The Internet Oracle has pondered your question deeply. Your question was:

>      Oracle, Oracle on my internet connection >      Please tell me... > >      Why is the large land mass northeast of Canada called "Greenland" >      when most of the area is covered with an ice sheet?

And in response, thus spake the Oracle:

} Yawn.  The ignorance of some supplicants nearly overwhelms me. } } But wait, I'm the Oracle, and cannot be overwhelmed. } } Your ignorance UNDERwhelms me. } } Eric (The Red) and his son Leif ran a real-estate operation about a } thousand years ago.  They enticed Norse farmers (who should have known } better) to pull up stakes and move to the Vast Unexplored and Fertile } Terretories they claimed to have discovered.  Iceland was first, but } that name didn't go over very well.  Next was Greenland, and then } Vineland, and finally Columbus, Ohio.  Each more enticing, more } expensive, and further away than the one before.  Sort of like } suburban subdivision tracts. } } There was a bit of a problem in reaching Columbus, Ohio.  First of } all, Columbus hadn't been born yet.  Secondly, the Norse explorers } were trying to get there via a northern route, sailing south from } Husdon's Bay.  They landed in Minnesota.  If you do not believe me, go } to Lake Woebegone. where you can find the Statue of the Unknown } Norwegian.  (Actually, because I'm an all-knowing Oracle, I know who } he is, but I'm not telling.  Oskar Knutsen's secret is safe with me.) } } You owe the Oracle someone who will eat the rest of a year's supply } case of lutefisk.