 Viking raids on the British Isles are well documented, yet Viking voyages to North America are rarely discussed. The main North settlement in North America was known as Vinland to the Vikings. Vinland is probably Lancelmedeaux in Newfoundland, which is an island just east of mainland Canada. A study published just last year in Nature found that the Vikings were definitely in Newfoundland in 1021 AD. Forget Christopher Columbus, hundreds of years later in the 15th century, the Vikings were in North America hundreds of years prior to this. The only confirmed North settlement in the Americas is Lancelmedeaux in Newfoundland. The site is home to eight buildings, constructed by a wooden frame with turf covered over the top in the North's tradition. And over 800 North artifacts have been found at this site. It is thought that Lancelmedeaux, which we think essentially is Vinland, as described in the ancient sagas, was a base of operations for the Vikings, which included a ship repair station for obvious reasons. But it was also a base for the Vikings to explore other parts of the Americas, further south, and other parts of probably the eastern coast of Canada. Although we have still to find the exact proof, it's highly likely that the Vikings explored far beyond Newfoundland. It wasn't until the 1960s that Lancelmedeaux was uncovered by a couple from Norway, Helge Instad and Ann Engstad, an archaeologist. They found real evidence to support the tales told in the Icelandic sagas. Leif Ericsson is considered to be the first European to set foot in the Americas, and the first North explorer to reach Newfoundland, Lancelmedeaux, or establish the Viking settlement of Vinland, as they called it, which I think actually was a reference to potentially wine. Leif Ericsson would be well known to Interpol fans, as that's one of their songs that me and my friends used to listen to when we were grown up. Although we have evidence that the Vikings settled in Newfoundland in 1021 AD, Leif Ericsson was probably earlier than that, maybe a decade or two earlier than that, given that Leif Ericsson died around the 1020s, I think 1025 at the latest. There is a wee bit debate about exactly when he died, but it probably was slightly before this 1021 day. Leif Ericsson himself was the son of Eric the Red. One of the Viking Icelandic sagas is actually named Eric the Red, that gives us some insight into the Viking expeditions in the Americas. But Eric the Red, originally from Norway, was known as the first North explorer to settle Greenland. Tales of Leif Ericsson's voyages to North America are found in old Icelandic sagas, along with numerous other Viking North expeditions to the Americas. There are two main Icelandic sagas that contain details of Viking North trips to North America. One is the saga of the Greenlanders, and the other is the saga of Eric the Red, which is Leif Ericsson's father, both of which are written a few hundred years after the events, and it can be difficult to separate myth from fact in these sagas. The sagas tell us that Icelanders settled Greenland in the 10th century, and that most voyages to North America sailed from Greenland. Geographically this makes a lot of sense. Obviously Greenland's proximity to the eastern coast of Canada is very close. So it wouldn't have been too much of a distance for Vikings to travel, compared to say Vikings from Norway having to reach it all across the North Atlantic to the east coast of Canada. Greenland was a good stepping stone for the Vikings to reach North America. The sagas tell us of numerous North expeditions to North America. One tale is of a Viking trader, Thorfinn Carosefny, who led three ships of Norse from Greenland to Vinland. Thorfinn and his wife Goodridd were potentially the first Europeans to have a child in North America called Snorri. After three years in Vinland, Thorfinn, his family and the surviving crew sailed from Vinland back to Europe, settling in Iceland. Some sources suggest that they may have left in a hurry in a hail of arrows from the natives. The Norse word for the natives was screeling, which can be translated as meaning wretched people, but there are various translations for this. It seems the Norse used this word to describe the Thule people, or the proto-Inuit group, who they coexisted with in Greenland. In modern Icelandic, screeling-gay means barbarian, whereas the Danish descendant screeling means weakling, all derived from the same old Norse word, screeling. Regardless of the exact translation, the meaning is clear. The Vikings saw the native people as the others, and the native peoples of Canada saw the Vikings as foreign colonisers here to take their land and cause havoc in their region. There is tales in the sagas of Vikings killing native people, and native people retaliating with full force. There's a whole lot more to delve into on this subject, but I'll leave that for a future video. The full extent of the Viking presence in North America is still to be fully realised and fully discovered. I'm sure many artifacts are buried under the soil. What's your thoughts and what other articles or studies can you find on the connection between the Vikings and North America, the presence of the Vikings in North America? Please let me know in the comments below. Speaking of the Vikings, what did Vikings look like and what was their genetic history? To find out, please click here. Thanks for watching. Please subscribe and hit the bell and tell your friends and family about this channel. 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