The Viking Discovery Of America

Author : Gordon Campbell
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198861559
Total Pages : 268 pages
Book Rating : 4.53/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Norse America written by Gordon Campbell and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the Vikings in North America as both fact and fiction, from the westward expansion of the Norse across the North Atlantic in the tenth and eleventh centuries to the myths and fabrications about their presence there that have developed in recent centuries. Tracking the saga of the Norse across the North Atlantic to America, Norse America sets the record straight about the idea that the Vikings 'discovered' America. The journey described is a continuum, with evidence-based history and archaeology at one end, and fake history and outright fraud at the other. In between there lies a huge expanse of uncertainty: sagas that may contain shards of truth, characters that may be partly historical, real archaeology that may be interpreted through the fictions of saga, and fragmentary evidence open to responsible and irresponsible interpretation. Norse America is a book that tells two stories. The first is the westward expansion of the Norse across the North Atlantic in the tenth and eleventh centuries, ending (but not culminating) in a fleeting and ill-documented presence on the shores of the North American mainland. The second is the appropriation and enhancement of the westward narrative by Canadians and Americans who want America to have had white North European origins, who therefore want the Vikings to have 'discovered' America, and who in the advancement of that thesis have been willing to twist and manufacture evidence in support of claims grounded in an ideology of racial superiority.

Author : Helge Ingstad
Publisher : Breakwater Books
ISBN 13 : 9781550811582
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.84/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Viking Discovery of America written by Helge Ingstad and published by Breakwater Books. This book was released on 2000 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Faced with harsh conditions in their Greenland home, a group of Vikings took the reins of fate into their own hands. With incredible luck, skill and fortitude, they discovered lands filled with a profusion of wood, wild game and fertile land. In the sagas that grew from this discovery, the lands were given names that resonated with hope and promise. Almost 1000 years later, a husband and wife team united their talents. Intrigued by allusions in the ancient sagas to fabled Vinland, they considered the scholarship on Viking culture and technology; they studied maps and they researched intensively the prominent theories on Vinland's location. And finally their efforts bore fruit when a remote Newfoundland peninsula yielded up a soapstone spindle-whorl, a Viking ring pin, and what had to be the overgrown remnants of over a dozen Viking buildings.

Author : Thomas C. Holt
Publisher : Abacus
ISBN 13 : 0748113541
Total Pages : 448 pages
Book Rating : 4.45/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Meadowland written by Thomas C. Holt and published by Abacus. This book was released on 2009-10-01 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1037, a senior civil servant of the Byzantine empire faces a tedious journey to Greece, escorting the Army payroll. His only companions are a detachment of the Empire's elite Guard, recruited from Viking Scandinavia. When the wagon sheds a wheel, he passes the time talking with two veterans, who have a remarkable story to tell; the Viking discovery of America.As he records the story, years later, he also considers its effect on the fourth member of the party; a young Norwegian guardsman who went on to become King Harald Hardradi, who died invading England in 1066 ...

Author : Charles River Editors
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN 13 : 9781543005219
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.17/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Vikings in North America written by Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-02-09 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the Vikings' expeditions from medieval sagas *Includes a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents Over the centuries, the West has become fascinated by the Vikings, one of the most mysterious and interesting European civilizations. In addition to being perceived as a remarkably unique culture among its European counterparts, what's known and not known about the Vikings' accomplishments has added an intriguing aura to the historical narrative. Were they fierce and fearsome warriors? Were they the first Europeans to visit North America? It seems some of the legends are true, and some are just that, legend. The ubiquitous picture of the Vikings as horn-helmeted, brutish, hairy giants that mercilessly marauded among the settlements of Northern Europe is based on a smattering of fact combined with an abundance of prejudicial historical writing by those who were on the receiving end of Viking depredations. At the same time, much of the popular picture of the Vikings is a result of the romantic imagination of novelists and artists. However, the Vikings' reputation for ferocious seaborne attacks along the coasts of Northern Europe is no exaggeration. It is true that the Norsemen, who traded extensively throughout Europe, often increased the profits obtained from their nautical ventures through plunder, acquiring precious metals and slaves. Of course, the Vikings were not the only ones participating in this kind of income generation; between the 8th and the 11th centuries, European tribes, clans, kingdoms and monastic communities were quite adept at fighting with each other for the purpose of obtaining booty. The Vikings were simply more consistently successful than their contemporaries and thus became suitable symbols for the iniquity of the times. Of course, the military reputation came about because the Vikings were the great mariners and explorers of medieval Europe. While many of their journeys were ones of conquest, they also had a deep love of exploration, and from their homeland in Scandinavia, they traveled as far as North America and became the first Europeans who are known to have set foot on what is now Canada. It was not until 1960 that the actual site of a Viking settlement in Vinland was found. At the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula in Newfoundland, Canada, a small Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows was excavated, with the foundations of three residential halls have been found. These halls would have housed between 70 and 90 people. As well as the sod covered halls, a smithy where nails were made and a small boat repair building have been found. It is believed that this settlement, which may have had as many as 500 inhabitants, is one of two settlements called Straumfjord and Hop mentioned in the Saga of Erik the Red as being his Vinland bases. L'Anse aux Meadows is thought to be the former, and it is believed that Hop was a summer camp perhaps as far south as New Brunswick. The native inhabitants of the New World were called Skrellings by the Vikings, and there is evidence that they engaged in battle with the Beothuks at L'Anse aux Meadows and the Mi'kmaq people further south. While there is still debate over where exactly the Norse settled the land, there is no hard evidence that they ventured further south than Newfoundland, where remains of a settlement have been found. If they had rounded Cape Breton and crossed the Cabot Strait, they would have come to a markedly different environment that would probably have compelled the explorers to come up with a fourth name for the region south of Vinland. The Vikings in North America chronicles the historic voyages the Vikings made to North America and what's known and unknown about their pre-Columbian settlements. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Norse colonization of North America like never before, in no time at all.

Author : David M. Krueger
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
ISBN 13 : 1452945438
Total Pages : 184 pages
Book Rating : 4.39/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Myths of the Rune Stone written by David M. Krueger and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2015-10-01 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What do our myths say about us? Why do we choose to believe stories that have been disproven? David M. Krueger takes an in-depth look at a legend that held tremendous power in one corner of Minnesota, helping to define both a community’s and a state’s identity for decades. In 1898, a Swedish immigrant farmer claimed to have discovered a large rock with writing carved into its surface in a field near Kensington, Minnesota. The writing told a North American origin story, predating Christopher Columbus’s exploration, in which Viking missionaries reached what is now Minnesota in 1362 only to be massacred by Indians. The tale’s credibility was quickly challenged and ultimately undermined by experts, but the myth took hold. Faith in the authenticity of the Kensington Rune Stone was a crucial part of the local Nordic identity. Accepted and proclaimed as truth, the story of the Rune Stone recast Native Americans as villains. The community used the account as the basis for civic celebrations for years, and advocates for the stone continue to promote its validity despite the overwhelming evidence that it was a hoax. Krueger puts this stubborn conviction in context and shows how confidence in the legitimacy of the stone has deep implications for a wide variety of Minnesotans who embraced it, including Scandinavian immigrants, Catholics, small-town boosters, and those who desired to commemorate the white settlers who died in the Dakota War of 1862. Krueger demonstrates how the resilient belief in the Rune Stone is a form of civil religion, with aspects that defy logic but illustrate how communities characterize themselves. He reveals something unique about America’s preoccupation with divine right and its troubled way of coming to terms with the history of the continent’s first residents. By considering who is included, who is left out, and how heroes and villains are created in the stories we tell about the past, Myths of the Rune Stone offers an enlightening perspective on not just Minnesota but the United States as well.

Author : Russell Freedman
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN 13 : 9780618663910
Total Pages : 100 pages
Book Rating : 4.16/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Who was First? written by Russell Freedman and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2007 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses the possibility that America was discovered by someone other than Columbus.

Author : Annette Kolodny
Publisher : Duke University Press
ISBN 13 : 0822352869
Total Pages : 447 pages
Book Rating : 4.60/5 ( download)

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Download or read book In Search of First Contact written by Annette Kolodny and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2012-05-29 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A radically new interpretation of two medieval Icelandic tales, known as the Vinland sagas, considering what the they reveal about native peoples, and how they contribute to the debate about whether Leif Eiriksson or Christopher Columbus should be credited as the first "discoverer" of America.

Author : Frederick Julius Pohl
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 360 pages
Book Rating : 4.81/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Viking Settlements of North America written by Frederick Julius Pohl and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Result of thirty years research into puzzle of the Viking voyages to Vinland as told by Graenlendinga and Eirik's sagas. Also discusses the Vinland map of 1440.

Author : Andrea Hopkins, Ph.D.
Publisher : The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc
ISBN 13 : 0823958175
Total Pages : 30 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Vikings written by Andrea Hopkins, Ph.D. and published by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. This book was released on 2001-12-15 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents the history of Viking discovery, including travel to Greenland and North America, discussing the artifacts found to prove the Norse people settled there at one time.

Author :
Publisher : Penguin UK
ISBN 13 : 0141906987
Total Pages : 128 pages
Book Rating : 4.80/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Vinland Sagas written by and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 1973-09-27 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most arresting stories in the history of exploration, these two Icelandic sagas tell of the discovery of America by Norsemen five centuries before Christopher Columbus. Together, the direct, forceful twelfth-century Graenlendinga Saga and the more polished and scholarly Eirik's Saga, written some hundred years later, recount how Eirik the Red founded an Icelandic colony in Greenland and how his son, Leif the Lucky, later sailed south to explore - and if possible exploit - the chance discovery by Bjarni Herjolfsson of an unknown land. In spare and vigorous prose they record Europe's first surprise glimpse of the eastern shores of the North American continent and the natives who inhabited them.