By 1500, the Inuit, with their mastery of marine hunting and adaptation to the Arctic, were the established people of Greenland. By 1776, Denmark declared a monopoly trade on Greenland, quietly colonizing it, in the process. Post WWII, the US offered $100m in gold for the purchase of Greenland, which was rejected by Denmark. In 1953, Denmark once again, quietly transitioned Greenland from a Colony to a district of Denmark, without a referendum.