The largest island on earth and completely covered by ice, Greenland is a big fragment from the last ice age that delivers endless views of white. Ripe for exploration, the dazzling landscape offers the best show on earth – the Northern Lights.

Greenland’s history stretches far back to 2500 BC with the inhabitation of pre-Columbian peoples. For more recent history, read A Brief History of the Vikings, an excellent overview of these fascinating raiders who founded a settlement on the southern part of Greenland in the 10th century.

Exploration has always been an important aspect of the arctic, books like The Man Who Ate His Boots: Sir John Franklin and the Tragic History of the Northwest Passage or the documentary Iceland and Greenland, allow you to travel to this forbidden land in your armchair.

The sad reality however, is that global warming may one day put an end to the Greenland we know today as Richard Alley points out in The Fate of Greenland: Lessons from Abrupt Climate Change.