History a People and a Nation
Lecture Two: Early Settlement of North America
I. The Vikings: First European Visitors to the New World:
--Vikings: groups of seafaring warriors from Scandinavia region (modern day Sweden, Norway, Denmark) most of them small farmers.
--Between 750-1050 A.D. clans and family groups unite and begin raiding expeditions to Russia and Western Europe in search of agricultural produce and other riches.
--By the end of the first millennia AD (late 9th century-10th century) a small group of them ventured west on the Atlantic, settling Iceland and Greenland
--930 there are 30,000 Norse (as newly Christianized Vikings are called) in Iceland
--By 982 there is evidence that under the direction of Erik the Red they had discovered and settled in Greenland and had developed significant farming communities.
--An adventurous lot by nature, a large party of these Vikings under Leif Erickson explore further west after 1000
--This group takes residence in what they call ‘Vineland’ due its soil’s greater capacity to bear fruit—located in modern day New Found Land (this settlement was unearthed by archaeologists in 1961 at a place called L’Ainse aux Meadows).
--Establish permanent living arrangements in the form of log longhouses.
--After only ten years, though, this first European settlement in North America was abandoned after only 10 years; Norse continued to visit the area and trade with the Indians periodically.
-- Their lack of numbers in the face of competition and sometimes hostile relations with Native Americans is one of the main reasons for their withdrawal
--There are not many Vikings overall in Greenland either, an additional reason they cannot sustain the more far-flung settlement in North America; though they do stay in Greenland for an additional 400 years.
--The main lesson to take away from the ‘failure’ of the Vikings to establish a permanent settlement in North America is that future colonizers will need critical mass to maintain control of a
I. The Vikings: First European Visitors to the New World:
--Vikings: groups of seafaring warriors from Scandinavia region (modern day Sweden, Norway, Denmark) most of them small farmers.
--Between 750-1050 A.D. clans and family groups unite and begin raiding expeditions to Russia and Western Europe in search of agricultural produce and other riches.
--By the end of the first millennia AD (late 9th century-10th century) a small group of them ventured west on the Atlantic, settling Iceland and Greenland
--930 there are 30,000 Norse (as newly Christianized Vikings are called) in Iceland
--By 982 there is evidence that under the direction of Erik the Red they had discovered and settled in Greenland and had developed significant farming communities.
--An adventurous lot by nature, a large party of these Vikings under Leif Erickson explore further west after 1000
--This group takes residence in what they call ‘Vineland’ due its soil’s greater capacity to bear fruit—located in modern day New Found Land (this settlement was unearthed by archaeologists in 1961 at a place called L’Ainse aux Meadows).
--Establish permanent living arrangements in the form of log longhouses.
--After only ten years, though, this first European settlement in North America was abandoned after only 10 years; Norse continued to visit the area and trade with the Indians periodically.
-- Their lack of numbers in the face of competition and sometimes hostile relations with Native Americans is one of the main reasons for their withdrawal
--There are not many Vikings overall in Greenland either, an additional reason they cannot sustain the more far-flung settlement in North America; though they do stay in Greenland for an additional 400 years.
--The main lesson to take away from the ‘failure’ of the Vikings to establish a permanent settlement in North America is that future colonizers will need critical mass to maintain control of a