Viking Settlement in Greenland

Viking Settlement in Greenland

• c. 980 AD to c. 1400s
• Vikings were Norse peoples

• Greenland is the second largest island in the world
• 75% covered by ice
• Greenland was sparsely inhabited by Inuit peoples << to confirm details
• First settled by Vikings c. 980s AD
  • this was during the Medieval Warming period << to confirm details
    • the warming created more optimal conditions for farming and grazing, as well as new tree growth, which allowed for the use of wood for construction, tools, and fire
  • the warming created "verdant pockets along the south-western coast" (from [Age Greenland from Ancient History Encyclopedia])
• prior to Viking settlement Greenland would have been difficult to approach by large boats due to icebergs and frozen harbors
• prior to Medieval Warming period ice-free regions of Greenland would have been tundra

Subsistence

• built stone structures
• brought livestock from Europe, including sheep, goats, and cattle
• brought dogs and cats
• hunted caribou and harp seals

Trade

• Vikings on Greenland paid taxes to Norway
• Valuable trade items included:
  • walrus tusks (very high demand until European-African trade opened up access to African elephant tusks
  • skins, hides, live polar bears
  • furs from North American mainland

North America Mainland Expeditions & Settlements

• to obtain timber and fur
• hostile contact with native tribes

Inuit-Viking Interactions

• Vikings called the Inuit "Skræling"

Viking Age Decline

• Little Ice Age
• spread of Black Plague to Norway cut off trade with home country
  • impact of absence of trade meant lack of new supplies, especially iron tools and wood
    • archeological evidence shows in waning years of the settlement, iron tools and instruments were severely worn, which means they were not being replaced or fixed

Sources:

• [Age Greenland from Ancient History Encyclopedia]
• [Norse colonization of North America]

>> Collapse of Civilizations podcast >> see Jared Diamond

See Also

• Norsemen
• Vikings