The Lost Vikings of Greenland

The Vikings were the feared warriors and explorers of their day

Eric the Red persuaded 24 boatloads of Vikings to colonize Green land in the Year 986

Eric the Red “sold” the new country by calling it “Green”land

Viking explorers also made it as far as the east coast of the Americas 500 years before Columbus

A Viking map of Greenland

Two settlements were established and they survived for nearly 500 years

But Greenland was not an easy place to survive – there were long harsh winters.

Nothing was heard after 1410 of the Vikings of Greenland – all that were left were ruins

What happened to the Vikings of Greenland? Why did their settlements ultimately fail?

A graphical description of changes in temperature in Greenland from AD 500 – 1990 based on analysis of the deep ice core from Greenland and some historical events. The annual temperature changes are shown vertical in ˚C. The numbers are to be read horizontal: 1. From AD 700 to 750 people belonging to the Late Dorset Culture move into the area around Smith Sound, Ellesmere Island and Greenland north of Thule. 2. Norse settlement of Iceland starts in the second half of the 9th century. 3. Norse settlement of Greenland starts just before the year Thule Inuit move into northern Greenland in the 12th century. 5. Late Dorset culture disappears from Greenland in the second half of the 13th century. 6. The Western Settlement disappears in mid 14th century. 7. In 1408 is the Marriage in Hvalsey, the last known written document on the Norse in Greenland. 8. The Eastern Settlement disappears in mid 15th century. 9. John Cabot is the first European in the post-Iceland era to visit Labrador - Newfoundland in “Little Ice Age” from ca 1600 to mid 18th century. 11. The Norwegian priest, Hans Egede, arrives in Greenland in 1721.