Viking Age: Vinland medieval vikings

Vikings in North America: Vinland’s Medieval Vikings

In Old Norse, Vinland (or Vinlande)translates as "Wineland." The Norsemen visited Vinland, the eastern coast of North America, in the early 1000s. The Scandinavians were the first to reinvigorate marine navigation and geographical science in the Middle Ages. In the 6th and 7th centuries, the Irish ascetic monks were not interested in expanding geographical knowledge or colonization as they made their way to Iceland, Faroes, Orkneys, Shetlands, and the Hebrides. The Viking Age, the 9th through 11th centuries, saw the Norseman, Danes and Swedes moving throughout Europe founding colonies and conquering kingdoms–it is in this era of the great Scandinavian expansion and exodus that the Norsemen started to push further and further west to discover new lands. Most of the Norsemen pushed west, hitting Great Britain, the Western Isles and Ireland in their path as they moved further, they kept moving and would discover Iceland in 874, then Greenland in 985 and finally Vinland sometime during the beginning of the 11th century. The impetus to migrate and found new settlements was because of wanderlust, the need for adventure, and that they were dissatisfied with the the kingdom in Norway.

The chiefs and their clans that decided to settle in Iceland were seeking a new home that was free from the political strife in Norway. They wished for political freedom. We have many records that chronicle their history and achievements in Iceland, their lives were very active and turbulent. One can see foreshadowing of the American republic in the Icelandic colony–they were very successful living with a republican government (rather than a monarchy) and maintained a thriving independent national spirit for four hundred years.

Geographically, Iceland is very close to North America, it was only a matter of time after the Norseman had settled in Iceland that they would move further west. One hundred years after Iceland was settled, a group moved on to Greenland where a colony existed for four centuries until it was eradicated (possibly by hostile aboriginal groups). Icelandic records dating back to this era, like the Vinland Sagas, the Norwegian Speculum Regale (The King’s Mirror) from the 13th century, and letters from the papacy, provide interesting illustrations of what life was like for this colony. Vinland was to be populated by people from the nascent Greenland colony, but settlement plans were put on hold because the land was too difficult and the native aboriginal groups were not welcoming to the newcomers-the vikings were powerless. Gunpowder would had not yet been brought to the New World.