Viking and Native American Explorers.

Episode 7 Viking and Native American Explorers

The Middle Ages Around the World

Dr Joyce E Salisbury

Film Review

The Viking visits to North America are recorded in two Norse sagas: the Saga of Greenland and the Saga of the New World. Much of the detail contained in these works ha been confirmed by archeological evidence

In 982 AD (during the 800-13000 AD warming period), Erik the Red established the first Viking settlement in Greenland. Hosting 5,000 residents at its height. Greenland was quickly deforested. This eventually forced Greenland Vikings to import their wood (for fuel and charcoal to smelt bog iron for tools and weapons.
986 AD Bjarni Herjulfsson, the first European explorer to discover North America, did so accidentally when his ship was blown off course while sailing to from Iceland to Greenland. After sighting the coast of Newfoundland, Labrador and Boffin Island, he turned westward before landing in Greenland,
Later in 986 AD, Leif Eriksson (son of EriK the Red) returned North America’s east coast (naming it Vinland in honor of the wild grapes he found), built a cluster of wooden houses, and returned to Greenland with ships full of grapes and wood. The sagas refer to six Viking voyages to the New World – archeological evidence suggests they made more.
1008 AD Thorvald made the second voyage to Vineland in 1008. After spending the winter in the houses Leif had built, he encountered Algonquin tribesmen when they returned to their summer settlement on the coast. After killing some of them, he was killed by an Algonquin arrow.
In 1010 Thorfian Karlsfni made a third voyage with 60 men, five women, cattle, ship and goats. Initially the natives they encountered traded them furs for milk, but a battle erupted after a native killed a Viking who tried to steal one of the Algonquins’ iron weapons belong to the Algonquins. Although the Viking abandoned the settlement, they continued wood collecting expeditions for centuries.

Inuit Explorers

North American Inuit used dog sleds to cross the frozen Arctic into Greenland in two waves, the first in 800 BC and the second in 1000 Ad. With their kayaks and larger whaling boats, they were far better equipped than the Vikings to survive the Little Ice Age that began around 1300. They built large settlements (up to 100 families), using igloos to survive the winders. In 1379, they enslaved a number of Greenlanders after defeating them in battle.

Western contact with Greenland ceased in 1349, owing to Europe’s plague epidemic that killed nearly half its populations. According to archeologist, the Viking residents of Greenland’s Western and Eastern settlements either starved or froze to death in the late 1300s.

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https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/13172786/13172801