{"id":6321,"date":"2021-10-11T13:50:39","date_gmt":"2021-10-11T11:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=20694"},"modified":"2021-10-12T11:54:44","modified_gmt":"2021-10-12T09:54:44","slug":"vikings-in-america-the-europeans-who-arrived-500-years-before-columbus","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/vikings-in-america-the-europeans-who-arrived-500-years-before-columbus\/","title":{"rendered":"Vikings in America: the Europeans who arrived 500 years before Columbus"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Matt Elton\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 11 October 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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<\/p>\n

The first encounter between Europeans and Native Americans did not go well for either side. Around AD 1000, Leif Erikson<\/a> had sailed west from the newly established Norse colony in Greenland and discovered a fair land he named Vinland. Now, three years later, his brother Thorvald was in the second summer of a follow-up expedition.<\/p>\n

Thorvald and his men were exploring a headland at the mouth of a fjord when they spotted three humps on a sandy beach. On further investigation, the humps turned out to be canoes and under them were cowering nine men. The Norsemen captured and killed eight of them but the ninth escaped and raised the alarm.<\/p>\n

Later the same day, Thorvald and his men saw a swarm of canoes sailing down the fjord towards them. Outnumbered, they took refuge in their ship and, with the advantage of iron weapons, beat off the attack. However, during the fight Thorvald received an arrow wound in the armpit and died shortly afterwards. At his request, Thorvald\u2019s men gave him a Christian burial on the headland, marking his grave with crosses at his head and feet. Leif had been the first European to set foot on the American continent; Thorvald was the first to be buried there.<\/p>\n

Leif had been the first European to set foot on the American continent; Thorvald was the first to be buried there <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
Because of the subsequent history of the Americas, the Norse discovery of America has become one of the most studied aspects of the Viking Age (c800\u20131100), a period that saw Scandinavian raiders, traders and settlers active across much of Europe and as far south as north Africa\u2019s Mediterranean coast and as far east as Baghdad. Collectively, Viking Age Scandinavians knew more of the world than any previous Europeans. As the only proven pre-Columbian European contact with the Americas, the fascination with the Norse discoveries is understandable. But do they really merit all the attention?<\/p>\n
The Norse route to America is sometimes described as \u2018the stepping stone route\u2019 because it proceeded in stages, from one island group to another with relatively short open-sea crossings between them.<\/p>\n
Global Vikings: how the impact of the raiders and traders went far beyond Britain<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
The first step on the way came \u2013 200 years before Leif\u2019s discovery of Vinland \u2013 with the conquest and colonisation of Scotland\u2019s Northern Isles soon after 800. This was followed about 25\u00a0years later by the settlement of the Faroe Islands and then Iceland in c870. The next step was the foundation of the\u00a0Norse Greenland colony by Erik the Red in the 980s. As Greenland is geologically part\u00a0of the North American continent, this ought to be regarded as the first European settlement in the Americas, though it is rarely recognised as such.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div> <p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>The first sighting<\/h3>\n<p>The settlement of Greenland was quickly followed by the first European sighting of the North American continental mainland, a feat achieved by an Icelandic merchant called <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/viking\/8-vikings-you-should-know-about\/"\">Bjarni Herjolfsson<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>According to the <em>Greenlanders\u2019 Saga<\/em> \u2013 which, with <em>Erik the Red\u2019s Saga,<\/em> is our main literary source for the Viking discovery of America \u2013 Bjarni had returned home from a trip to Norway in 986 to find that his father had emigrated to Greenland with Erik the Red. Knowing nothing about Greenland, save that it was mountainous, treeless and had good pastures, Bjarni set off after his father and predictably soon got lost.<\/p>\n<p>After several days of bad weather and poor visibility, Bjarni found himself off the coast of a densely forested, hilly land. This was obviously not Greenland so, without even landing, Bjarni sailed north and after two days sighted a flat, forested land. Once again he didn\u2019t land. After sailing north-east for another three days, Bjarni encountered a rocky, mountainous, glaciated land which he thought too barren to be Greenland. Putting the land astern, Bjarni sailed east and four days later arrived at the Norse settlement\u00a0in Greenland.<\/p>\n<ul><li class=\""heading-1\" template-article__title=\"\" template-article__title--headline-led=\"\"><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/viking\/viking-ships-facts-longboat-longship-gjellestad-ship\/"\">Viking ships<\/a>: 5 lesser-known facts<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><p>Bjarni\u2019s discoveries excited a lot of interest and, when he decided to give up trading, Erik the Red\u2019s son Leif Eriksson bought his ship and set off on a follow-up expedition. This was around the time that Iceland converted to Christianity, that is c1000. Leif began by reversing Bjarni\u2019s course. Sailing north-west, Leif came to a land of bare rock and glaciers which he called Helluland (\u2018Slab Land\u2019). Turning south, Leif next came to a low forested land with white sand beaches which he decided to call Markland (\u2018Forest Land\u2019).<\/p>\n<p>Sailing south-west for two days Leif discovered a land where the rivers teemed with salmon and grapes grew wild. This Leif called Vinland (\u2018Wine Land\u2019). The party built houses at a place afterwards called Leifsbu\u00f0ir (\u2018Leif\u2019s booths\u2019), where they spent a comfortable winter. \u201cThe country seemed to them so kind that no winter fodder would be needed for livestock: there was never any frost all winter and the grass hardly withered at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul><li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/viking\/birka-warrior-woman-vikings-female-argument-judith-jesch\/"\">Viking \u2018warrior women\u2019: Judith Jesch, expert in Viking studies, examines the latest evidence<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><p>The winter days were much longer than they were in Greenland and \u201con the shortest day of the year, the sun was visible in the middle of the afternoon as well as at breakfast time\u201d. Come the spring, Leif and his men cut a full load of timber \u2013 wood was always in short supply in Greenland \u2013 and set off home.<\/p>\n<p>Leif made no contact with native peoples, that fatal first encounter took place during his brother Thorvald\u2019s follow-up expedition. Thorvald\u2019s death at the hands of Native Americans was not enough to deter at least two attempts by the Norse to settle in Vinland. The first, about two years after Thorvald\u2019s death, was led by Thorfinn Karlsefni, an Icelandic merchant, who took with him his wife <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/viking\/gudrid-thorbjarnardottir-who-icelandic-viking-woman-vinland-sagas\/"\">Gudrid Thorbjarnard\u00f3ttir<\/a>, 65 men, five women, and a variety of livestock.<\/p>\n<p>The party spent an uneventful winter at Leifsbu\u00f0ir, during which time Gudrid gave birth to a son, Snorri, the first European to be born in America. In the spring, the party had its first encounter with Native Americans, who turned up at Leifsbu\u00f0ir to trade furs.\u00a0The Norse called them \u2018Skr\u00e6lings\u2019, perhaps meaning \u2018screamers\u2019. Coming from a Stone Age culture, the Skr\u00e6lings were fascinated by the Norsemen\u2019s iron weapons and tools but Karlsefni forbade his men to trade them.<\/p>\n<div class=\""row"\"> <div class=\""col-10\" offset-1=\"\"> <div class=\""embed"\"> <div class=\""template-article__pullquote\" mt-md=\"\" mb-md=\"\"> <blockquote class=\""pullquote\" heading-4=\"\"> <span class=\""pullquote__icon\" pullquote__icon--left=\"\" icon-pullquote=\"\" data-grunticon-embed=\"\"\/>Gudrid gave birth to a son, Snorri, the first European to be born in America<span class=\""pullquote__icon\" pullquote__icon--right=\"\" icon-pullquote=\"\" data-grunticon-embed=\"\"\/> <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div> <p>During a second encounter later in the summer, one of Karlesefni\u2019s men killed a Skr\u00e6ling who was trying to steal some weapons. The Norse defeated an attempt by the Skr\u00e6lings to take revenge but after spending another winter at Leifsbu\u00f0ir, Karlsefni returned to Greenland.<\/p>\n<p>A second attempt at settlement was made by Leif\u2019s half-sister <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/viking\/8-vikings-you-should-know-about\/"\">Freydis Eirksdottir<\/a> who, according to Erik the Red\u2019s Saga, had already been to Vinland as part of Karlsefni\u2019s expedition. She had played her part in repelling the Skr\u00e6ling attack, terrifying them by baring one of her breasts and beating it with a sword. Freydis was an abrasive woman, unsuited to leader ship, and her attempt at settlement ended when half the party were killed in a deadly internecine feud. Only one further voyage to Vinland is recorded. In 1121 Erik Gnupsson, the bishop of Greenland, set out for Vinland but the fate of his expedition is not known.<\/p>\n<ul><li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/viking\/vikings-season-6-review-plot-recap-spoilers\/"\">Vikings Season 6<\/a>: catch up on what\u2019s happened so far, plus the ending explained<br\/><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><p>Archaeological proof of a Norse presence in North America came to light in 1961 with the discovery of a settlement of turf longhouses and workshops at L\u2019Anse aux Meadows at the northern tip of Newfoundland. The long house is the typical Norse dwelling but similar houses were also built by the Inuit and other Native American peoples.<\/p>\n<p>What proved beyond doubt that this was a Norse settlement was the large number of metal artefacts discovered at the site, including wrought iron ship rivets and a typically Scandinavian bronze ring pin. Stone loom weights and a spindle whorl provided evidence for weaving at the site. As this was a female activity in Viking Scandinavia, this confirmed the saga accounts of women taking part in the Norse voyages of exploration. Radiocarbon dates from organic matter at the site show that it was occupied briefly, between 980 and 1020, which accords well with the saga traditions.<\/p>\n<ul><li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/viking\/vikings-myths-busted-janna-ramirez-did-wear-horned-helmets-violent-barbarians\/"\">Vikings didn\u2019t wear horned helmets, plus 7 more myths busted<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><p>The environment around L\u2019Anse aux Meadows bears little resemblance to the saga descriptions of Vinland. Winters there are severe and there are no wild grapes so it is unlikely to be Leifsbu\u00f0ir. It is more likely that L\u2019Anse aux Meadows was a base for expeditions further south. That such expeditions took place is proved by the presence of butternuts among food remains on the site. An American species of walnut, butternuts grow no further north than New Brunswick, 500 miles to the south.<\/p>\n<div class=\""embed"\"> <div class=\""embed__intrinsic"\"> <iframe src=\""\/\/embed.acast.com\/historyextra\/vikingsonscreen"\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"\" mozallowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\""0"\"\/> <\/div>\n<\/div> <h3>The Vinland conundrum<\/h3>\n<p>So, if Vinland was not at L\u2019Anse aux Meadows, where was it? Helluland and Markland can fairly certainly be identified as Baffin Island and Labrador respectively but the saga descriptions of Vinland contain mutually incompatible details. The salmon described in Leif\u2019s account place Vinland north of the Hudson river and the grapes place it south of the St Lawrence. That would be somewhere in the Canadian Maritimes or New England, but there are no frost-free winters north of Chesapeake Bay.<\/p>\n<p>The length of the shortest day is no help in determining Vinland\u2019s latitude because it is not based on clock times \u2013 the <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/viking\/vikings-history-facts\/"\">Vikings<\/a> did not have clocks \u2013 so, unless there are new archaeological discoveries, we\u2019ll probably never know the location of Vinland.<\/p>\n<p>The Norse attempt to settle Vinland was fleeting \u2013 it was all over in about 20 years and probably involved fewer than 200 people. It was doomed to failure. The distances were too great, the small Greenland colony did not have the population to support a colonising venture and their iron weapons did not give the Norse a decisive advantage over the far more numerous natives.<\/p>\n<ul><li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/viking\/key-viking-dates-lindisfarne-raid-danelaw-swein-forkbeard-harald-hardrada-stamford-bridge\/"\">8 key Viking dates you need to know<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><p>Yet this was not\u00a0the end of the Norse presence in North America. The Greenland colony survived until the mid-15th century when the impact of the Little Ice Age killed it off. The Greenlanders continued to sail to Markland to cut wood until at least as late as 1347 and they travelled high into the Arctic, hunting polar bears, seals and walrus. There, around 1170, they met with the Thule Inuit, and these contacts continued until the end of the colony. Norse artefacts have been found on many Thule sites in the Canadian Arctic and a probable Norse hunting camp has recently been identified at Tanfield Valley on Baffin Island.<\/p>\n<p>Judged objectively, the impact of the Norse discovery of America was slight. News of the Norse discoveries soon reached Europe but it did not change Europeans\u2019 world view in the way that Christopher Columbus\u2019s later discovery did: no one suspected that Vinland was part of a new continent. There is no evidence that Columbus knew about Vinland when he set out on his fateful voyage in 1492. As far as Native Americans were concerned, the Norse voyages might as well never have happened \u2013 they had no influence whatsoever on North America\u2019s cultural development.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this, Thorvald Eriksson\u2019s fatal encounter with the Skr\u00e6lings does mark a significant moment in world history: it was the end of humanity\u2019s 70,000-year journey out of Africa. The descendents of peoples\u00a0who had left Africa and migrated east through Asia to the Americas had finally met the descendents of people who had left Africa and migrated west. The circle of the world was finally closed.<\/p>\n<section class=\""highlight\"><div class=\""highlight__content\" editor-content=\"\"> <h4>America\u2019s Viking hoax<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Why evidence of a Scandinavian colony in Minnesota doesn\u2019t stand up to scrutiny\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In 1898 a Swedish emigrant called Olof Ohman made a sensational discovery on his farm near Kensington, Minnesota. It was a flat stone with a runic inscription: \u201cEight Goths and 22 Norwegians on an exploration journey from Vinland to the west. We had camp by two skerries one day\u2019s journey north from this stone. We were out [to] fish. One day after we came home [we] found 10 men red of blood and dead. AVM Save [us] from evil. [We] have 10 men by the sea to look after our ships 14 days\u2019 travel from this island. [In the year] 1362.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On closer examination the runes turned out to be a mixture of types used from the 9th to the 11th century, and homemade symbols. The language used was the distinctive Swedish-Norwegian dialect spoken by the numerous Scandinavian settlers in Minnesota in the 1890s, while the date was based on the Arabic system of notation which was not used in 14th\u2011century Scandinavia.<\/p>\n<p>The stone was a fake, probably made by its discoverer, a former stonemason, but despite academic debunking some romantics still believe it to be genuine. For many Americans, particularly those with Scandinavian ancestry, the wish to believe that the USA has a heroic Viking past is strong and linked to the needs of immigrant communities to put down roots in their adopted homeland.<\/p>\n<p>Since the Kensington hoax, several more purported Viking artefacts have been \u2018discovered\u2019 in the USA but none has stood up to scrutiny. So far, only one genuine Norse artefact has been found. This is a penny of Norway\u2019s 11th-century king Olaf Kyrre, found on a medieval Native American site in Maine. But it is likely that this was planted, as the context of the find is not recorded.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p><\/div> <\/section><p><strong>John Haywood is a historian and author. His book <em>Northmen<\/em> (2015) is published by Head of Zeus<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/magazine-issue\/christmas-2015\/"\"><em>This article was first published in the Christmas 2015 issue of BBC History Magazine<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Matt Elton Published: Monday, 11 October 2021 at 12:00 am The first encounter between Europeans and Native Americans did not go well for either side. Around AD 1000, Leif Erikson had sailed west from the newly established Norse colony in Greenland and discovered a fair land he named Vinland. 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Around AD 1000, Leif Erikson had sailed west from the newly established Norse colony in Greenland and discovered a fair land he named Vinland. 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