Greenland upgraded its political status into self-rule from home rule on Sunday, said reports reaching here from Nuuk, capital of the Arctic island, Xinhua reported.
Greenland will take control of the police and the courts and have its official language Greenlandic, a language related to Inuit, according to the self-rule agreement approved by Greenlanders in a referendum in November.
Greenland will also keep a greater share of revenue from its natural resources, although much of the oil, gas, gold and diamonds the island holds has been inaccessible because of the Arctic ice that covers most of the land mass.
But the security, foreign and monetary issues in Greenland will still be decided by Denmark in the future.
Danish Queen Margrethe, dressed in Greenlandic national costumes, handed over the self-rule documents to the Speaker of Greenland's Parliament, Josef Motzfeldt at a ceremony in Nuuk. Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen also attended the ceremony.
Greenland, which is the largest island in the world with more than 57,000 inhabitants, is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and has had home rule since 1979.