Summer has arrived early in my little corner of the Western Hemisphere and with the wilting heat my thoughts turn to the far North. Coincidentally, the world’s largest and most northern national park is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Kalaallit Nunaanni nuna eqqissisimatitaq, or Grønlands Nationalpark) occupies nearly 30% of Greenland and is larger than Tanzania. In fact, the park is larger than 166 of the world’s nations.  It is the northernmost national park in the world and the second-largest by area of any second-level subdivision of any country in the world, trailing only the Qikiqtaaluk Region in Nunavut, Canada.

Founded in May, 1974 and expanded in 1988 to protect nearly a million square kilometers in the northeastern part of the island, Grønlands Nationalpark  has no permanent human population. It is also the least visited national park in the world.