The Publication and Reception of David Cranz's 1767 History of Greenland

Abstract

Between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, religious books proportionally lost popularity while travel books became more popular. This paper examines a hybrid of these two genres, Protestant missionary monographs, through a detailed analysis of David Cranz's 1767 History of Greenland, including the rationale behind publishing the book; its translation from German into English; how it was used as a political tool to influence British foreign policy; and how the book was received by British literary critics and scientists. This analysis demonstrates how authorial intentions that the religious and secular components of Protestant Missionary literature be considered as parts of a whole produced confusion and tension in the secular reception of such books.

The ‘deer‐men’ and the ‘bowhead‐men’: The colonial co‐optation of Arctic Indigenous knowledge within the ‘origins of the Inuit’ debates

“…Based on an extensive investigation of literary sources and travel reports, combined with insights gained from Nordic mythology, Cranz (1770, p. 239) wrote, 'It appears … most probable, that the present race of savages [sic] first came to Greenland in the 14th century, not from Europe but from North America'. Cranz's thinking on Inuit origins then went on to influence a number of thinkers concerned with this topic (see Jensz, 2012) and his assertion that Inuit migrated from Eastern Asia to North America became a central point of contention within these discussions.…”

“None of Them Could Say They Ever Had Seen Them, but Only Had It from Others”: Encounters with Animals in Eighteenth-Century Natural Histories of Greenland

“…On the instruction of Nikolaus von Zinzendorf, Cranz travelled to Greenland in 1761, with the intention of observing and gathering information about the peoples, languages, and beliefs of the indigenous populations, and the geography, geology, zoology and marine biology of Greenland. In what was essentially a hagiographic narrative for the Moravian church, Cranz was keen to assert the effectiveness of its activity, while at the same time avoiding any engagement with the rivalry between the two churches, securing patronage, and contributing to the exchange of knowledge of the natural world [34,[38][39][40][41]. The History of Greenland that followed was a history of the Moravian mission, set within the context of a detailed account of the natural history of Greenland.…”

“…The History of Greenland that followed was a history of the Moravian mission, set within the context of a detailed account of the natural history of Greenland. In Cranz's History [39], as Felicity Jensz has observed, the natural history preceded the history of the indigenous peoples; the "Genesis narrative created a continuity between nature and its 'heathen' peoples, whose 'original' state before their interaction with Europeans was to become debased through modern vices" [41]. There are echoes here of Egede, whose own history of Greenland was printed in German in 1763, as Cranz was preparing to publish his own work.…”

“…The natural, social, and religious environment in Greenland were interdependent in Cranz's mind, and in the historical narrative that provided the structure for his work. For both Egede and Cranz, the story of primitive Christianity in Greenland, and the erosion of that faith over the centuries, fuelled the missionary endeavour but also justified the settlement and exploitation of Greenland's natural resources [41,54]. Cranz opened his history with a wide-ranging description of the natural environment, creating a verbal landscape that was only later populated with the language and culture of the indigenous people.…”

“…The necessity and vitality of the missionary effort was woven into that history, but Cranz's natural history also carried a political and economic value as a record of natural resources, social structures, and cultural forms. Setting aside any concerns about the devotional content of the book, secular trading societies started to view the Moravians as potential collaborators in other geographical regions, including the Danish settlement on the coast of Guinea [41]. Natural knowledge, formed out of the personal encounter with flora and fauna, readily became commercially profitable and politically useful.…”