Norse Colonization in the North Atlantic

"The next thing now to be related is that Bjarne Herjulfson went out from Greenland and visited Erik Jarl, and the Jarl received him well. Bjarne told about his voyages, that he had seen unknown lands, and people thought he had shown no curiosity, when he had nothing to relate about these countries, and this became somewhat a matter of reproach to him. Bjarne became one of the Jarl's courtiers, and came back to Greenland the summer after. There was now much talk about voyages of discovery. Leif, the son of Erik the Red, of Brattahlid, went to Bjarne Herjulfson, and bought the ship of him, and engaged men for it, so that there were thirty-five men in all. "

-Saga of the Greenlanders, referring to the first voyage of Lief Erikson in 1008 CE.

The Norse colonization of the North Atlantic was a series of migrations from Scandinavia which occurred over a period of 300 years. Over this period of time, several waves of settlement reached proximal islands such as the Shetlands and Iceland and later pushed further and further out reaching Greenland, Vinland, and finally the Mossfells.

There are three sagas which provide accounts of the westernmost exploration of the Atlantic: The Saga of Erik the Red (Eri.), The Saga of the Greenlanders (Grn.), and The Saga of Thorkyr the Unlucky (Tho.). While each of these accounts differ slightly between each other, the main events all agree with each other.

Erik the Red and Greenland

By 950 CE, Iceland was settled by many farmers, fishermen, and was well on its way to becoming integrated with the rest of the Nordic realms of the North Atlantic. Around 982 CE, Erik Thorvaldsson (Erik the Red) was exiled for three years from Iceland due to him murdering neighbors who murdered his Thralls (slaves). During his exile, Erik voyaged west exploring rumors of a new land that had been sighted by another Norseman, Snæbjörn galti Hólmsteinsson. Upon his return to Iceland after his exile, he called this land "Greenland" in hopes of providing better advertising his discovery. This proved a useful tactic, as 25 boats of settlers made the trip to Greenland, with only 11 sinking during the voyage.

This led to the establishment of the Western and Eastern Settlements of Greenland. In the Eastern Settlement, Erik established his farming estate of Brattahlíð, and became both incredibly wealthy and the premiere chieftain of Greenland.

Leif Eriksson and Vinland

One of Erik the Red's sons would continue the wave of exploration westward. Around roughly 1008 CE, Leif Eriksson would lead a crew of thirty five men to investigate sightings of land west of Greenland. The group would describe three distinct lands: Helluland, a land of desolate glaciers and flat rocky beaches; Markland, a land of white beaches and sloping forested hills; and Vinland, a land of bountiful fields and plentiful berries. In Vinland, Leif and his crew established a small settlement called Leifsbudir (Leif's Booths, now thought to be the L'Anse aux Meadows site) and wintered over before returning to Greeland the following Spring. Leif never encountered any natives (called Skraelings in Norse) during his voyages, and did not find any evidence of human habitation. Leif rescued a group of Icelandic castaways on his return and brought with him many riches and great tales of the new land he had explored. This earned him the moniker, Leif the Lucky.

Leif Erikson would never return to the lands he discovered, and remained in the Eastern Settlement of Garðar. He would become chieftain of Greenland after the death of his father. Leif would pass away between 1019-1025 CE and would be succeeded by his three sons Thorgils, Thorkell, and Thorkyr.

Thorvald Erikson and Thorfinn Karlsefni's failed Voyages

Upon the success of his brother, Thorvald Erikson would also arrange a voyage to the new lands in search of riches and potential locations for settlement. Thorvald would reach the coast of Markland and discover nine native Americans sleeping under their boats. This marked the first interaction between Europeans and Native Americans. However this interaction ended in bloodshed, with Thorvald and his men killing eight of the nine of the "Skraelings", and the last native bringing a war party to enact retribution on Thorvald. Thorvald and his men were able to push the natives away, but not before an arrow hit Thorvald in the armpit, causing him to bleed out quickly. Thorvald was then buried in a Christian fashion, and his remaining crew returned to Greenland.

Another voyage would eventually be led by the wealthy Icelandic merchant Thorfinn Karlsefni. The Sagas differ on the amount of settlers which accompanied Thorfinn, but eventualy Thorfinn would reach the settlement of Leifsbudir with a large group of settlers (anywhere from 60-140), his pregnant wife Gudrid Throbjarnardottir, and the sister or half-sister of Leif Erikson Freydis Eriksdottir.

Thorfinn would stay three years in Vinland, and would also explore more of the area. In the Eri. and the Tho., Thorfinn would establish a new settlement of Hop to the south of Leifsbudir. In contrast, in Grn., Thorfinn would remain in Vinland and establish a settlement near Leifsbudir. In either case, the area is noted to be bountiful and full of ample game, fish, and vegetation.

In all three Sagas, Thorfinn eventually encounters more natives and interactions are peaceful at first with trade occuring between the Skraelings and the Norse. However after the natives are startled by a bull which the Norse had brought with them and they attacked Thorfinn's settlement. During the battle, Freydis emerges and scares off the natives by tearing her shirt and slapping her bare chest with the flat of a sword. After the battle, Thorfinn decides that this voyage was costly and returns to Greenland with the remaining settlers. But not before the birth of his son Snorri Thorfinnson, who was the first person of European descent to be born in the New World.

Freydis Eriksdottir and the Lost Twenty-Seven.

Freydis Eriksdottir would eventually convince two Icelandic brothers called Helgi and Finnbogi to partake in a return trip to Liefsbudir. Freydis and the two Icelanders would bring two ships each. The Icelanders would bring thirty settlers and Freydis would bring thirty five. Upon arriving to Leifsbudir, Freydis would tell the two brothers that Leif had given control of Leifsbudir to her, and made their crews settle further inland. This would lead to a strain in relationships between the two crews.

The crews would attempt to maintain an amicable relationship by playing games with each other, however after an unspecified incident, Both crews isolated themselves from each other and refused to aid each other. Eventually Freydis would go to Helgi and Finnbogi's camp and ask them if she could take their ship back to Greenland (as it was larger than the one she had brought, and her crew was five people larger). Helgi and Finnbogi were glad that she was leaving and so they let her take the boat. However when Freydis returned to Leifsbudir, she told her husband that Helgi and Finnbogi had beaten her and so her crew would return to the brother's settlement armed, and would execute the two men.

Grn. differs from the Tho. in the following actions at Liefsbudir. In Grn. the rest of Helgi and Finnbogi's crew is killed, with Freydis herself killing the five women which accompanied them with an axe. Freydis then makes her crew promise that the murders would be kept secret and that when they return, they will say that Helgi and Finnbogi decided to stay in Vinland. Once in Greenland, the truth comes out and Leif is greatly horrified by what occurred. Leif does not take action against her sister though, and she and her descendants live the rest of their lives "having little prosperity."

In Tho. after the deaths of Helgi and Finnbogi, Freydis is unable to convince her men to kill the rest of the brothers' crew. She manages to pull an axe from her husband's hands and kill a man who was pleading for his life. After she is restrained, a tense argument between her and her husband ensues. They reach an agreement to leave the smaller boat with the remainder of Helgi and Finnbogi's crew and return to Greenland. They then leave Vinland.

Meanwhile the remainder of Helgi and Finnbogi's crew was forced to regroup. They moved into the better established settlement at Leifsbudir and managed to survive the winter with no incidents from the Skraelings. The remaining crew of 27, 5 women and 22 men, would then attempt to pilot their boat back to Greenland. However, strong winds would blow them off course to a swampy and fertile group of islands. They would locate an abandoned settlement. The de facto leader of the group, a man simply known as Hrafna, would recognize this as the area which Thorfinn Karlsefni had overwintered at called Hop. As three of the women had become pregnant and were no longer able to travel, the Twenty-Seven remained in Hop and began fortifying the settlement Thorfinn had established. On their first winter in Hop, they would encounter new Skraelings which they called "Hopflings" (the indigenous remnants of the Georges Bank Culture). The settlers, realizing they were likely outnumbered, attempted to peaceably trade with the native. They succeeded in maintaining friendly relationships with the natives, with a few men taking native wives in exchange for goods such as cowhide, wadmal, and iron. The Twenty-Seven would never return to Greenland, and would become well situated in their home.

These Twenty-Seven would remain in Hop uncontacted for the next few years until the voyage of Thorkyr Leifson stumbled upon them in search of Helgi and Finnbogi's lost crew.