L'Anse aux Meadows

10/7/16-10/10/16 (Shenandoah National park experience) One the way- I’m on my way to Shenandoah National park that is in Virginia. I plan to stay for three days at one of the cabins in the park. It’s only 75 miles away from the bustle of Washington D.C. I hope that we get two do a lot of cool things like hiking and I hope to learn a lot more about it than I already know. I did a little research on my own to figure out what are the basics of the park, why it is a national park, and the usual…

It has been widely accepted that Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas. There is undisputable evidence which proves that in fact, other civilizations had first sailed to the Americas. Some of those civilizations are the Viking/Norse and the Polynesians. Who was Christopher Columbus? Columbus was an Italian navigator, who sailed westward across the Atlantic, in his search of new routes to Asia. During the voyage, he indeed reached land, but it was no Asia. He landed on what is known today…

According to the film “Nova: The Vikings”, produced by PBS, trade played an important role in Viking expansion into the world. As Vikings learned of new places and treasures that were not well guarded they began to raid. The site of Birka was an early Viking trade center that was occupied for hundreds of years. It was one of the busiest and richest seaports in Scandinavia that connected the Vikings with much of Eastern Europe. Archaeological evidence from the site indicates that Birka housed…

The first historical contact of a European with Canada was when Norse Vikings landed in L'Anse aux Meadows, New Newfoundland at the turn of the 2nd millennium. It was not till Italian John Cabot 1497, sailing under the banner of King Henry VII of England, did another European come into contact with Canada. However, it was Jacques Cartier of France who was the first explorer to explore the Canadian wilderness in depth, and declared the area around the St.Lawrence River in the name of King Francis…

like Vinland and L'Anse, they became aware of a native people in the area. Archeologists theorize these people were either the early Eskimos or Thule Inuits, who were a nomadic group that travelled throughout the Arctic Circle in search of whales for food; therefore, they were well adapted to the harsh Arctic climate (Berman). Erik the Red found evidence of a native group on his first expedition to Greenland, and Lief made contact with natives in 1001 during his exploration of L'Anse and…

past reports from Iceland gave enough evidence for an actual Viking settlement to be discovered, “But archeology is actually proving that a lot of these stories have a good basis in fact, so much so that Helge Ingstad could use them to find the L'Anse aux Meadows site [an archeological site in Newfoundland believed to have been a Viking settlement]" (PBS.com). This discovery of a Viking settlement proves the theory that the Vikings actually settled into many different regions. While literature…

The Vikings uncommon military tactics along with their strong willed shieldmaidens often intimidated Frankish rulers, many Frankish rulers would even to pay off the Vikings in hopes of preventing farther attacks on their subjects. This did backfire on what is now Paris, in 841CE Frankish King Charles payed a Viking leader 7000 livres of silver and gold for the freedom of Paris, this would be the equivalent of 17,429.30US dollars (without inflation). After hearing tales of how generous the…

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…

Greenlanders and Eirik the Red’s Saga – which recount the discovery and attempted settlement of what is now North America. These sagas which have long been thought of as unreliable historic accounts, are being re-examined after the discovery of L’Anse aux Meadows, a Norse settlement in Canada. Although they are invaluable resources that have provided us with a deeper understanding of Norse exploration, the stories the sagas recount are simply too ambiguous to be considered a factual primary…

The Vikings Ruthless Raiders or Crafty Survivalists Upon review of the interview with archeologist William Fitzhugh, Who Were the Vikings?, one has to wonder if the long standing view of the Vikings as ruthless raiders is an accurate description. Fitzhugh argues that the Vikings, while a ruthless band, were in fact fighting for their own survival as best they could. He presents a picture of the Vikings as Scandinavian peoples who have garnered a biased narrative. This narrative is characterized…