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85-550: Probably adapted from the name Skræling , Kalaallit historically referred specifically to Western Greenlanders. On the other hand, Northern and Eastern Greenlanders call themselves Inughuit and Tunumiit , respectively. About 80% to 88% of Greenland's population, or approximately 44,000 to 50,000 people identify as being Inuit. Kalaallit are descended from the Thule people but probably not from their predecessors in Greenland,

170-493: A cape where they saw the keel of a boat (Kjalarnes), then continued past some extraordinarily long beaches ( Furðustrandir ) before they landed and sent out two runners to explore inland. After three days, the pair returned with samples of grapes/currants and wheat. After they sailed a little farther, the expedition landed at an inlet next to an area of strong currents ( Straumfjörð ), with an island just off shore (Straumsey), and they made camp. The winter months were harsh, and food

255-428: A defensive position, a short distance from their camp. Pregnancy slowed Freydis down, so she picked up the sword of a fallen companion and brandished it against her bare breast, scaring the attackers into withdrawal. One of the local people picked up an iron axe, tried using it, but threw it away. The explorers subsequently abandoned the southern camp and sailed back to Straumsfjord, killing five natives they encountered on

340-667: A guess that Leif Erikson camped at Passamaquoddy Bay and Thorvald Erikson was killed in the Bay of Fundy . On the other hand, Sir Wilfred Grenfell , a medical missionary and scholar living in Newfoundland and Labrador in the early 20th century wrote of the issue of the location of Vinland that, No reason has ever been shown why the Vikings would want to fare any farther than our beautifully wooded bays, with their endless berries, salmon, furs, and game, except that most people think of

425-423: A guest at a farm on Greenland with Gudrid, Thorstein died of disease, reviving just long enough to make a prophecy about her future as a Christian. The next winter, Gudrid married a visiting Icelander named Thorfinn Karlsefni, who agreed to undertake a major expedition to Vinland, taking livestock. On arrival, they soon found a beached whale which sustained them until spring. In the summer, they were visited by some of

510-656: A hole for stringing on a necklace, was found in Maine . Its discovery by an amateur archaeologist in 1957 is controversial; questions have been raised whether it was planted as a hoax. Numerous artifacts attributed to the Norse have been found in Canada, particularly on Baffin Island and in northern Labrador . Other claimed Norse artifacts in the area south of the St. Lawrence include

595-489: A knot whenever they needed a good wind. Neither mentioned grapes, and the Malmesbury work specifically states that little grows there but grass and trees, which reflects the saga descriptions of the area round the main Norse expedition base. More geographically correct were Icelandic texts from about the same time, which presented a clear picture of the northern countries as experienced by Norse explorers: north of Iceland

680-529: A large force in hide boats, and Thorvald died from an arrow-wound. After the exploration party returned to base, the Greenlanders decided to return home the following spring. Thorstein, Leif's brother, married Gudrid, widow of the captain rescued by Leif, then led a third expedition to bring home Thorvald's body, but drifted off course and spent the whole summer sailing the Atlantic. Spending the winter as

765-465: A medieval Norse presence. In general, script in the runic alphabet does not in itself guarantee a Viking age or medieval connection, as it has been suggested that Dalecarlian runes have been used until the 20th century. Point Rosee , on the southwest coast of Newfoundland, was thought to be the location of a possible Norse settlement. The site was discovered through satellite imagery in 2014 by Sarah Parcak . In their November 8, 2017, report, which

850-844: A number of stones inscribed with runic letters. The Kensington Runestone was found in Minnesota , but is generally considered a hoax . The authenticity of the Spirit Pond runestones , recovered in Phippsburg, Maine , is also questioned. Other examples are the Heavener Runestone , the Shawnee Runestone , and the Vérendrye Runestone . The age and origin of these stones is debated, and so far none has been firmly dated or associated with clear evidence of

935-647: A river and a lake that had an abundance of fish. The sagas specifically mention salmon, and note how the salmon that was encountered was larger than any salmon they had seen before. Before arriving in Vinland, the Norsemen imported their lumber from Norway while in Greenland and had occasional birch trees for firewood. Therefore, the timber they acquired in North America increased their supply of wood. An authentic late-11th-century Norwegian silver penny , with

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1020-418: A single piece from the east coast of Newfoundland was found. These finds appear to confirm the saga claim that some Vinland exploration ships came from Iceland and that they ventured down the east coast of the new land. In 2021, wood from the site was shown to have been cut in 1021, using metal blades, which the local indigenous people did not have. Although it is now generally accepted that L'Anse aux Meadows

1105-453: A total of 24, and "eykt" was the end of the second hour of the south-west division. In modern terms this would be 3:30 p.m. "Dagmal", the "day-meal," is specifically distinguished from the earlier "rismal" (breakfast), and would thus be about 8:30 a.m. The sun is indeed just above the horizon at these times on the shortest days of the year in northern Newfoundland - but not much farther north. A 2012 article by Jónas Kristjánsson in

1190-612: A twin in the Icelandic Museum. Kent believed he had confirmed Kristjansson's theory. Newfoundland marine insurance agent and historian William A. Munn (1864–1939), after studying literary sources in Europe, suggested in his 1914 book Location of Helluland, Markland & Vinland from the Icelandic Sagas that the Vinland explorers "went ashore at Lancey [ sic ] Meadows, as it is called to-day". In 1960,

1275-728: A vast, barren plain (which we now know to be the Polar ice-cap) extended from Biarmeland (northern Russia ) east of the White Sea , to Greenland, then further west and south were, in succession, Helluland , Markland and Vinland. The Icelanders had no knowledge of how far south Vinland extended, and they speculated that it might reach as far as Africa. The " Historia Norwegiae " (History of Norway), compiled around 15th–16th century, does not refer directly to Vinland and tries to reconcile information from Greenland with mainland European sources; in this text Greenland's territory extends so that it

1360-544: Is "almost touching the African islands, where the waters of ocean flood in". Icelandic chronicles record another attempt to visit Vinland from Greenland, over a century after the saga voyages. In 1121, Icelandic bishop Eric Gnupsson , who had been based on Greenland since 1112, "went to seek Vinland". Nothing more is reported of him, and three years later another bishop, Arnald, was sent to Greenland. No written records, other than inscribed stones, have survived in Greenland, so

1445-484: Is called Winland , for the reason that grapevines grow there by themselves, producing the best wine." This etymology is retained in the 13th-century Grœnlendinga saga , which provides a circumstantial account of the discovery of Vinland and its being named from the vínber, i.e. " wineberry ", a term for grapes or currants (black or red), found there. There is also a long-standing Scandinavian tradition of fermenting berries into wine . The discovery of butternuts at

1530-464: Is identified as the land found by Leif Erikson . Karlsefni and his men subsequently find "vín-ber" near the Wonderstrands. Later, the tale locates Vinland to the south of Markland, with the headland of Kjalarnes at its northern extreme. However, it also mentions that while at Straumfjord, some of the explorers wished to go in search for Vinland west of Kjalarnes . In Grænlendinga saga or

1615-697: Is not a Vinland, there are many Vinlands". According to a 1970 reply by Matti Kaups in the same journal, Certainly there is a symbolic Vinland as described and located in the Groenlandinga saga ; what seems to be a variant of this Vinland is narrated in Erik the Red's Saga . There are, on the other hand, numerous more recent derivative Vinlands, each of which actually is but a suppositional spatial entity. (...) (e.g. Rafn 's Vinland, Steensby's Vinland, Ingstad 's Vinland, and so forth). In geographical terms, Vinland

1700-469: Is sometimes used to refer generally to all areas in Atlantic Canada . In the sagas, Vinland is sometimes indicated to not include the territories of Helluland and Markland , which appear to also be located in North America beyond Greenland. Moreover, some sagas establish vague links between Vinland and an island or territory that some sources refer to as Hvítramannaland . Another possibility

1785-453: Is the reference to two different men named Bjarni who are blown off course. A brief summary of the plots of the two sagas, given at the end of this article, shows other examples. The sagas report that a considerable number of Vikings were in parties that visited Vinland. Thorfinn Karlsefni 's crew consisted of 140 or 160 people according to the Saga of Erik the Red , 60 according to the Saga of

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1870-426: Is to interpret the name of Vinland as not referring to one defined location, but to every location where vínber could be found, i.e. to understand it as a common noun , vinland, rather than a toponym , Vinland. The Old Norse and Icelandic languages were, and are, very flexible in forming compound words . Sixteenth century Icelanders realized that the "New World" which European geographers were calling "America"

1955-684: The Saga of Erik the Red . Vinland was the name given to part of North America by the Icelandic Norseman Leif Eriksson, about 1000 AD. It was also spelled Winland , as early as Adam of Bremen 's Descriptio insularum Aquilonis ("Description of the Northern Islands", ch. 39, in the 4th part of Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum), written circa 1075. Adam's main source regarding Winland appears to have been king Svend Estridson , who had knowledge of

2040-487: The Saga of the Greenlanders , which are known collectively as the Vinland Sagas. These stories were preserved by oral tradition until they were written down some 250 years after the events they describe. The existence of two versions of the story shows some of the challenges of using traditional sources for history, because they share a large number of story elements but use them in different ways. A possible example

2125-536: The Ammassalik . Sperm whale ivory remains a valued medium for carving. Skr%C3%A6ling Skræling ( Old Norse and Icelandic : skrælingi , plural skrælingjar ) is the name the Norse Greenlanders used for the peoples they encountered in North America (Canada and Greenland). In surviving sources, it is first applied to the Thule people , the proto- Inuit group with whom

2210-595: The Annals of the Association of American Geographers , The study of the early Norse voyages to North America is a field of research characterized by controversy and conflicting, often irreconcilable, opinions and conclusions. These circumstances result from the fact that details of the voyages exist only in two Icelandic sagas which contradict each other on basic issues and internally are vague and contain nonhistorical passages. This leads him to conclude that "there

2295-591: The Dorset culture . As 84% of Greenland's landmass is covered by the Greenland ice sheet , Kalaallit live in three regions: Polar, Eastern, and Western. In the 1850s some Canadian Inuit migrated to Greenland and joined the Polar Inuit communities. The Eastern Inuit, or Tunumiit , live in the area with the mildest climate, a territory called Ammassalik . Hunters can hunt marine mammals from kayaks throughout

2380-507: The "northern islands". The etymology of the Old Norse root vin- is disputed; while it has usually been assumed to be "wine", some scholars give credence to the homophone vin , meaning "pasture" or "meadow". Adam of Bremen implies that the name contains Old Norse vín (cognate with Latin vinum ) "wine" (rendered as Old Saxon or Old High German wīn ): "Moreover, he has also reported one island discovered by many in that ocean, which

2465-533: The 'Saga of the Greenlanders', Bjarni Herjólfsson accidentally discovered the new land when traveling from Norway to visit his father, in the second year of Erik the Red's Greenland settlement (about 986 CE). When he managed to reach Greenland, making land at Herjolfsness , the site of his father's farm, he remained there for the rest of his father's life and didn't return to Norway until about 1000 CE. There, he told his overlord (the Earl, also named Erik) about

2550-399: The 1880 Sephton translation of the saga, Rafn and other Danish scholars placed Kjalarnes at Cape Cod , Straumfjörð at Buzzards Bay , Massachusetts , and Straumsey at Martha's Vineyard . An Icelandic law text gives a very specific explanation of "eykt", with reference to Norse navigation techniques. The eight major divisions of the compass were subdivided into three hours each, to make

2635-813: The Americas. There are also accounts from the Inuit: [S]oon the kayaker sent out his spear in good earnest, and killed [the Norseman] on the spot. When winter came, it was a general belief that the Kavdlunait would come and avenge the death of their countrymen Kavdlunait (plural) was the Inuit word for foreigner or European. Compare modern Greenlandic qallunaaq ("Dane"), formerly spelled ĸavdlunâĸ . Vinland Vinland , Vineland , or Winland ( Old Norse : Vínland hit góða , lit.   'Vinland

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2720-688: The Good';) was an area of coastal North America explored by Vikings . Leif Eriksson landed there around 1000 AD, nearly five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus and John Cabot . The name appears in the Vinland Sagas , and describes Newfoundland and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence as far as northeastern New Brunswick . Much of the geographical content of the sagas corresponds to present-day knowledge of transatlantic travel and North America. In 1960, archaeological evidence of

2805-461: The Greenlanders . Still according to the latter, Leif Ericson led a company of 35, Thorvald Eiriksson a company of 30, and Helgi and Finnbogi had 30 crew members. According to the Saga of Erik the Red, Þorfinnr "Karlsefni" Þórðarson and a company of 160 men, going south from Greenland traversed an open stretch of sea, found Helluland , another stretch of sea, Markland , another stretch of sea,

2890-460: The Icelander, wanted to sail north around Kjalarnes to seek Vinland, while Thorfinn Karlsefni preferred to sail southward down the east coast. Thorhall took only nine men, and his vessel is swept out into the ocean by contrary winds; he and his crew never returned. Thorfinn and Snorri, with Freydis (plus possibly Bjarni), sailed down the east coast with 40 men or more and established a settlement on

2975-530: The Norse coexisted in Greenland after about the 13th century. In the sagas , it is also used for the peoples of the region known as Vinland whom the Norse encountered and fought during their expeditions there in the early 11th century. The word is most likely related to the Old Norse word skrá , meaning "dried skin", in reference to the animal pelts worn by the Inuit. William Thalbitzer (1932: 14) speculated that skræling might have been derived from

3060-565: The Old Norse verb skrækja , meaning "bawl, shout, or yell". In modern Icelandic , skrælingi means " barbarian ", whereas the Danish descendant, skrælling , means "weakling". The term is thought to have first been used by Ari Thorgilsson in his work Íslendingabók , also called The Book of the Icelanders , written well after the period in which Norse explorers made their first contacts with indigenous Americans . By

3145-447: The aboriginal inhabitants: They were short in height with threatening features and tangled hair on their heads. Their eyes were large and their cheeks broad. Shortly thereafter, the Norsemen were attacked by natives frightened by a bull that broke loose from the Norse encampment. They were forced to retreat to a more defensible location before engaging their attackers; at the end of the battle two of his men had been slain, while "many of

3230-457: The areas of Helluland , Markland and Vinland . Leif laid the groundwork for later colonizing efforts by establishing a foothold on Vinland, where he constructed some "large houses." Upon his return to Greenland, There was great discussion of Leif's Vinland voyage, and his brother Thorvald felt they had not explored enough of the land. Leif then told Thorvald, 'You go to Vinland, brother, and take my ship if you wish, but before you do so I want

3315-501: The early 14th Century, a geography encyclopedia called Geographica Universalis was compiled at Malmesbury Abbey in England, which was in turn used as a source for one of the most widely circulated medieval English educational works, Polychronicon by Ranulf Higden , a few years later. Both these works, with Adam of Bremen as a possible source, were confused about the location of what they called Wintland —the Malmesbury monk had it on

3400-441: The east coast of Labrador as all barren, forbidding wastes, and forget that no part of it lies north of England and Scotland. Other clues appear to place the main settlement farther south, such as the mention of a winter with no snow and the reports in both sagas of grapes being found. A very specific indication in the Greenlanders' Saga of the latitude of the base has also been subject to misinterpretation. This passage states that in

3485-438: The few reasonably consistent pieces of information is that exploration voyages from the main base sailed down both the east and west coasts of the land; this was one of the factors which helped archaeologists locate the site at L'Anse aux Meadows , at the tip of Newfoundland's long northern peninsula. Erik Wahlgren examines the question in his book The Vikings and America , and points out clearly that L'Anse aux Meadows cannot be

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3570-406: The first vowel spoken as /iː/, but as vin-land, spoken as /ɪ/; a short vowel . Old Norse vin (from Proto-Norse winju ) has a meaning of "meadow, pasture". This interpretation of Vinland as "pasture-land" rather than "wine-land" was accepted by Valter Jansson in his classic 1951 dissertation on the vin-names of Scandinavia, by way of which it entered popular knowledge in the later 20th century. It

3655-761: The following winter led to the abandonment of the venture. On the way home, the ship of Bjarni the Icelander was swept into the Sea of Worms (Maðkasjár in Skálholtsbók, Maðksjár in Hauksbók) by contrary winds. The marine worms destroyed the hull, and only those who escaped in the ship's worm-proofed boat survived. This was the last Vinland expedition recorded in the saga. The oldest commonly acknowledged surviving written record of Vinland appears in Descriptio insularum Aquilonis by Adam of Bremen written in about 1075. Adam

3740-461: The headland of Kjalarnes , the Wonderstrands , Straumfjörð and at last a place called Hóp , a bountiful place where no snow fell during winter. However, after several years away from Greenland, they chose to turn back to their homes when they realized that they would otherwise face an indefinite conflict with the natives. This saga references the place-name Vinland in four ways. First, it

3825-406: The inscription as: ᚢᛁᚿ᛫(ᛚ)ᛆ(ᛐ)ᛁᚭ᛫ᛁᛌᛆ uin (l)a(t)ią isa Vínlandi á ísa "from Vinland over ice". This is highly uncertain; the same sequence is read by Magnus Olsen (1951) as: ᚢᛁᚿ᛫ᚴᛆ(ᛚᛐ)ᚭ᛫ᛁᛌᛆ uin ka(lt)ą isa vindkalda á ísa "over the wind-cold ice". The main sources of information about the Norse voyages to Vinland are two Icelandic Sagas : the Saga of Erik the Red and

3910-433: The local inhabitants who were scared by the Greenlanders' bull, but happy to trade goods for milk and other products. In autumn, Gudrid gave birth to a son, Snorri. Shortly after this, one of the local people tried to take a weapon and was killed. The explorers were then attacked in force, but managed to survive with only minor casualties by retreating to a well-chosen defensive position, a short distance from their base. One of

3995-434: The local people ( Skrælings ) examined the Norse ships and departed in peace. Later a much larger flotilla of boats arrived, and trade commenced (Karlsefni forbade the sale of weapons). One day, the local traders were frightened by the sudden arrival of the Greenlanders' bull, and they stayed away for three weeks. They then attacked in force, but the explorers managed to survive with only minor casualties, by retreating inland to

4080-564: The local people picked up an iron axe, tried it, and threw it away. The explorers returned to Greenland in summer with a cargo of grapes/currants and hides. Shortly thereafter, a ship captained by two Icelanders arrived in Greenland, and Freydis , daughter of Eric the Red, persuaded them to join her in an expedition to Vinland. When they arrived at Vinland, the brothers stored their belongings in Leif Eriksson's houses, which angered Freydis and she banished them. She then visited them during

4165-486: The location of Vínland, as the location described in the sagas has both salmon in the rivers and the 'vínber' (meaning specifically 'grape', that according to Wahlgren the explorers were familiar with and would have thus recognized), growing freely. Charting the overlap of the limits of wild vine and wild salmon habitats, as well as nautical clues from the sagas, Wahlgren indicates a location in Maine or New Brunswick. He hazards

4250-461: The main historical sources that grapes were found in Vinland suggests that the explorers ventured at least to the south side of the St. Lawrence River , as Jacques Cartier did 500 years later, finding both wild vines and nut trees. Three butternuts were found at L'Anse aux Meadows, another species which grows only as far north as the St. Lawrence. The vinviðir (wine wood) the Norse were cutting down in

4335-517: The natives" were killed. As with any inhabited foreign land, Thorfinn and his men realized that despite everything the land had to offer there, they would be under constant threat of attack from its prior inhabitants. After this adventure, they returned to Greenland. Their three-year excursion would be the longest lasting known European colony in the New World, until Columbus's voyages nearly 500 years later initiated full-scale European conquest of

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4420-414: The new land and was criticized for his long delay in reporting this. On his return to Greenland he retold the story and inspired Leif Eriksson to organize an expedition, which retraced in reverse the route Bjarni had followed, past a land of flat stones ( Helluland ) and a land of forests ( Markland ). After having sailed another two days across open sea, the expedition found a headland with an island just off

4505-476: The next reference to a voyage also comes from Icelandic chronicles. In 1347, a ship arrived in Iceland, after being blown off course on its way home from Markland to Greenland with a load of timber . The implication is that the Greenlanders had continued to use Markland as a source of timber over several centuries. The definition of Vinland is somewhat elusive. According to a 1969 article by Douglas McManis in

4590-510: The northern tip of Vinland was taken up by later Scandinavian scholars such as bishop Hans Resen. Although it is generally agreed, based on the saga descriptions, that Helluland includes Baffin Island , and Markland represents at least the southern part of the modern Labrador, there has been considerable controversy over the location of the actual Norse landings and settlement. Comparison of the sagas, as summarized below, shows that they give similar descriptions and names to different places. One of

4675-467: The now famous grapes and self-sown wheat for which the land was named. They spent a very hard winter at this site, barely surviving by fishing, hunting game inland, and gathering eggs on the island. The following summer they sailed to the island of Hop where they had the first peaceful interactions with the native people, with whom they traded. Thorfinn forbade his men to trade their swords and spears, so they mainly exchanged red cloth for pelts. They described

4760-582: The ocean east of Norway, while Higden put it west of Denmark but failed to explain the distance. Copies of Polychronicon commonly included a world map on which Wintland was marked in the Atlantic Ocean near Iceland, but again much closer to the Scandinavian mainland than in reality. The name was explained in both texts as referring to the savage inhabitants' ability to tie the wind up in knotted cords, which they sold to sailors who could then undo

4845-429: The only known Norse site in North America, L'Anse aux Meadows , was found on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland. Before the discovery of archaeological evidence, Vinland was known only from the sagas and medieval historiography. The 1960 discovery further proved the pre-Columbian Norse exploration of mainland North America. L'Anse aux Meadows has been hypothesized to be the camp Straumfjörð mentioned in

4930-569: The people of Vinland relied on were wheat, berries, wine and fish. However, the wheat in the Vinlandic context is sandwort and not traditional wheat, and the grapes mentioned are native North American grapes, because the European grape ( Vitis vinifera ) and wheat ( Triticum sp.) existing in the New World before the Viking arrival in the tenth century is highly unlikely. Both the sagas reference

5015-508: The people of the area known as Vinland whom the Norse met in the early 11th century. The word subsequently became well known, and has been used in the English language since the 18th century. " Kalaallit ", the name of the largest ethnic group of Greenlandic Inuit , is probably derived from skræling . In 1750, Paul Egede mentions that the Inuit used "Inuit" among themselves, but used Kalaallit when speaking to non-Inuit, stating that this

5100-489: The remains of a small Norse encampment were discovered by Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad at that exact spot, L'Anse aux Meadows in northern Newfoundland, and excavated during the 1960s and 1970s. It is most likely this was the main settlement of the sagas, a "gateway" for the Norse Greenlanders to the rich lands farther south. Many wooden objects were found at L'Anse aux Meadows, and radiocarbon dating confirms

5185-497: The sagas may refer to the vines of Vitis riparia , a species of wild grape that grows on trees. As the Norse were searching for lumber , a material that was needed in Greenland, they found trees covered with Vitis riparia south of L'Anse aux Meadows and called them vinviðir. L'Anse Aux Meadows was a small and short-lived encampment; perhaps it was primarily used for timber-gathering forays and boat repair, rather than permanent settlements like Greenland. The main resources that

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5270-474: The scientific journal Acta Archeologica , which assumes that the headland of Kjalarnes referred to in the Saga of Erik the Red is at L'Anse aux Meadows, suggests that Straumfjörð refers to Sop's Arm, Newfoundland , as no other fjord in Newfoundland was found to have an island at its mouth. Kent Budden (1962-2008) a resident of Sop's Arm, did extensive exploration in the area, contacted Jonas to show him some artifacts, including an axe head that Jonas said had

5355-409: The shield into my armpit. Here is the arrow, and this wound will cause my death.' Thorfinn Karlsefni was the first Norse explorer to attempt to truly colonize the newly discovered Vinland , on the same site as his predecessors Thorvald and Leif Eriksson. According to the Saga of Erik the Red , he set sail with three ships and 140 men. Upon reaching Vinland, their intended destination, they found

5440-404: The ship to make a trip to the skerry to fetch the wood that Thorir had there' Thorvald has the first contact with the native population which would come to be known as the skrælings . After attacking and killing eight of the natives, they were attacked beside their beached ships, which they defended: 'I have been wounded under my arm,' he said. 'An arrow flew between the edge of the ship and

5525-428: The shore of a seaside lake, protected by barrier islands and connected to the open ocean by a river which was navigable by ships only at high tide. The settlement was known as Hóp , and the land abounded with grapes/currants and wheat. The teller of this saga was uncertain whether the explorers remained here over the next winter (said to be very mild) or for only a few weeks of summer. One morning they saw nine hide boats;

5610-427: The shore, with a nearby pool, accessible to ships at high tide, in an area where the sea was shallow with sandbanks. Here the explorers landed and established a base which can plausibly be matched to L'Anse aux Meadows; except that the winter was described as mild, not freezing. One day an old family servant, Tyrker , went missing and was found mumbling to himself. He eventually explained that he found grapes/currants. In

5695-404: The shortest days of midwinter, the sun was still above the horizon at "dagmal" and "eykt", two specific times in the Norse day. Carl Christian Rafn , in the first detailed study of the Norse exploration of the New World, "Antiquitates Americanae" (1837), interpreted these times as equivalent to 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., which would put the base a long way south of Newfoundland. According to

5780-409: The site implies that the Norse explored Vinland further to the south, at least as far as St. Lawrence River and parts of New Brunswick , the northern limit for both butternut and wild grapes ( Vitis riparia ). Another proposal for the name's etymology, was introduced by Sven Söderberg in 1898 (first published in 1910). This suggestion involves interpreting the Old Norse name not as vín-land with

5865-509: The site's occupation as being confined to a short period around 1000 CE. In addition, small pieces of jasper , known to have been used in the Norse world as fire-strikers , were found in and around the different buildings. When these were analyzed and compared with samples from jasper sources around the North Atlantic area, it was found that two buildings contained only Icelandic jasper pieces, while another contained some from Greenland;

5950-452: The spring, Leif returned to Greenland with a shipload of timber, towing a boatload of grapes/currants. On the way home, he spotted another ship aground on the rocks, rescued the crew and later salvaged the cargo. A second expedition, one ship of about 40 men led by Leif's brother Thorvald, sets out in the autumn after Leif's return and stayed over three winters at the new base ( Leifsbúðir (-budir), meaning Leif's temporary shelters), exploring

6035-421: The survivors from a wrecked ship and gained a reputation for good luck; his religious mission was a swift success. The next spring, Thorstein, Leif's brother, lead an expedition to the new land, but drifted off course and spent the whole summer sailing the Atlantic. On his return, he met and married Gudrid, one of the survivors from a ship which made land at Herjolfsnes after a difficult voyage from Iceland. Spending

6120-491: The time these sources were recorded, skræling was the common term Norse Greenlanders used for the Thule people , the ancestors to the modern Inuit . The Thule first arrived in Greenland from the North American mainland in the 13th century and were thereafter in contact with the Greenlanders. The Greenlanders' Saga and the Saga of Erik the Red , which were written in the 13th century, use this same term for

6205-574: The way, lying asleep in hide sacks. Karlsefni, accompanied by Thorvald Eriksson and others, sailed around Kjalarnes and then south, keeping land on their left side, hoping to find Thorhall. After sailing for a long time, while moored on the south side of a west-flowing river, they were shot at by a one-footed man , and Thorvald died from an arrow-wound. Once they reached Markland, the men encountered five natives, of whom they kidnapped two boys, baptizing them and teaching them their own language. The explorers returned to Straumsfjord, but disagreements during

6290-461: The west coast of the new land during the first summer, and the east coast during the second, running aground and losing the ship's keel on a headland they christen Keel Point ( Kjalarnes ). Further south, at a point where Thorvald wanted to establish a settlement, the Greenlanders encountered some of the local inhabitants ( Skrælingjar ) and killed them, following which they were attacked by

6375-416: The winter and asked for their ship, claiming that she wanted to go back to Greenland, which the brothers happily agreed to. Freydis went back and told her husband the exact opposite, which led to the killing, at Freydis' order, of all the Icelanders, including five women, as they lay sleeping. In the spring, the Greenlanders returned home with a good cargo, but Leif found out the truth about the Icelanders. That

6460-690: The winter as a guest at a farm on Greenland with Gudrid, Thorstein died of disease, reviving just long enough to make a prophecy about her future as a far-traveling Christian. The next winter, Gudrid married a visiting Icelander named Thorfinn Karlsefni, who, with his business partner Snorri Thorbrandsson, agreed to undertake a major expedition to the new land, taking livestock with them. Also contributing ships for this expedition were another pair of visiting Icelanders, Bjarni Grimolfsson and Thorhall Gamlason, and Leif's brother and sister Thorvald and Freydis, with her husband Thorvard. Sailing past landscapes of flat stones ( Helluland ) and forests ( Markland ) they rounded

6545-698: The year. The Northeast Greenland Inuit are now extinct. Douglas Clavering (1794–1827) met a group of twelve Inuit, including men, women and children, in Clavering Island in August 1823. There are many remains of former Inuit settlements in different locations of the now desolate area, but the population died out before mid-19th century. The Kalaallit have a strong artistic tradition based on sewing animal skins and making masks. They are also known for an art form of figures called tupilaq , or "evil spirit object." Traditional art-making practices thrive in

6630-493: Was discovered in Norderhov , Norway , shortly before 1817, but it was subsequently lost. Its assessment depends on a sketch made by antiquarian L. D. Klüwer (1823), now also lost but in turn copied by Wilhelm Frimann Koren Christie (1838). The Younger Futhark inscription was dated to c. 1010–1050. The stone had been erected in memory of a Norwegian, possibly a descendant of Sigurd Syr . Sophus Bugge (1902) read part of

6715-572: Was in short supply. One day an old family servant, Thorhall the Hunter (who had not become Christian), went missing and was found mumbling to himself. Shortly afterwards, a beached whale was found, which Thorhall claimed had been provided in answer to his praise of the pagan gods. The explorers found that eating it made them ill, so they prayed to the Christian God, and shortly afterwards the weather improved. When spring arrived, Thorhall Gamlason,

6800-591: Was rejected by Einar Haugen (1977), who argued that the vin element had changed its meaning from "pasture" to "farm" long before the Old Norse period. Names in vin were given in the Proto Norse period, and they are absent from places colonized in the Viking Age. Haugen's basis for rejection has since been challenged. There is a runestone which may have contained a record of the Old Norse name slightly predating Adam of Bremen's Winland . The Hønen Runestone

6885-401: Was the land described in their Vinland Sagas. The Skálholt Map , drawn in 1570 or 1590 but surviving only through later copies, shows Promontorium Winlandiae ("promontory/cape/foreland of Vinland") as a narrow cape with its northern tip at the same latitude as southern Ireland. (The scales of degrees in the map margins are inaccurate.) This effective identification of northern Newfoundland with

6970-436: Was the last Vinland expedition recorded in the saga. In the other version of the story, Eiríks saga rauða or the Saga of Erik the Red , Leif Ericsson accidentally discovered the new land when traveling from Norway back to Greenland after a visit to his overlord, King Olaf Tryggvason, who commissioned him to spread Christianity in the colony. Returning to Greenland with samples of grapes/currants, wheat and timber, he rescued

7055-499: Was the main base of the Norse explorers, the southernmost limit of Norse exploration remains a subject of intense speculation. Gustav Storm (1887) and Joseph Fischer (1902) both suggested Cape Breton ; Samuel Eliot Morison (1971) the southern part of Newfoundland; Erik Wahlgren (1986) Miramichi Bay in New Brunswick ; and Icelandic climate specialist Pall Bergthorsson (1997) proposed New York City . The insistence in all

7140-477: Was the term used by Norse settlers. Norse exploration of the New World began with the initial sighting of North America by an Icelander named Bjarni Herjólfsson , who spotted land after drifting off course on a journey to Greenland in 985 or 986. They speculated among themselves as to what land this would be, for Bjarni said he suspected this was not Greenland. His voyage piqued the interest of later explorers including Leif Eriksson , who would explore and name

7225-580: Was told about "islands" discovered by Norse sailors in the Atlantic by the Danish king Svend Estridsen . The nearby Norse outpost of Markland was mentioned in the writings of Galvano Fiamma in his book, Cronica universalis . He is believed to be the first Southern European to write about the New World . The earliest map of Vinland was drawn by Sigurd Stefansson, a schoolmaster at Skalholt, Iceland, around 1570, which placed Vinland somewhere that can be Chesapeake Bay, St. Lawrence, or Cape Cod Bay. In

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