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Go West, Young Viking:
Scandinavians in Iceland and Greenland
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In what is now Denmark plus much of Sweden and Norway, the Scandinavians who were
to become known as Vikings thrived and grew in number. Eventually their homelands
began to feel a bit crowded. Good farmland and raw materials were becoming scarce.
Scandinavian contact with the rest of Europe has been traced back to several thousand
years B.C. But until about 800 A.D., Scandinavian travel was limited to a relatively
few traders and roamers. And the rest of the European continent generally considered
Scandinavia distant and unimportant.
Suddenly, Vikings in fast ships unleashed themselves on their neighbors, reaching
as far south as the Mediterranean and east to the Baltic Sea.
The Vikings raided all over, occupied some of the conquered territories, and followed
that, in some instances, with colonization. At one time, the Vikings controlled sizeable
portions of what are now Scotland, Ireland and England, as well as holding territory
in France, Russia and elsewhere.
In the beginning of this expansion period, looting and plundering was high on the
Vikings' to-do lists. But later they began to notice the fertile fields, trees for
building, pastures for grazing, and likely locations for commerce. They settled -
and left their lasting mark on European language, law and custom.
Swords into plowshares
Viking expansion to the west involved a different set of people, who sallied forth
for a different set of reasons. Westward emigrants were mostly Norwegians seeking
new farmland. Politics were also involved. Many of the emigrants were local bigwigs
and prosperous farmers - what we might call upper-middle-class - who were irritated
by an increasingly centralized power structure. So along with fertile fields, they
were looking for freedom.
The land of ice - and Irish
The first significant body of land to the west was Iceland. But when the first Vikings
got there in about 860 A.D., having been blown off course, they found that a number
of Irish hermit monks had arrived first.
These religious men had drifted west in little skin boats called coracles, confident
that their Christian God would land them someplace where they could be alone. But
the monks couldn't stand their new neighbors, the pagan Vikings. Concluding that
the neighborhood was going to ruin, the Irish left in a huff. (A huff is not another
kind of boat.)
The Viking settlement of Iceland continued for a little over a hundred years until
it, too, began to fill up. Conditions were ripe for further expansion, but to where?
Erik the Redneck?
Around 930, another storm-driven sailor returned to Iceland to report that he had
seen more land to the west - but that it didn't look like much, with all its rock
and ice. So people pretty much ignored it, until Erik the Red came along.
Stories suggest that Erik was a foul-tempered guy who didn't mind an occasional bar
brawl. His disputatious nature, and perhaps a couple of killings here and there,
did little to enhance his reputation. Eventually he was asked to leave the island.
Prizing independence, he turned thumbs down on the settled lands to the east, and
packed his family in a ship for a visit to the fabled Greenland (although the name
Greenland came later).
Home alone
Erik found Greenland with apparently little trouble (head west, stop when the water
does). As he followed the coast south and west, the climate grew warmer and the land
greener. They chose to settle on the southern tip of the huge island, and called
the settlement Brattahlid. In a clever public relations move, Erik called the island
Greenland, probably guessing correctly that a pretty name would be more likely to
lure new settlers.
As with Iceland, Vikings were not Greenland's first inhabitants. Eskimos (Inuit)
had been there first, but had moved far to the north, where the climate suited them
better. The two groups never met.
Leif doesn't fall far from the tree
Meanwhile, Erik's son Leif was growing up and looking for some fun. At about the
same time, a Viking named Bjarni was heading for Greenland from Iceland and got blown
off course. (Note that the most important moments of the Vikings' westward expansion
involved uncontrollable ships.) Bjarni eventually sighted land, but it didn't look
like Greenland, so he turned away and headed northwest until he got it right.
Bjarni's story of a land farther west got Leif's attention. He saw a chance to carry
on a family tradition. "Dad," he might have said, "Can I have the
boat this weekend? Some friends and I want to go discover the New World."
And therein lies a whole 'nuther story.
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