Throughout all of these hardships they faced, they prevailed in their goal and never stopped moving across the Atlantic, leading to one of the greatest contributions to Western Civilization of all, the first European discovery of the Western World. This exploration was conducted by one of the bravest and most impactful Vikings in History, Lief Erickson, where his bravery led him from Greenland all the way to Canada, where he and his crew established the Vinland settlement in L'Anse aux Meadows and became the first European settlement, let alone Viking settlement to reach North America. Although there has been controversy over the validity of the Vikings reaching North America, the excavation of L'Anse aux Meadows in the 1960's gave yield
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The Vikings had created a vast system for many different cultures to trade within, which helped allow for the spread of not only goods and services, but also of ideas, cultures, and backgrounds. A key element in their domination over trade was their Viking Longboats, which helped the Vikings go to faraway lands to acquire "goods they couldn't get at home: silk, glass, sword-quality steel, raw silver and silver coins that they could melt down and rework. In return, they offered furs, grindstones, Baltic amber, walrus ivory, walrus hides and iron" (Lemonick and Dorfman 1). The key element of Viking success and European success as a whole is the ability for them to connect via an intercultural trade network, and being able to trade with other nations for goods they needed and to get rid of surplus goods they have stored up, and the Vikings contribution to this trade network in not only establishing trading ports and networks, but also inputting unique material such as the ivory and various animal furs for a more generalized spread of resources. The trade routes the Vikings established initially started locally, around the Baltic Sea, but then later expanded to "Europe and Britain, and then up the Russian rivers… [and] reached Rome, Baghdad, the Caspian Sea, probably Africa too," as well as India and the Middle East (Lemonick and Dorfman 1). Because the Vikings had access to the seas by the way of the longboats, they easily connected with other parts of the globe and expanded the trading of goods and services. Looking back at the Viking civilization now, most cultures look upon with awe at how globally the Vikings traveled, from Greenland to India, establishing potential trade routes as they went,
The Vikings had created a vast system for many different cultures to trade within, which helped allow for the spread of not only goods and services, but also of ideas, cultures, and backgrounds. A key element in their domination over trade was their Viking Longboats, which helped the Vikings go to faraway lands to acquire "goods they couldn't get at home: silk, glass, sword-quality steel, raw silver and silver coins that they could melt down and rework. In return, they offered furs, grindstones, Baltic amber, walrus ivory, walrus hides and iron" (Lemonick and Dorfman 1). The key element of Viking success and European success as a whole is the ability for them to connect via an intercultural trade network, and being able to trade with other nations for goods they needed and to get rid of surplus goods they have stored up, and the Vikings contribution to this trade network in not only establishing trading ports and networks, but also inputting unique material such as the ivory and various animal furs for a more generalized spread of resources. The trade routes the Vikings established initially started locally, around the Baltic Sea, but then later expanded to "Europe and Britain, and then up the Russian rivers… [and] reached Rome, Baghdad, the Caspian Sea, probably Africa too," as well as India and the Middle East (Lemonick and Dorfman 1). Because the Vikings had access to the seas by the way of the longboats, they easily connected with other parts of the globe and expanded the trading of goods and services. Looking back at the Viking civilization now, most cultures look upon with awe at how globally the Vikings traveled, from Greenland to India, establishing potential trade routes as they went,