Vinland

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For the historical novel by George Mackay Brown, which depicts Leif Eiríksson's voyage, see Vinland (novel).

Vinland was the name given to an area of North America by the norseman Leif Eiríksson, about the year 1000 AD.

In 1960 archaeological evidence of Norse settlement in North America was found at L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern part of the island of Newfoundland, in what is now the Canadian Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Although this proved conclusively the Vikings' pre-Columbian discovery of North America, whether this exact site is the Vinland of the Norse accounts is still a subject of debate. It must be recognised that the Vikings did not perceive the exploration and settlement of Greenland and Vinland as any different from that of founding Iceland. It was merely an extension of their homeland, and notions of a different world only surfaced upon meeting the natives.

There is a consensus among scholars that the Vikings did reach North America, approximately five centuries prior to John Cabot.

Contents

[edit] Etymology

The name Vinland has been interpreted in two ways: traditionally as Vínland ("wine-land") and more recently as Vinland ("plain land" or "pasture-land").

[edit] Wine-land

The earliest etymology of "Vinland" is found in Adam of Bremen's 11th-century Latin Descriptio insularum Aquilonis ("Description of the Northern Islands"): "Moreover, he has also reported one island discovered by many in that ocean, which is called Winland, for the reason that grapevines grow there by themselves, producing the best wine." (Praeterea unam adhuc insulam recitavit a multis in eo repertam occeano, quae dicitur Winland, eo quod ibi vites sponte nascantur, vinum optimum ferentes). The implication is that the first element is Old Norse vín (Latin vinum), "wine".

This explanation is essentially repeated in the 13th-century Grœnlendinga saga, which provides a circumstantial account of the discovery of Vinland, and its being named from the grapes (vínber) found there.

[edit] Pasture-land

A more recent interpretation of the name Vinland is that the first element is not vín but vin, an Old Norse word with the meaning 'meadow, pasture'. (Proto-Norse winju.) The word is a common suffix in old Norwegian place names - but because it mostly has been weakened (into -in, -en, -e, -a, and more), it is often hard to recognize in its modern forms. See, for example, Hornindal; Bergen, Løten, Røyken, Sande, Skodje, Time; Halsa; Bodø; Gjerdrum.

Vin is a common name on old farms from Norse times in Norway, and present-day use of the word are Bjørgvin, the Norse (and Icelandic) name of Bergen, Norway, and Granvin, where -vin translates into 'pasture' in both. A poetic Norse name of the Danish island of Sjælland (Zealand) was Viney 'pasture island'. The word can also be a name in itself (see Vinje).

A cognate name also existed in Old English (Anglo-Saxon), in name of the village Woolland in Dorset, England: This was written "Winlande" in the 1086 Domesday Book, and it is interpreted as 'meadow land' or 'pasture land'.

[edit] Historical accounts

The island ("insula") of Vinland ("Winland") was first recorded by Adam of Bremen, a German (Saxon) geographer and historian, in his book Descriptio insularum Aquilonis of approximately 1075. To write it he visited Danish king Svend Estridson, who had knowledge of the northern lands.

The main source of information about the Viking voyages to Vinland can be derived from two Icelandic sagas, The Saga of Eric the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders. These sagas were written down approximately 250 years after the settlement of Greenland and are open to considerable breadth of interpretation. Combining those two, it seems that there were a few separate attempts to establish a Norse settlement in Vinland, including one led by Thorfinn Karlsefni, none of which lasted for more than two years. The disbandment of the small Viking colony probably had several causes. Disagreements among the men about the few women that followed on the trip, and fighting with the skrælingar (Native Americans) already living in the area, are both indicated in the written sources.

The story tells that after the settlement of Greenland by the Vikings a merchant by the name of Bjarni Herjólfsson set sail from Iceland to Greenland to visit his father, a new settler in Greenland. His ship was blown off course by a storm and thus accidentally discovered the east coast of North America in 985 or 986. It was late in the summer, and he did not want to stay over winter in this new land, which he noted was covered with forests, so he did not land and managed to reach Greenland before winter fell. He then afterwards told the story and sold the ships to Leifr Eiríksson, who, according to the stories, sailed back to those areas many times. With wood being in very short supply in Greenland, the settlers there were eager to explore the riches of this new land. Some years later Leifr Eiríksson explored this coast, and established a short-lived colony on a part of the coast that he called Vinland.

The first discovery made by Leif was according to the stories Helluland ("flatstone land"), possibly Baffin Island. Markland ("wood land") - which is now Labrador - was discovered next (there is some evidence that the tree line in northern Labrador has been diminished or eroded since Ericson's time) and lastly Vinland. "Winland" is now what we call L'Anse aux Meadows. The expedition included both families and livestocks and the aims were to begin new settlements. "Straumfjörðr" (stream, strong currents cf near-by Strait of Belle Isle and Belle Isle) was the name of the northern settlement and "Hóp" (lagoon) was the name for the warmer southern settlement. Only two Viking leaders actually overwintered in Vinland, the second being Thorvald Eiríksson, Leifr's brother, who was killed the second summer. However, according to the stories, the idea was soon abandoned due to conflicts with the "skrælingar". New voyages for woodcutting etc. seem to have been discussed even as late as the 1300s.

Until the 19th century, the idea of Viking settlement in North America was considered by historians to be the product of mere folk tales. The first scholarly theory for the idea was put forth in 1837 by Danish literary historian and antiquarian Carl Christian Rafn in his book Antiquitates Americanæ. Rafn had made an exhaustive examination of the sagas, as well as potential settlement sites on the North American coast and concluded that Vinland was a real place in North America that had been settled by the Norse.

However, when the Vikings settled, they did not have good relationships with the aboriginal people. The Vikings raided nearby villages and killed whoever failed to escape into the woods, but despite hostilities, furs, cloth and other goods were traded between the Vikings and aboriginals. When war was finally settled, the Vikings built houses (similar to the ones in Greenland) out of sod (turf) with clay floors, since the sod provided good insulation and stopped rainwater going into the home.

The Vikings caught fish, hunted game animals, picked berries, and had brought meat, cattle, and poultry from Iceland. The cattle not only provided food, but some also produced milk (and eventually dairy products). The chickens not only provided meat but also eggs, and their chicks maintained the poultry system.

In 1008 AD, Thorfinn Karlsefni brought sixty people (including five women) to Vinland. He continued the practice of bringing cattle and sheep from Europe, and traded furs, skins etc. with the aboriginal people.

[edit] Localization debate

Historians do not agree on the location of Vinland. Rafn and Erik Wahlgren believed that Vinland was probably in New England. In the 1960s a Viking settlement was discovered and excavated at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, and some historians believe that this was Leif's settlement, thus connecting Vinland to Newfoundland. Others have followed Rafn in sharing the belief that Vinland was farther to the south. In this view, L'Anse aux Meadows was perhaps part of an undocumented later attempt at settlement.

Image:Authentic Viking recreation.jpg
Viking colonisation site at L'Anse-aux-Meadows, Newfoundland
Image:Carlb-ansemeadows-vinland-02.jpg
L'Anse-aux-Meadows, Newfoundland

Those who believe Newfoundland is the location of Vinland generally think that settlements farther south are unlikely, because maintaining such a distant lifestyle from the Norse homelands would have been far too difficult for the Vikings of the time. Iron and other convenient resources would have been too difficult to sustain on any workable level, as the later English settlers in New England would find. Costly fights with native populations so far from supply lines would have been another deterrent.

An argument for placing Vinland farther south is presented in Adam of Bremen's account. In his Descriptio insularum Aquilonis he wrote that the name Vinland comes from the grapevines growing there. He received this information from king Svend Estridson.

There are a number of theories to explain this discrepancy:

  • It was an early marketing attempt, something like the naming of Greenland by Erik the Red. In this theory, Leif's naming of Markland and Vinland was to encourage others to explore and settle there.
  • A theory subject to much debate among scholars is that there was a misinterpretation of short-i *Vinland as long-i Vínland, as described above. This theory can be combined with the previous one: Estridson might have embellished Adam's mistake if he believed it would increase the fame of Vinland for joint-financed ventures he would no doubt claim for himself. One problem with this theory is why the sagas outside of Adam of Bremen's account also refer to long-i Vínland, and mention vines as well. Since the sagas were written later, an explanation for this could be that the sagas were somehow influenced by Adam of Bremen's account.
  • Alternatively Estridson was joking or lying, or even referring to similarly sounding Wendland instead in an earlier account, where grapes did grow, and this was later confused with Vinland by Adam of Bremen.
  • Another theory is that we have not discovered the true location of Vinland yet, and it is further south, where grapes do grow. More subtly Vinland could be seen as a gateway or northern part, in reach of more temperate areas where grapes grew.
  • Another possibility is that later, longer voyages further south, reporting Concord style grapes confused the story told about the settlement, as there were individuals of the crews who had ventured out on their own to return with tales.
  • Still another possibility is that the reference is to any of the abundant berries in Newfoundland, including gooseberries or blueberries, which are both abundant near L'Anse-aux-Meadows and are both suitable for winemaking (blueberries look very much like small black grapes).
  • Finally it has been speculated that grapes did in fact grow in Newfoundland (47-51°N) in the past but have not until 2002, when a successful vineyard was established in Gambo, Newfoundland, 48 50'°N. The time period of the Vinland settlement corresponds with the Medieval Warm Period (from about the 10th century to about the 14th century). Water temperatures in the northern hemisphere during this time were up to 1°C warmer, allowing the planting of vineyards as far north as the coastal zones of the Baltic Sea (ca. 56°N) and southern England (ca. 51°N).

While the theory that Vinland was further south is a legitimate line of inquiry, for some the motivation to search Vinland further south could have been more personal to justify or romanticize the Scandinavian colonization of areas in the present-day United States. There have been several instances where evidence of pre-Columbian Norse explorers in the United States has become a source of controversial debate, for example, the Kensington Runestone. However, the Maine Penny is regarded by many as a legitimate artifact. Alleged Runestones found throughout America are often used to attempt to show proof of pre-Columbian Norse settlement, but this is not thought to represent Vinland.

[edit] Possible locations

Including some of the possibilities mentioned above, popular locations for the possible site of Vinland generally include, in order from north to south:

[edit] Other usages of the term Vinland

Image:Vinland flag.svg
Unofficial Vinland flag.

[edit] Ethno-cultural uses of the term Vinland

Vinland is also used as the symbolic name for the cultural and geographic landscape of Canada (Upper Vinland) and the United States (Lower Vinland) which some adherents of modern Germanic Neopaganism groups use to distinguish themselves from other ethno-cultural groups who share the same geographical areas of North America.

[edit] Vinland flag

Main article: Vinland flag

The term "Vinnland", a variation of "Vinland", is commonly used by the American musical group Type O Negative, who created a flag based around this association.

[edit] Other

The name "Vinland" has historically been also an alternative spelling of Finland, for example in some Dutch maps from the 18th century.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Former Colonies and Territories in Canada
Viking:Helluland • Markland • VinlandImage:Canadian Red Ensign.svg
Portuguese:Labrador • Newfoundland • Nova Scotia
French:New France  (Acadia • Canada • Terre Neuve)
ScottishNova Scotia • Cape Breton
English and British:Newfoundland • Rupert's Land • Nova Scotia • Quebec • Lower and Upper Canada • New Brunswick • Prince Edward Island • Cape Breton • United Canada • British Columbia • Vancouver Island • United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia • North-Western Territory • Stikine Territory
ang:Wīnland

ca:Vinland da:Vinland de:Vinland et:Vinland es:Vinland eo:Vinlando fr:Vinland id:Vinland it:Vinland he:וינלנד la:Vinlandia lt:Vinlandas nl:Wijnland ja:ヴィンランド no:Vinland pl:Winlandia pt:Vinland ru:Винланд fi:Vinland sh:Vinland sr:Vinland sv:Vinland

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