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Eiríkr raudi (Eirik the Red) emigrated from Jæren in Norway
to Iceland in 981 or 982 in search of a new land. The reason for
his departure was apparently some unexplained local murders. From
Iceland, Eirik made lots of travels, and on one of them found
Greenland, which was soon colonized. Eirik the Red was very good at convincing people to come and settle in Greenland. Though there wasn't a lot of "green" there, the name he gave his land was attractive and might have led people to believe that conditions were better there than they were in reality.
It was Eirik the Red's son, Leif, who was going to make the biggest discovery:
The dicovery of America
The Icelandic born Leif Eirikson, son of Eirik the Red (see
above), followed in his father's footsteps and discovered more
new land: He found a land he called Helluland (Flatstone
Land, probably Baffin Island), then he sailed to Markland
(Forest Land, Labrador), and from there to Vinland. The
account of his voyage is preserved in Gronlendinga saga.
Eiriks saga rauda has a different version: according to this,
Leif put out to sea from Norway, in order to sail home to
Greenland; he was driven off course, and came to an unknown land
where he found self-sown wheat and vine trees. A new expedition,
led by Toifinnr Karlsefni, set out for this new land, and in
connection with his expedition, the saga calls the land Vinland.
Traditions, it will be seen, differ, but they agree that a new
land far west in the Atlantic had been discovered. The year is
about A.D. 1000.
Many have tried to locate the place where Leif and his crew -
and the later expeditions after them - settled in Vinland. They
based their research on what information the sagas could give,
the geographical descriptions, astronomical data etc. One theory
is that Vinland meant the land of the vines, where grapes grow,
and thus it was postulated that Vinland must lie in those parts
of North America where wild grapes grow - Massachusetts, New
York, Rhode Island and Virginia. But another theory, however, is
that the word vin had another meaning, namely the Old
Norse terme for "grassland".
A parentheses on the name "Vinland" and its
meaning...
Even in Norway today we can find remnants of "vin"
meaning "grassland": more than 1000 farm names have a
component of "vin" in them. Farm names with the
"-vin" component were farms or grasslands belonging to
bigger farms. In Oslo, well known regions that today are
part of the city, used to be farms and farmlands, and the names
reflect it, though today most of the old "-vin" ending
have worn down to "-en":
Bjølsen, Skøyen, Ullern, Disen, Økern, Grefsen are some
examples.
Related links:
Articles: The Vikings
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From overviews of regional history and culture to local sights, activities, and opportunities, Greenland & The Arctic highlights all kinds of opportunities, from transportation options between small towns and remote regions to rare shopping opportunities and plenty of nature.
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