Infopanel 5

From Scandinavia to Iceland

While the first known Viking raids concentrated on both sides of the English Channel and northern Ireland, the Atlantic archipelagos were settled from the Scandinavian mainland at around the same time. 

A myth widespread in the Middle Ages attributes the reasons for this to the violent unification of the empire by the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair, which is said to have prompted many freedom-loving small farmers to emigrate. For the settlement of Iceland, which was largely completed between 870 and 930, this myth continues to shape identity to this day. Irish monks had previously settled there in search of solitude, but this came to an end with the arrival of the Scandinavian settlers, causing the monks to disappear. Whether this really happened as peacefully as Icelandic historiography claims is doubtful.

From Greenland to Newfoundland

After his banishment from Iceland in 982, Erik the Red turned westward and explored Greenland, which until then had only been known from hearsay. He had given the ice-covered island its somewhat inappropriate name for promotional reasons. This enabled him to lead a fleet of 25 Icelanders willing to emigrate to Greenland as early as 986.  Ten years later, new settlement areas were developed further north-northwest, where the so-called West Settlement (today around Godthåb) was founded. 

A son of Erik the Red, Leif Eriksson, went down in history as the discoverer of America, although he was by no means the first to sight land further west. At least he led one of the documented expeditions to the newly discovered land, today's Newfoundland. The Greenlanders settled there and built a few houses. However, due to internal disputes and fighting with the indigenous people, the small colony survived only a few years.