In the Viking era (IX-XI centuries), the Scandinavians- Vikings traveled from Ireland to Russia, engaged in trade, hunting and robbery. Around 860 , the Vikings discovered the island, calling it " Iceland " ("Ice Country"), and founded a number of colonies there. Making frequent voyages to the West, the Vikings are now considered to be the first of the Europeans to visit America, in addition, during the Viking era, the first genetic contact also occurred between Europeans and North Americans [1] .
Around 900 , a ship set sail from Norway under the command of Gunnbjorn. He lost his course, and the Vikings saw an island ( Greenland ). The discovery of Gunnbjörn inspired other Normans on new expeditions. The creator of the Greenland colonies, Eric Red, was expelled from Norway around 985 . He used the link to discover new lands. After a difficult voyage, he managed to find the land discovered by Gunnbjorn. Its climate was very severe, but Eric Red called it Greenland ("Green Country"). In 986, Eric assembled a group of Vikings ready to settle on the island he discovered. When the team arrived, it was summer, and managed to establish trade with Scandinavia. Soon, one of the settlers, Björni Hjorlfson, stumbled across an unknown land due to a storm, whose hills were covered with forests (possibly the northeastern coast of America). Hjorlfson was impatient to come to Greenland to tell others about his discovery.
Eric the Red's son, Leif Erickson , was the first of the Vikings to come ashore in America. Around 1000, he visited the regions he named Helluland (“the country of boulders”, now Baffin Land ), Markland (“forest country”, Labrador Peninsula), Vinland (“wine country”, possibly New England or Newfoundland ). Erickson's expedition wintered in Vinlandia and returned to Greenland.
Leif's brother Thorvald Erickson founded a settlement in America in 1002. Soon, however, they were attacked by local Indians , whom the Vikings called skrellings (apparently Algonkin tribes). Thorvald fell in battle, and his companions returned home. The descendants of Eric the Red made two more attempts to colonize Vinland. The first involved his daughter-in-law Goodrid. Having settled in America, she excelled in trading with scrolling, but still left America. The second was headed by the daughter of Eric the Red Freudis, but she was not able to establish good relations with the Indians, and the Vikings left Vinland. Thus, the settlement in Vinland lasted several decades.
The Normans discovery hypothesis of America existed for many years, but evidence could not be found. Even the map of the north-east coast of America, which was attributed to the times of the Vikings, was, according to some signs, a fake. But in 1960, at Newfoundland (Canada), finally, they found the remains of the Viking settlement L'Ans-o-Meadows .
In 2010, the remains of a woman were examined in Iceland and it was established that she was an Indian , arrived in Iceland around the year 1000 and stayed there [2] .
See also
- Vikings
- Viking expansion
- Discovery of America
- Vinland
- Vinland Map
- Greenlanders (Scandinavian settlers)
Notes
Literature
- Anokhin G. I. To the Ethnic History of the Greenland Normans // Romania and Barbaria. To the ethnic history of the peoples of foreign Europe: Sat. / Ed. S. A. Arutyunova et al. - M .: Nauka, 1989 .-- S. 164-194.
- Bakels D. America through the eyes of the discoverers / Per. from English 3. M. Kanevsky. - M.: Thought, 1969. - 408 p.: Ill.
- Buyer Regis. Vikings: History and Civilization / Per. with fr. M. Yu. Nekrasov. - SPb. : Eurasia, 2012 .-- 416 p. - 3000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-91852-028-4 .
- Vikings. Raids from the North / Transl. from English L. Florentieva. - M .: Terra, 1996 .-- 168 p.: Ill. with. - (Encyclopedia "Disappeared Civilizations"). - ISBN 5-300-00824-3 .
- Vozgrin V.E. Greenland Normans // Questions of History. - 1987. - No. 2. - S. 186-187.
- Jones Gwyn. Normans. Conquerors of the North Atlantic. - M.: Tsentrpoligraf, 2003 .-- 301 p.
- Dougherty Martin J. Viking World. The daily life of Odin’s Children / Per. from English V. L. Silaeva. - M.: Publishing House "E", 2015. - 224 p.: Ill. - Series “The Dark Side of History”. - ISBN 978-5-699-84607-8 .
- Ingstad Helge. In the footsteps of Happy Happy / Transl. from nor. L. L. Zhdanova. - L .: Gidrometeoizdat, 1969 .-- 246 p.
- Keram Kurt. First american. The riddle of the Indians of the pre-Columbian era / Per. with him. M.V. Voronkovskaya, N.A. Savinkova. Ed. V.I. Gulyaev . - M .: Progress, 1979. - 336 p.
- Affectionate G.V. Vikings: Campaigns, discoveries, culture. - Minsk: MFTSP, 2004 .-- 322 p. - Series "Peoples of the Earth."
- Mowet Farley. From the Aryans to the Vikings, or Who discovered America. In search of the Arctic Eldorado. - M: Eksmo, 2006 .-- 480 p. - A series of "Secrets of ancient civilizations." - ISBN 5-699-05478-2 .
- Nepomnyashchy N. N. So who discovered America? - M.: Knowledge, 1990 .-- 48 p. - Series “New in life, science, technology. Question mark". - Vol. No. 11. - ISBN 5-07-000512-X .
- Roesdal Elsé. The world of the Vikings. Vikings at home and abroad / Translation from dates. F.K. Zolotarevskaya. - St. Petersburg: The World Word, 2001 .-- 272 p.
- Stringholm Anders Magnus. Viking Campaigns / Per. with him. A. Shemyakin. Ed. A.A. Khlevova. - M .: LLC "Publishing house AST", 2002. - 736 p. - Series “Historical Library”.