The Vikings’ discovery of Greenland happened in much the same way the Vikings had discovered many islands. They were sailing, a storm rose up, and blew them off course. These unnamed Vikings saw Greenland and returned to Iceland, where they talked about what they had seen. Eirik (Eric) the Red, who was having some legal troubles because he killed some of his neighbors, heard about the new island and decided he would face his exile there.
Eirik the Red Sails to Greenland
Eirik and a few followers set off to the island. Because he landed on Greenland Eirik is credited with the Vikings’ discovery of Greenland. The Inuit were likely already on the island, but they would not make contact with the Vikings for a couple of hundred years.
Here, the history becomes a little murkier. Because of his sentence, Eirik had to be away from Iceland for three years or face death. Some histories have him landing in Greenland and making his way back to Iceland almost immediately. Others have a requisite three-year timespan in Greenland before he returns to Iceland. Either way, Eirik returned to Iceland to recruit new settlers. In a bit of marketing genius, he decided to name the island “Greenland,” so it would sound like a place other Vikings would want to live. Of the 25 ships that set out with Eirik, only 14 made it to Greenland.
Vikings in Greenland
Archaeologists have found evidence of 500 farms in the Eastern Settlement, reaching to the Middle Settlement. Eirik’s farm on Brattahlid would’ve been the social and political center of the community. Archaeologists have found the remnants of his house and a church he bult for his Christian wife, Thjodhild.
Sources: Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price, 2020.
