The Vikings were seafaring people from Scandinavia who explored and settled wide areas of Europe from around 700 to 1066 AD. While the Vikings are often portrayed merely as warriors and raiders, they were also explorers and traders who traveled vast distances and established settlements across Europe and beyond.
When did the Vikings discover America?
The Vikings were the first Europeans to reach North America. Norse sagas and medieval histories record several Viking voyages to a place they called Vinland starting in around 1000 AD. These Viking explorers landed at several places on the east coast of Canada and the United States, over 400 years before Christopher Columbus reached the Caribbean islands.
The main source of information about the Viking exploration of North America comes from two Icelandic sagas written in the early 13th century – the Saga of Eric the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders. These tell of several expeditions from Greenland to Vinland, starting with Leif Ericson, son of Eric the Red, around 1000 AD. According to the sagas, Leif Ericson established a short-lived settlement called Leifsbúðir in Vinland.
In 1960, the remains of a Viking settlement dating to between 985 and 1020 AD were discovered at L’Anse aux Meadows in northern Newfoundland, Canada. This archaeologically confirmed that the Vikings did reach North America around 500 years before Columbus’s 1492 voyage. L’Anse aux Meadows is believed to be the Vinland settlement Leifsbúðir mentioned in the sagas.
Why did the Vikings come to North America?
The main motivation for the Vikings’ voyages to North America was the search for resources, especially lumber. The Greenland Norse settlements lacked sufficient timber and iron to sustain their community. Exploring westward across the North Atlantic, they discovered lands rich in resources that could supply their needs in Greenland.
The sagas suggest other motives too. Leif Ericson’s voyage seems to have been partly accidental – he was blown off course sailing back to Greenland from Norway. The sagas praise Leif for his curiosity and eagerness to explore new lands. His father, Eric the Red, had been exiled from Iceland to Greenland for manslaughter, so the family may have partly been searching for new places to settle beyond the authority of the Norwegian king.
Trade was likely another motive. The Vikings were great traders across Europe and beyond, exchanging goods like furs, falcons, whale bone and walrus ivory. Valuable natural resources found in Vinland, like timber, grapes and fur-bearing animals, could be shipped back to Greenland and Europe.
Where did the Vikings land in North America?
The Viking sagas give vague descriptions of the location of Helluland, Markland and Vinland – the lands explored beyond Greenland. Based on the topography and natural resources described, historians have suggested possible Viking landings sites:
- Helluland – Meaning “stone-slab land”, believed to be Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic.
- Markland – Meaning “forest land”, believed to be the Labrador coast of northeastern Canada.
- Vinland – Described as a more hospitable land south of Markland with timber and grapevines. Leifsbúðir was built here. Probably located somewhere along the Atlantic coast of Canada.
The confirmed Norse site at L’Anse aux Meadows likely represents Vinland and Leifsbúðir. It is the only known Viking settlement in North America, located at the northernmost tip of Newfoundland.
What did the Vikings call North America?
The Vikings did not have any single name for North America as a whole. They were mainly familiar with the Atlantic coastline of northeastern Canada, which they called Vinland. Vinland seems to have been seen as one distinct region among the lands explored west of Greenland, rather than the name for the North American continent.
The main names used in the Viking sagas for lands across the North Atlantic are:
- Helluland – Meaning “stone-slab land”, believed to be Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic.
- Markland – Meaning “forest land”, believed to be the Labrador coast of northeastern Canada.
- Vinland – Meaning “wine land” or “meadow land”, somewhere along the Atlantic coast of Canada.
Vinland seems to have been the primary focus of exploration and settlement attempts. The grapevines and mild climate described make Vinland sound very inviting to Norse settlers living in icy Greenland. However, the Viking colonies in Vinland were short-lived and did not last beyond a few years.
Why is it called Vinland?
Vinland was named by Leif Ericson for the wild grapevines found there, according to the sagas. The Norse were surprised to find grapevines so far north across the Atlantic. Wine was an important trade item and sign of civilization for Europeans at the time. So the vines made Vinland seem a very promising place for settlement.
However, modern scholars debate whether wild grapes really were found there, or if the “wine” refers to another kind of fruit juice. Other fruits like cranberries have been proposed as what the Vikings called “wine”. But wild grapes do grow in Newfoundland today, lending support to the literal meaning of “wine-land”.
The abundance of salmon around Newfoundland could also relate to Leifsbúðir being called “Leif’s booths” – structures for storing catch from the rich fishing waters. So fishing could be another reason Vinland seemed bountiful to Norse explorers and settlers.
How much of North America did the Vikings explore?
The Viking explorations only touched a very limited part of North America, mainly landing bases in northeastern Canada. How far south the Norse expeditions ranged is uncertain.
Norse artifacts like a Norse penny from the 11th century have been found as far south as Maine in the United States, suggesting the Vikings traded or traveled this far south. But there is no archeological evidence of Viking settlements south of L’Anse aux Meadows in Canada.
The sagas describe Vinland as a vast country, with plentiful resources stretching far inland from the coast where the Norse landed. However, historians think the Vikings likely only explored down the coastline and major rivers. How far inland they ventured from their coastal encampments is unknown.
The hostile relations reported between the Norse and native peoples described as “Skraelingar” may have discouraged extensive exploration deep into North American lands. Attacks by native North Americans is given as a reason for the abandonment of Vinland in the sagas.
What did the Vikings think they had discovered?
The Vikings did not have a conception that they were exploring a whole new continent distinct from Europe and Asia. They saw the lands across the Atlantic as simply the westernmost part of their known world.
In Viking cosmology, the world was conceived as a great island or countries surrounded by the ocean. Sailing west from Norway, they discovered Iceland, then Greenland, and eventually sights of new lands further west which they called Helluland, Markland and Vinland. To them, these were simply extensions of the western lands and islands.
The Vikings recognized Vinland was rich, fertile country with valuable resources such as timber, fur animals, fish and grapes/wine. In time, greater knowledge through exploration may have revealed to them that North America was a vast, previously unknown continent. But their short-lived colonization attempts did not last long enough for this realization.
Legacy of the Vikings in North America
While brief and limited in scope, the Viking voyages to North America are remarkable as the first European crossing of the Atlantic to land on the shores of the New World. Other key aspects of their legacy are:
- They showed it was possible for Europeans to make the long ocean voyage and return safely.
- Their settlements faded out, but they established it was possible for Europeans to have colonies in the New World.
- Knowledge of lands across the Atlantic persisted after the Viking age, later inspiring further European exploration of North America.
- They encountered indigenous Native American peoples for the first time, paving the way for later interaction and trade between American Indians, Europeans, and Euro-Americans.
While brief, the Viking exploration and settlement of North America heralded the age of European colonization that would follow several centuries later, remaking the Americas and the world.
Conclusion
The Vikings were the first Europeans to reach North America. Motivated by the search for resources like timber, they explored and briefly settled the northeastern coast of Canada around 1000 AD, generations before Columbus. They gave names like Helluland, Markland and Vinland to these new western lands, with Vinland being the area of main exploration and settlement attempts in Canada’s maritime provinces. While the Viking age in North America ended after a few years, it paved the way for greater European colonization from the 15th century onwards.