Wikibooks: US History/Vikings
=Who were the Vikings?= The Norsemen (Norwegians) who lived around the beginning of the second millennium are today more commonly known as Vikings. The Vikings were farmers who traded during the slow months. Now trading doesn t mean I ll give you five sheep for that cow. It means I ll give you five...
| Format: | Book |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/US_History/Vikings |
| Summary: | =Who were the Vikings?= The Norsemen (Norwegians) who lived around the beginning of the second millennium are today more commonly known as Vikings. The Vikings were farmers who traded during the slow months. Now trading doesn t mean I ll give you five sheep for that cow. It means I ll give you five sheep for that cow. If you don t want to trade I ll kill you. These people loved to travel in boats from one place to another and this led to the second discovery of North America (Native Americans first Vikings second and Columbus third). Although Irish monks most famously Brendan and other European explorers had voyaged in the western waters the Vikings established a settlement the remains of which can be seen today at Newfoundland. =Proported Ancestry and Descendants= The Norse are believed by some to have descended from the Huns a people of uncertain ancestry. The Norse are believed by some to be the ancestors of the Goths and of modern Germans. There is no proof for these claims. =Eric the Red and his Children= Eric the Red fled Norway to Iceland to avoid facing a murder charge and later was banished from Iceland for yet another murder. His children would have great impact on the discovery and explorations of North America. =Bjarni Ericson= Bjarni travelled around trading in his little knarr . A knarr is a small Norwegian boat that only fits about three to five people. Bjarni sighted Vinland (modern Newfoundland). An interesting fact is that Leif Ericson bought Bjarni Herjólfsson s boat about ten years later in about 995 C. E. This is the same boat in which Lief had discovered Vinland. Leif Ericson was about thirty years old (or thirty three depending on whether one follows the Eiríks saga rauða i.e. the Saga of Eric the Red or the Grœnlendinga saga or the Greenlanders Saga). =Thorvald Ericson= Explored from 1004 to 1005 AD. =Thorfinn Ericson= Traveled from 1008 1009 AD. He bravely took cattle with him on his knarr hoping to settle in Greenland. Greenland is a misnomer since it s covered in ice his cattle ... |
|---|