Norse exploration of North America

Norse exploration of North America was a series of voyages from Greenland to lands west of the North Atlantic around the year 1000, including a settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows.

L’Anse aux Meadows: An archaeological site in Newfoundland containing remains of a Norse settlement from around the year 1000. Its buildings and artifacts provide the clearest physical evidence of Norse presence in North America.
Norse Greenland: A Norse settlement society established in Greenland around 985 and maintained for several centuries. Greenland was the western launching point for voyages to North America.
Norse colonization of Iceland: The migration and settlement of Norse people in Iceland, beginning in the late ninth century. Iceland became a key stopping point on the route toward Greenland.
Indigenous peoples of the Americas: The diverse peoples and societies native to the continents of North and South America. Norse travelers entered lands already inhabited by Indigenous communities.
Vinland: A name in medieval Norse sources for lands explored west of Greenland, usually associated with parts of Atlantic North America. The sagas place the western voyages and settlements in this land.
North Atlantic: The ocean region between northeastern North America, Greenland, Iceland, and Europe. Its island chains and currents shaped the route from Greenland to lands farther west.
Erik the Red: A Norse explorer credited with founding the Greenland settlements after being exiled from Iceland. His Greenland colony created the western base for later voyages.
Thule culture: An Arctic Indigenous culture ancestral to Inuit peoples, which spread across the North American Arctic beginning around the eleventh century. Its presence frames the wider Indigenous history of the regions near Norse routes.
Saga of the Greenlanders: A medieval Icelandic saga recounting the settlement of Greenland and voyages to lands farther west. It preserves one of the principal narratives of the North American voyages.
Norse longship: A fast, shallow-draft wooden vessel used by Norse seafarers for ocean travel, trade, and warfare. Such ships made exploration across the North Atlantic possible.

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