4: Greenland

Question 1

Rough summary of settlement

Answer 1

Greenland was settled from Iceland at the end of the 10y century under the leadership of Erik the Red

Question 2

Rough summary of Erik’s life, pre-Greenland

Answer 2

Him and his father forced to leave Norway in 980 after committing murder. Arrived in Iceland and made a good marriage for himself and moved to Haukadal in breithafjord. But then he committed more violence and was banished from Haukadal for 3 years with his followers

Question 3

What did Erik do in his outlawry from Iceland?

Answer 3

With his followers, he went to look for a land in the western ocean which had been discovered around 60 years earlier by a man named Gunnbjorn (who was also settled in Breithajord).

He spent his time exploring the west coast of Greenland and then went back to Iceland with tales of the land he called ‘Grænland’

Question 4

Why did Erik call this land, ‘Grænland’

Answer 4

It may have been a deliberate attempt to attract people, or just simply the fact the lush inner fjords of Greenland contrasted to the over exploited icelandic countryside.

Question 5

What was not a reason for people moving to Greenland?

Answer 5

Population pressure in Iceland
New and attractive farm land was becoming available in the lower valleys of Iceland once cleared, so appears that any ‘push’ factors were social rather than environmental

Question 6

What was the reasons people may have moved to Greenland?

Answer 6

Late colonisers in Iceland were excluded from land ownership, and thus from obtaining any wealth or power— Iceland was not so much overpopulated as overchieftained

… Therefore, Greenland was attractive as it opened up new ways of gaining honour and prestige

Question 7

When did the Norse settlers set sail for Greenland?

Answer 7

25 ships set sail in 985 but only 14 made it

Question 8

What was Erik’s farm called?

Answer 8

He claimed a fjord for himself, naming it Eriksjord, and built a farm called Bratahlith

Question 9

What are the two areas in Greenland settled by the Norse?

Answer 9

There were only two areas of Greenland suitable for Norse style farming– they are about 400 miles apart
They became known as the Eastern Settlement (Eystribyggth) and the Western Settlement (Vestribyggyth)

Question 10

Where was Bratalith and why was it important?

Answer 10

Bratahlith was in the eastern settlement and it became the political centre of the Norse colony.
Archaeology has revealed there were nearly 450 farms on the eastern settlement alone

Question 11

What is a MAJOR contrast between iceland and greenland upon the Norse’s arrival

Answer 11

Greenland was inhabited when the Norse arrived

Question 12

Sub-sections for Greenland, Week 4

Answer 12

1) Erik the Red
2) Why did some people follow Erik to Greenland?
3) Organisation of the Norse settlements
4) Relations with the Inuit and the Norse economy
5) Political organisation
6) Christianity in Greenland
7) Relations with Norway
8) Cultural preferences
9) Social structure

Question 13

What work gives us an insight into how the Norse perceived the natives of greenland?

Answer 13

The 12th century Historia Norwegie

Sas that they called them ‘skraelings’ and that they completely lacked iron

Question 14

Who were the native Greenlanders?

Answer 14

The so-called Dorset-culture inuit who lived mainly by hunting seal and walrus, and so were mainly in the North

Question 15

Where did the Norse and greenlanders encounter each other

Answer 15

Although the norse settled in the south and the inuit were in the north, the norse occasionally made hunting trips to Disko Bay, which they called Nordsetr

Question 16

What suggests that the two cultures may have managed to get on to some degree?

Answer 16

It seems possible they got on to some degree and some objects found in inuit sites indicate that they had at least some contact with the Norse from that period—
– for example, A coin minted during king Olaf the Quiet’s reign has been found at a 12th century inuit site on the main coast

Question 17

Why did the Norse continue North, when they had settled in the south?

Answer 17

For economic reasons
– The Mellville Bay coastal region is great for hunting both reindeer and marine animals, and the availability of export goods such as hide and tusks, probably formed the core of their read with Norway from the start

Question 18

Why was Walrus ivory particularly valuable- why help the Norse?

Answer 18

The rise of Islam in the east had cut off access from Asia and Africa- so the greenlandic norse now had a wanted product to support their economy

Question 19

How was hunting organised in the settlements?

Answer 19

Appears to have been communal, with the results being evenly distributed between farms and across the community.
These communal systems helped to maximise and exploit the natural resources as much as they could

Question 20

Relationship between the east and west settlement/ structure?

Answer 20

The two settled regions were integrated and the hunt probably had a communal dimension– survival required cooperation

Question 21

What indicates that the norse and the natives had opportunities to obersve each other up close

Answer 21

A number of small carvings representing men of european origin found at inuit sites– so did they trade?

Question 22

What is the issue with assuming things from cultural artefacts found in the domain of a different culture?

Answer 22

There is no way to determine which of these objects the norse gave of their own free will

Question 23

What indicates that perhaps the Norse did not trade with the inuit?

Answer 23

Some argue that many of the objects found were unlikely objects for trade, and that therefore the Norse did not part with them willingly

Question 24

What does Ari say about Greenland, and what are the implications of this?

Answer 24

He says that the Norse came to Greenland 15 years before Christianity became law in Iceland, so the first settlers were likely a mixture of pagans an christians

Question 25

What were the political implications of the initial landam?

Answer 25

As in Iceland, the first colonists had taken more land than they could manage and as new arrivals kept coming….
The system of government must have originally resembled Iceland- in that power lay with the chieftains and there were deliberations at the thing

Question 26

How was the Thing organised in Greenland/ how did it work? (Layout)

Answer 26

The thing was probably originally held at Brattahith but from the early 12th century it began to meet at Garthar, which was the bishops seat and was conveniently located in the most densely populated part of the eastern settlement.
To our knowledge, it seems that the Norse in Greenland never developed the same elaborate system of courts and laws, as existed in iceland- the population was probably just too small to need this

Question 27

Who ran the Greenlandic settlement?

Answer 27

Erik the Red seems to have functioned as Patriarch and leader, with his son Lief and then his son Thorkel succeeding him. Not neccessarily a hereditary office, but man who lived at B. seemed to have a lot of power

Question 28

How is Olaf tryggvarson involved in the greenlandic settlement?

Answer 28

He supposedly gave Lief the job of converting the Greenlanders, but this could well be an exaggeration to inflate Olaf’s achievements as no pagan burials have yet to be found in Greenland, whereas the church at Brattalith dates back almost to the foundation of the settlement

Question 29

Key thing to remember about Greenland, compared to Iceland

Answer 29

The norse in greenland drifted into a political system that was different from the Icelandic commonwealth, and their use of natural resources also differed from iceland

Question 30

What were their relations with Norway like?

Answer 30

They were very reliant on Norway for imports of timber, grain, church vestments, iron, weapons and wine.
– They definitely had difficulties maintaining mediterranean religious practices in the far north, but these items couldn’t be supplied from Iceland, so had to be Norway.

Question 31

What was the largest farm in Greenland?

Answer 31

Garthar

It is unique with exceptionally large buildings and very large storage capacity

Question 32

What are the implications of the existence of a farm of Garthar’s size? (facts)

Answer 32

Perhaps it acted as a buffer for the colony or perhaps it was for food storage or items to be exported.
But it is clear that whoever controlled Garthar would have wielded immense power by the end of the VA

Question 33

What are the implications of the existence of a farm of Garthar’s size according to McGovern?

Answer 33

McGovern argues for a sharply hierarchical society dominated by the bishops riling at the episcopal centre of garter, whose connections to dominant continental centres of political and ideological power fatally prevented the Norse greenlanders from adapting and their society from surviving.

Question 34

In what ways was the Greenlandic economy wildly different from contemporary Scandinavia?

Answer 34

They were dependant on wild animals, as opposed to grain and so their high position on the food web led to instability.
This required community living and economic cohesion

Question 35

What is an issue with scholarship regarding the greenland colony?

Answer 35

Some argue that the view of Greenland being reliant on some form of ‘motherland’ is too reliant on modern perceptions of colonialism and that the elite in greenland may have been quite independently minded and that it was just SO separated from continental developments

Question 36

Population of the greenland settlement?

Answer 36

At its height, the eastern had a population of 4,000 to 5,000, and the western of 1,000 to 1,500