Vinland

Vinland is the Norse name for lands explored and briefly settled in North America around the year 1000. The surviving accounts associate it with voyages from Greenland and a settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows.

Saga of the Greenlanders: An Icelandic saga recounting the Norse discovery and attempted settlement of lands west of Greenland. It tells of Leif Erikson’s voyage and the expeditions that followed.
Leif Erikson: A Norse explorer credited in medieval accounts with reaching lands west of Greenland around the year 1000. The sagas associate him with an early voyage to Vinland.
Norsemen: The seafaring Scandinavian peoples who expanded across the North Atlantic during the Viking Age. Vinland’s explorers were Norse seafarers operating within this broader expansion.
Vinland map: A purported fifteenth-century map depicting lands west of Greenland, widely regarded as a modern forgery. It illustrates how contested claims about pre-Columbian knowledge have shaped Vinland scholarship.
Eirik the Red’s Saga: An Icelandic saga describing the settlement of Greenland and voyages to lands farther west. Its version of the Vinland voyages differs from the account in the Saga of the Greenlanders.
Erik the Red: A Norse settler who founded the Greenland colony after being exiled from Iceland. His Greenland settlement helped establish the community from which Vinland voyages departed.
Viking Age: The period of Scandinavian expansion, raiding, trade, and settlement conventionally dated from about 793 to 1066. The Vinland voyages took place during the North Atlantic expansion of this era.
Vinland sagas: The two Icelandic saga narratives that describe Norse voyages to lands west of Greenland. Their differing details complicate efforts to reconstruct where Vinland lay.
L’Anse aux Meadows: An archaeological site in Newfoundland containing remains of a Norse settlement dating to around the year 1000. Its buildings and artifacts provide physical evidence of Norse presence in North America.
Thorfinn Karlsefni: A Norse trader and expedition leader described in saga accounts of attempted settlement in Vinland. The sagas credit his expedition with bringing settlers to Vinland.

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