Lands that Hold One Spellbound is an informal history of East Greenland. Author Spencer Apollonio has written the only known overview of the history of this region, summarizing indigenous settlements over four millennia and describing European explorations from the Norse to recent years. East Greenland is an immense land of mountains and fjords, of glaciers and meadowlands, and of unique contrasts in weather. It has been colonized seven different times over 4,000 years by migrants from the West. Apollonio details the struggles of vessels to reach the coast through the ice pack, the longest Arctic sledge journeys, the peculiar story of World War II in East Greenland, and the impact of centuries of exploration and change on Greenland’s indigenous populations.
