Norsemen and Vikings, North America

Norsemen were Scandinavian seafaring peoples who, beginning in the late 8th Century, explored and settled parts of the North Atlantic, and briefly North America. Norsemen who sought conquest are referred to as “Vikings,” and they were the first Europeans to arrive in North America and establish settlements, including L’Anse aux Meadows.

Overview

Norsemen were Scandinavian people who explored and settled parts of the North Atlantic, including the British Isles, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, and small parts of North America. They were skilled in shipbuilding and navigation, and they sustained their communities through fishing, hunting, and trade. Their exploits were recorded in lengthy “sagas” that detailed the exploits of the “Vikings,” pirates, explorers, and conquerors who spread the Norse culture and Christianity and clashed with native peoples in the New World. One of their settlements, L’Anse aux Meadows, is the earliest documented European settlement in North America.

Essential Facts

Key People: Ingólfur Arnarson, Erik the Red, Leif Erikson.
Part of: Age of Exploration, Colonization of the Americas.
Significance: The Norsemen and Vikings are important to American History because of their exploration of the North Atlantic, establishment of settlements, and contact with native peoples. Their settlements in Iceland and Greenland influenced trade, culture, and storytelling in Medieval Europe and helped inspire further exploration by European nations.

Key Details

Norsemen were Scandinavian peoples skilled in seafaring and exploration who settled the Shetland and Orkney Islands around 800 AD.
Their ships were light, yet strong, and capable of navigating beaches, rivers, and storms.
Ingólfur Arnarson founded a settlement at Reykjavik, Iceland, in 874.
Erik the Red explored Greenland in 892 and brought settlers in 895.
Norsemen living in Iceland and Greenland were involved in cod fishing, while Greenland also exported Walrus hides and tusks (ivory).
Leif Eriksson explored Vinland (likely modern-day Newfoundland) around 1000 AD and brought Christianity to Iceland and Greenland.
Around 1262, Norway took control of Iceland and Greenland.
Trade declined due to competition from English fishermen from Bristol.

Historical Notes

Viking Ships

By the late 8th Century, Scandinavian advances in shipbuilding enabled the Vikings to explore and settle across the North Atlantic, leading to Norse colonies in the Shetland and Orkney Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and briefly in North America at Vinland.

Scandinavian craftsmen perfected ship design.
The ships were light and strong.
They could land on almost any beach and were capable of navigating many rivers, as well as surviving ocean storms.
Vikings used ships to explore and settle the North Atlantic. They also used their ships to travel to other regions to carry out raids.

North Atlantic Exploration

Shetland and Orkney Islands — Norsemen settled the Shetland and Orkney Islands around 800 AD. These islands are north of Scotland, west of Norway.
Iceland — In 874, Ingólfur Arnarson founded a Norse outpost in Iceland, now located in the area of present-day Reykjavik.
Greenland — The first Norse settlers arrived when Erik the Red explored its southwest coast in 892. He had been banished from Iceland for manslaughter. He returned to Greenland with colonists in 895.
Vinland — Around 1000, Leif Eriksson explored North America from Greenland. He landed at a place called “Vinland” by the Norse, which is likely present-day Newfoundland, Canada.

Cod Fishing in the North Atlantic

Cod fishing sustained Norse settlements in the harsh climates of Greenland and Iceland, providing a durable food source that could be dried, stored, and exported to Europe.

Cod fishing was a key factor in the Norse success in the North Atlantic.
Cod provided the necessary nutrition for settlers in Greenland and Iceland.
The climates of Greenland and Iceland were inhospitable.
The Norse preserved cod by hanging it in cold, dry air during the winter.
Drying caused the cod to lose most of its weight.
Settlers could break off pieces of dried cod flesh to eat.
The Norse started shipping dried cod to Europe.

Iceland and Greenland

By the 12th Century, Norse settlements in Iceland and Greenland were supporting stable populations, engaged in walrus hunting for trade, adopted Christianity, and produced sagas and poetry that gained acclaim in European courts.

Norse settlers had modest success in Iceland and Greenland.
By the 12th Century, Iceland’s population was between 30,000 and 60,000.
Greenland’s population reached 6,000 in the 12th century and remained stable thereafter.
Norse Greenlanders traveled hundreds of miles north to hunt walrus herds.
Walrus hide and ivory became Greenland’s main exports.
Christianity reached both islands around 1000.
By 1100, most Norse were at least nominally Christian.
Sagas and family histories were composed in Iceland and Greenland, and Norse storytellers were welcomed in courts throughout Europe.

Decline of Norse Settlements

After 1262, the union of Iceland and Greenland with Norway coincided with declining trade, harsher climate conditions, and environmental strain, leading the Norse to abandon Vinland and end their efforts to colonize North America before Columbus’s voyages.

In 1262, Iceland and Greenland were incorporated into Norway, a kingdom that started to decline soon after.
Exchange between North Atlantic Norse settlements and Europe decreased.
Cod fishermen from ports such as Bristol started supplying Europe, reducing Norse trade.

A cooling climate shift after the mid-13th Century made North Atlantic conditions harsher. This period is referred to as the “Little Ice Age.”

Winters became longer, and ice floes blocked ship lanes.
Overgrazing of livestock contributed to soil erosion.

The Little Ice Age impacted farming, which led to worsening malnutrition, reduced trade, and isolation after 1410, when ships from Norway ceased arriving and contact with Europe largely ended, only to be resumed by explorers in the 16th century.

Norse colonies started to deteriorate in the 14th Century.
The Little Ice Age (ca. 1250–1860) had a negative impact on farming.
Malnutrition increased as trade declined.
A 14th-century court case recorded Norse Greenlanders forcing weather-stranded sailors to buy trade goods.
After 1410, no more ships sailed from Norway to Greenland.
Communication with Europe mostly ended after 1410.
Scholars believe the Norse Colony on Greenland lasted until around 1500.
Little is known about Greenland until European explorers returned in the 16th century.

Norse Sagas

The Norse Sagas started as epic oral histories of the ancient Norse.
Saga tellers recited and passed down these epics for hundreds of years.
Roughly 30 major sagas survive today in written form.
The Greenlanders’ Saga and Erik’s Saga describe the journeys of the Norse from Greenland to Vinland.

Vinland and L’Anse aux Meadows

Vinland is depicted as a land with forests, abundant game, and ample pasture.
The sagas indicate it was a 12-day journey from Greenland, southwest to Vinland.
Historians believe the site corresponds to the legendary “Fjord of Currents,” or Vinland, described in the Saga of Erik the Red.
Vinland was likely modern-day Newfoundland.
The Norsemen lacked the resources to establish lasting settlements in Vinland and clashed with the local inhabitants.

L'Anse aux Meadows Map, Norse Voyages — This map shows the location of Vinland and the routes sailed by the Norsemen from Greenland. Image Source: *Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga*, by William Fitzhugh and Elisabeth Ward, 2000.

Norsemen and Local Inhabitants

In Greenland, the Norsemen were exposed to local inhabitants, who were Paleo-Inuit People. They have been identified as Dorset Eskimos, ancestors of the modern Inuit

Medieval Norse technology was similar to that of the Dorset.
Both groups used snares and spears for hunting and small animal-hide kayaks for fishing and hunting seals and walrus.
The Norsemen established settlements, where they forged iron and spun and wove wool into cloth.
The Inuit were more mobile, skilled in traveling over ice, and adept at using kayaks to hunt and follow migrating animals.
The Dorset adapted better to the harsh Arctic climate than the Norsemen.

In Vinland, the Norsemen encountered another native people, whom they called “Skraelings,” a derogatory term meaning “screamers.”

The Norsemen feared the Skraelings and likely believed they were supernatural, and there were frequent engagements between the two factions.
The sagas say the Skraelings, who had more warriors than the Norsemen, retaliated with similar weapons.

AP US History Alignment

The Norsemen are part of the following units, topics, and chapters in the AP US History curriculum: