A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NORSE INLENAPE LAND
AD 986-1100
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When the waves
were calm
in the land they left,
the Lenape lived
together there
in strong
hollow houses
with thick roofs.
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The fate of the Greenland Viking colony had been an
unsolved enigma for centuries.
.
This colony, founded by Eric the Red, who set sail
from Iceland into the North Atlantic in 986 with 25 ships, 14 of which arrived
safely, survived and even for a time, thrived for about 400 years.
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There were three main Greenland Viking settlements,
the larger eastern settlement and the western, (about 200 miles further north)
and the smaller middle settlement. (In good times, during the warmer years from
about 1000 CE to 1260, there is evidence of farmlands reaching all the way along
the coasts from Greenland, south to the Ungava peninsula in Canada).
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They lived where it snowed.
They lived where it stormed.
They lived where
it was always winter.
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The Greenland Vikings effectively established a
miniature version of their original Norwegian homeland.
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(When recording events, which occurred after 1066, the
year when a large invading Viking army under the command of King Harald
Hardrada of Norway was annihilated by King Harold of England's forces at the
Battle of Stamford Bridge, Vikings are referred to as being Norse).
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At first, prosperous cattle farms, stone houses with turf
roofs, churches and even a great cathedral to rival those in the larger cities
of Scandinavia, replete with stained glass windows were established.
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Trading ships from Norway, Iceland and the Hanseatic
League visited regularly.
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Highly prized narwhal tusks (sold as unicorn horns),
walrus ivory, polar bear, ermine and beaver pelts, eider down, falcons, as well
as walrus and seal hide rope, were traded in return for expensive
accoutrements for their churches and vital iron and
timber.
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While still in their cold land
They remembered longingly
the mild weather,
the many deer,
and also foxes.
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(Norse in Greenland, by Dr. Kathryn Denning)
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