Looking West:

The Story of the Viking Explorations and Settlements in the New World as told in the Icelandic and Greenlanders’ Sagas

Thesis statement: The Viking settlement of Iceland, Greenland and the New World was simply a natural progression of their movement west for trade and land for expansion.

Early in the morning of October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus, a Genoan sailor in the service of the Spanish crown, set foot upon an island in the Caribbean. In doing so, he ushered in a new chapter in the history of Europe and the world. Over time, Europeans would come to dominate the continents of North and South America, often subjugating the native peoples along the way. Over the last five hundred years, many have argued whether Columbus "discovered" America. In fact, Columbus was not even the first European to set foot on the soil. Far to the north, in the icy reaches of the North Atlantic, exploration had long been a way of life. Stories of seafarers were passed down by way of legends and sagas, but many of them were lost or incomplete by the fifteenth century. The stories begin approximately one thousand years before Columbus, with the voyages of an Irish monk, Saint Brendan. Some legends tell of the Viking discoveries of Iceland, Greenland and "Vinland". Steeped in lore and mystery, many of the sagas are no more than riddles and tales. An overall picture, however, can be ascertained. The Viking settlement of Iceland, Greenland and the New World was simply a natural progression of their movement west for trade and land for expansion.

The Viking Age began in the late eighth century. Over the next three hundred years, the Norsemen carved out an empire that stretched from the Slavic lands of present day Russia in the East to the beaches of Normandy in the South to the coast of the maritime provinces of present day Canada in the West. Along the way, " … the sea rovers made themselves masters of many countries in Europe." Evidence suggests that the Norse had an extensive trading network with the middle east, as thousands of Arabic coins have been found in present day Scandinavia that date from the Viking Age. They established trade routes throughout northern Europe by which spices and silks were brought from the East and exchanged for slaves, ivory and furs. Trading centers such as Dublin, Riga and Kiev were set up to handle the exchanges. A remarkably democratic people for the age, the Vikings brought with them the concepts of trial by jury and parliamentary rule. According to the sagas, Iceland was the first step to the west.

Norwegians arrived in Iceland in about 870 a.d. After first pushing aside a group of Irish monks , the Norsemen quickly conquered the entire island. According to Erik Wahlgren, "Within sixty years … most of the arable land had been taken by these four thousand pioneers". A hardy and fiercely independent lot, many of the original Icelandic settlers had fled political strife in their Norwegian homeland. In 930, the settlers set up an independent republic and established the "Althing". It survives today as the oldest national assembly in Europe. The republic remained independent until 1264, when it was conquered by Norwegian forces. While autonomous, Iceland became an outlet for many dissidents from Scandinavia. One such man eventually led the way even farther west.

Erik the Red arrived in Iceland in about 980. Erik and his father came to the new land after a hurried departure. According to Erikis Saga Rauð a, "some killings" in the homeland precipitated their exodus, although it is unclear whether the killing involved Erik, his father, or both. According to Graham - Cambell and Wahlgren, Erik himself was responsible. Pohl, on the other hand, points to Erik’s father, Thorvald Osvaldson. In either case, Erik’s stay in Iceland was a troubled one. He married and attempted to settle down, but within two years he was summoned before a regional Althing on charges of murder. Unable to justify his actions to the assembly, Erik was banished for a period of three years. Since a return to Norway was impossible, Erik decided to go west. According to the sagas, sixty years earlier, a land had been sighted by Gunnbjö rn Ulfsson when he was blown off course while sailing from Norway to Iceland. Ulfsson did not land, and the new region remained unnamed. Erik set sail in the summer of 982.

After a short time, he sighted land. Although mostly covered by a massive ice sheet, this new land had some attractive grassland pastures. Over the next three years he explored the island and named many of its places. According to Pohl, Erik had an ulterior motive. Apparently, he was not just an explorer, but a real estate developer as well. Pohl states, "He must have pictured to himself the advantages of persuading many other settlers to come to a country in which he had the best land in the most centrally located fjord." Before returning to Iceland, Erik decided to name the land "Greenland". Apparently as good at propaganda as he was at exploration, Erik found many in Iceland ready to make to voyage. In the summer of 985, twenty-five ships set out for Greenland. Although only fourteen finished the voyage, the new land had settlers. Erik and his family survived the journey, and he and his followers established what became known as the "eastern settlement". Later, others followed. Some settled in Erik’s settlement. Others kept going and established the "western settlement" approximately 400 miles further.

Greenland was treeless, but the settlers used abundant driftwood and sod for building shelters. The story of the Greenland settlers is told in the Groenlendinga. According to Wahlgren, the Greenlanders used trade as a means of supporting the tiny settlement. Greenland is a barren land, especially in the long winter months. Even owing to the hardiness of the settlers, life in the eastern settlement must have been difficult. The western settlement, located 400 miles to the northwest, must have been even bleaker. Making things even more difficult was a constant arrangement with the natives. Called "screilings" by the Norsemen, the natives were often at odds with their new neighbors. Violent confrontations were rare, but an uneasiness persisted.

During this period, Christianity was slowly creeping to the lands of the Norse. By 1000, it had reached Iceland, where the main Althing declared it the official religion. One of Erik’s sons, Leif, was converted on a trading mission to Norway. Along the way he had found and taken a wife. She was Christian as well. In the Spring of that year, Leif set sail for Greenland with the understanding of King Olaf. Greenland needed trading ships and goods from Europe. If the settlers converted to the new faith, then Olaf would provide the means to carry it. Olaf was beginning to see now the western trading networks could profit the empire. The same network could profit Rome and the Pope, which would certainly make Olaf look good as well.

Leif arrived at the eastern settlement in September. Among his passengers was a priest. According to Pohl, Erik was not happy with his son. Erik worshiped the Norse god Thor. Although he tried to prevent its spread, Christianity soon took over as the major religion of the settlers. Erik’s wife and sons were converted, although there is no mention of Erik’s conversion in the sagas. Erik’s life was changing. He was getting older, and his sons now were the ones who looked to the west. Leif, as the oldest and most experienced, looked first.

According to the Greenlanders’ saga, a man named Bjarni Herjulfsson was the first to see the western lands. Blown off course on his way to Greenland in 985, Bjarni had sighted a land, "… [which] had no mountains, but was wooded, with small hills." Realizing that this land did not fit the descriptions of Greenland, he did not put ashore. Turning north, he found a land with high mountains and glaciers. Bjarni then turned west and after sailing for four days came upon Greenland. He then settled down with his father. Nothing is known of him until his father died in 1000. At that time, Bjarni traveled to Norway. Coincidentally, Leif Erickson was in Norway at the same time. According to the sagas, upon Leif’s return to Greenland, "…there was much talk of the lands Bjarni had seen."

Leif decided to explore the new lands. He traveled to Bjarni’s compound and purchased his ship. According to the Greenlanders’ version, Leif asked his father to lead the voyage, but Erik declined due to old age. Leif then sailed west, hoping to follow Bjarni’s route in reverse. Among Leif’s crew was a "southerner" named Tyrkir. According to Pohl, Tyrkir was Leif’s foster father when Erik was in exile, and he chose to follow his close friend to the eastern settlement.

After a short time, Leif sighted land. According to the Greenland saga, "… the land was bare of grass, and the hinterland was covered with great glaciers; the land between the glaciers and the sea looked like one mass of stone." Going ashore, Leif and his party named the land Helluland. Leif thus became the first European to set foot on North American soil. Unfortunately, the lack of any remains of settlement has hampered historians and their efforts to definitively prove as to where this land is to be found. Most conjecture that Helluland is probably Baffin Island. The southern portion of Baffin Island is a harsh land of rocks and ice, much as the sagas describe. This was no place for a settlement. Leif and his party returned to the boats and sailed southward.

According to the sagas, Leif next found a, "…land which was wooded and level, and there were extensive stretches of white sand …". Going ashore, Leif named the land Markland, which means "forest land". Historians speculate that this land was the coast of Labrador, as its physical description matches that of the saga. Leif did not stay long. Returning to the ship, the little party set sail again, headed southwest.

After two days, the Vikings came upon a third land. Unlike any they had seen, this new land appeared by the accounts to be a paradise. According to the Greenland saga,

Leif decided that this land required a more careful examination. He divided the men into two groups, with the explicit instructions that no one was to be separated. One night his old friend Tyrkir was reported missing. Leif led a search party. They had not gone far when they caught up with the lost explorer. Tyrkir was excited and babbling in German. When they finally calmed him down, he explained that he had found, "… plenty of vines and grapes." Realizing that he could make a profit on the voyage, Leif directed his men to cut trees and gather grapes for the return voyage. The trees were needed in Greenland, while the grapes and grapevines could be used in trade. The Viking band built houses and set in for the winter. In the spring of 1002, Leif sailed for Greenland. Before he left, he named the newly discovered land after the grapevines, calling it Vinland.

Leif arrived back at the eastern settlement that summer. His exploration and settlement days were finished. Erik died that winter. Leif was now the head of his family, and as such was also the de facto leader of the settlement. The Greenlanders’ saga tells of four more voyages, one by each of Life’s siblings. The Icelandic saga details the voyages of two others. One is Thorstein Eriksson, Leif’s brother. The other is of Thorfinn Karlsefni, an Icelandic sea captain. In 1010, he journeyed to Greenland. While wintering in Life’s longhouse, Karlsefni met and married a woman named Gudrid. They traveled to Vinland in the spring of 1011. During the first year a child, Snorri, was born, dispelling Virginia Dare’s claim as the first American. The settlement only lasted three years. The sagas relate how troubles began: "… after the first year, the men began to quarrel about the women, and the men also began to cheat the Indians with whom they traded." Thorfinn and Gudrid decided to go back to Greenland.

Although there is no record of any other attempts at settlement, there is evidence of voyages to Markland. Greenlanders needed wood, and the supply of driftwood eventually was depleted. The last mention of Vinland was from the Icelandic annuals of 1121. Markland, on the other hand, appears in one reference or another until 1347. By that time, the sagas themselves had been written. Groenlendinga was written in 1200, while Erikis Saga Rauð a was written in 1260. This accounts for the similarity in the two sagas, since the Icelandic version probably took its cues from the Greenlanders’ tale.

By the twelfth century, the Norse empire was Christian. As such, it was under the scrutiny of the pope in Rome. The Greenlanders were no exception. Accordingly, the pope appointed all the bishops. Church records mention bishops in Greenland throughout the middle ages. The Church was also involved in secular matters. In 1246, a new bishop was sent out to persuade the Greenlanders to submit to the Norwegian crown. In 1261, after over two hundred and seventy - five years of independence, Greenland became an official member of the Norwegian empire. Although this tie should have brought strength to the settlements, it did not. Time was running out on the frontier. In the early 1240’s, Eskimos invaded the western settlement. Anyone not killed was taken prisoner. The eastern settlement held out for another one hundred and fifty years. The last mention of it was from 1409, when a voyager traveled to the settlement only to find it deserted.

The western outreaches of the Norse empire eventually lost contact with the European world. By the time Columbus sailed on his first voyage in 1492, the settlements in Greenland and Vinland were gone. Although it is unclear what happened to the inhabitants, evidence suggests that many of them were assimilated into native cultures. The so-called "Kenningston Stone", a stone with runic writing, was found in Minnesota in 1898. English and French explorers reported finding native tribes who were amazingly "white" in appearance and manner in both the maritime provinces and the upper Midwest. The Mandan Indians of the upper Missouri Valley were discovered in 1738 by French captain Pierre de la Verendrye. In his report he describes the natives as being "white" and "civilized". Were these natives somehow descended from a lost Norse settlement? No one knows for sure.

By 1492, more than five hundred years had passed since Erik the Red sailed west into exile and explored Greenland. Over the half millenium, much had changed in Europe. New nation states in the old Roman empire were beginning to consolidate their powers and take over from the Vikings. The tales and sagas of the "western lands" had long since passed into legend. Not all, however, was lost. Knowledge of Greenland was kept alive in the Vatican. As late as 1490, Pope Alexander VI mentioned Greenland in his writings which state, "… no resident Bishop or priest has reached its church for the last eighty years." Columbus is reported to have visited Iceland in 1477. It is likely that he heard the stories of the sagas while on the Norse island.

A haunting question remains. Where was Vinland? Historians, cartographers and scientists have attempted to answer that question, especially in the last one hundred years. Some evidence points to the northern coast of Newfoundland, at a place known today as L’Anse aux Meadows. Ruins of Viking buildings and a few artifacts have been found at the site. Others point to Maine, Massachusetts and locations farther south, since wild grapes only grow as far north as Massachusetts. Every new finding seems to complicate the story. Possibly, they are all correct. Vinland may have been the entire North American continent from Labrador to Virginia. We may never know. What is known is that the Vikings were here. They were here long before Columbus sailed in 1492 and "discovered" the new world. Five hundred years earlier, another brave soul had looked into the unknown. Erik the Red saw a dream of land and trade. In doing so, he set the tone for generations to come. He looked west.