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Herjolfsnes (Danish: Herjolfsnæs) was a Norse settlement in Greenland, 50 km northwest of Cape Farewell.It was established by Herjolf Bardsson in the late 10th century and is believed to have lasted some 500 years.
The disappearance of the Norse Greenlanders at some point in the 15th century remains one of the great historical mysteries. In 1948, Danish archaeologist Christen Vebæk was excavating the ruins of the Norse site Ø149 located on the western shore of a fjord known to the Norse as Siglufjord and is today called Uunartoq ("the hot"), a name that denotes both the fjord and the islands at its mouth.
Part of a series on Scandinavia Countries Denmark Finland Iceland Norway Sweden History History by country Åland Denmark Faroe Islands Finland Greenland Iceland Norway Scotland Sweden Chronological history Prehistory Stone Age Bronze Age Iron Age Migration Period Viking Age Norsemen Christianization Kalmar Union Sweden Denmark–Norway Sweden–Norway Denmark–Iceland Nordic Council ...
Erik the Red's Land (Norwegian: Eirik Raudes Land) was the name given by Norwegians to an area on the coast of eastern Greenland occupied by Norway in the early 1930s. It was named after Erik the Red, the founder of the first Norse or Viking settlements in Greenland in the 10th century.
During the Norse period, Vatnahverfi was initially settled by kinsmen of Erik the Red who accompanied him in a large exodus out of Iceland in 985 AD. The Greenlander's Saga states that “men who went abroad with Eirik took possession of land in Greenland” and includes in a list of founding chieftains a man named Hafgrim who claimed “Hafgrímsfjörð and Vatnahverfi.”
The exact causes of the disappearance of the Norse settlements toward the end of the 15th century remain unverified, but probably resulted from a combination of the Little Ice Age's cooling temperatures, soil erosion, abandonment by Norway after the Black Plague and political turmoils, more convenient ways for Europeans to procure furs and a ...
The sources on the settlement of Greenland are sparse. The main sources are the Íslendingabók by the scholar Ari Thorgilsson, the Landnámabók (the land seizure book) by an unknown author, but probably with Ari's involvement, [2] the anonymous Grænlendinga saga (Saga of the Greenlanders) and the also anonymous Saga of Erik the Red.
Even more popular was her Vikingernes verden (1987), [2] published in English as The Vikings in 1991. [3] Roesdahl has also written many articles on the Vikings and the Middle Ages as well as a short book on the disappearance of Norsemen in Greenland titled Hvalrostand, elfenben og nordboere i Grønland (1995). [2]