
- To form a group in Greenland
- To enroll (Eskimos) Inuit and (Native Indians) First Nations in the Faith
- 1951-00-09 —
Palle Benemann Bischoff, the first to become a Bahá'í in Denmark, settled in Aasiaat, and became the first Bahá'í to live in Greenland. [MC22]
Shoghi Effendi had given Canada the goal of opening Greenland, a seemingly impossible task because it was a closed country in which no one could enter with obtaining permission from the Danish government. See BW20p803-804 for John Robarts role in opening the path for Palle Bischoff.
- Despite having a degree in commercial science, he began his career in Greenland as a fisherman, later working as a manager in a fishing station, and then opening a ski school.
- He was best known for being the first person to teach the Greenlanders to ski and for having organized the first ski competition in West Greenland.
- He returned to Denmark in 1954 where he became a member of the first local assembly of Copenhagen as well as the Regional Assembly of Scandinavia and Finland from 1957 until 1963 when he was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of Denmark. He also served as a member of the Auxiliary Board from 1963 until 2000. [BW20 p303; Bahaipedia]
- In 1955 he was replaced by William Carr, a Canadian living on the US Air Force at that time he was the only Bahá'í living in Greenland and remained so until 1965 when Hendrik Olsen of Upernavik. [BN No 417 December 1965 p10]
- 1954-04-06 — The first native Fijian, the first Pygmy, the first Berber and the first Greenlander to accept the Bahá'í Faith enrolled. [MBWp62]
- 1965-07-15 — Hendrik Olsen, the first indigenous Greenlander to become a Bahá'í, enrolled. [Bahaipedia; CBN Np 196 May 1966 p]
He passed. on 20 June 1967. His Memoriam [BW14p369]
He translated the first literature to Greenlandic and in July 1965 he invited Johanne Sorensen Hoeg to travel to Greenland. She visited several locations where she gave public speeches for approximately 50 to 100 people. Hendrik declared his faith as the first Bahá’í in Greenland. [Bahá'í Chronicles Johanne Sorensen Hoeg] - 1966-04-00 — The goal for the Nine Year Plan for Greenland was to have one group in the capital, Nuuk (Godthab) and a Bahá’í, living in one other locality. At the time Bill Carr, a Canadian Bahá’í, was on the American Air Force Base in Thule as a civilian, and the first Greenlandic Bahá’í, Hendrik Olsen, was living in Sisimiut approximately 600 kilometres from Nuuk. Pioneers from Stockhiolm, the Nielsen family, John and Lotus with children Grace (9) and younger children Lisbeth and Patricia managed to get to Nuuk just in time to fulfill the goal. [BW20p1019]
- 1974-08-11 — The first Teaching Conference of the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe took place in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands. [BW16:110]
The conference was seen as an historic one in that it was the first to which participants had come to order to discuss the whole area of the European Arctic and sub-Arctic stretching from Finland in the west in Greenland in the east, from Svalbard in the extreme north to the Scottish islands in the south.
Iceland is the only country in Europe that has planned and systematically carried out, year by year, a program of proclamation (now in its fourth year) that has taken the Faith throughout the entire country, north, south, east and west. (Betty Reed, Continental Board of Counsellors for Europe)
[BN No 525 8 December 1974 p10-11]
- 1974-09-13 — The National Spiritual Assembly of Denmark, with financial assistance from Canada, purchased a Hazíratu’l-Quds for the Greenland community in the centre of Godthaab. [Bahá'í News No 527 February 1975 p5-6]
- 1979-04-17 — The first local spiritual assembly in Greenland was formed in Nuuk (Godthåb) the capital city. Members of the Assembly were: Lillen Bente Delevran, James Milne, Henning Jensen, Carsten Lind, Else Boesen Jensen, Lotus Neilsen, John Berthelsen Lyberth, Ole Berthelsen, and Linda Milne. [BN No 585 December 1979 p15]
For a picture of this first Local Spiritual Assembly see the website for the National Community.
In that same year Greenland attained home rule following a referendum. - 1988-11-13 — The passing of Johanne Høeg (née Sorensen) (b. 5 January 1891)
She learned about the Faith from a public talk given by Orcella Rexford in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1925 and had accepted it immediately. After her first pilgrimage to Haifa, she had brought the Faith to Denmark and for 22 years was the only believer in the country. When Martha Root visited Scandinavia in 1927, she was Johanne’s guest and the Message was delivered to King Christian X. During the same trip the two women visited Iceland.
In 1926 She translated and sponsored the publication of two pamphlets in Danish. In 1932 Bahá'u'llşh and the New Era was translated and published through her efforts. She had the Kitab-i-Iqan translated by the Orientalist Arthur Christensen and in 1947 she arranged for another scholar, Professor Raj Barr to translate the three daily obligatory prayers to be distributed in booklet form, and finally, in 1948, The Hidden Words was translated from Arabic and Persian by Professor Barr.
She contributed significantly to the teaching work in Greenland. She sent Bahá’í literature and a picture of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to all radio stations and outstations in Greenland, and for more than 15 years corresponded with the Greenlandic translator, Mr. Hendrik Olsen, who became the first native believer in Greenland. Later, she helped John and Lotus Nielsen move to Greenland as pioneers. [BW20 p923-925; The Bahá’í Faith: Greenland’s third-largest religion by Rebecca Jane Morgan] - 1992-04-21 — The National Spiritual Assembly of Greenland was formed with was seat in Nuuk. About 35 to 40 people attended the inaugural Convention. [BINS270:3; BW92–3:119; VV121, CBN Jan92 p2; Bahaipedia]
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