 Did the Vikings take slaves from Scotland on one of their voyages to North America? And yes, you heard me right, North America. This book is the Vinland Sagas, with Vinland being the term used by the Vikings for a north settlement in North America. The Vinland Sagas contain two main sagas that were written around the 13th century, A.D., a couple hundred years after the Viking voyages to North America. The two main sagas in the Vinland Sagas are the Saga of the Greenlanders and Eric the Red Saga. And these two sagas contain numerous stories of Viking expeditions, the numerous Viking expeditions to North America. Although the Vikings probably explored numerous areas along the eastern coast of Canada, around Labrador and Newfoundland, as well as the very northeast of the United States of America perhaps, one of the main settlements that we can pretty much guarantee was a Viking settlement is Lancer Meadows, a settlement in ancient sight in the very north of Newfoundland, which itself is in Ireland, just off the east coast of Canada. In the Saga of Eric the Red, there is a story of two Scottish slaves being taken on a voyage to North America during an expedition led by Thorfinn Carl Sefney, an interesting person himself, who led an expedition to Vinland in the surrounding area. The story, which we'll recite in a few minutes, will detail various characters and also touch on various locations that we need a little context to. Leif is mentioned in the story, for instance, whose Leif Ericsson, a North explorer, who himself went on an expedition to North America to Vinland and explored parts. Another character in the story is Eric, and that's a reference to Eric the Red, who was the father of Leif Ericsson, and was also explorer, a North explorer, and his own right. He is known as one of the first, or the first, European settler in Greenland. The story will also mention King Olaf Trigfason, who was the king of Norway from 995 to 1000 AD. There is also a reference to a number of place names in the story, in the wider context of the story within the sagas, and although there is a margin of error, obviously given the time scales and the fact that the Vikings didn't accurately map every area they explored. For a little context that is important to understand, there are essentially talking about a general area around Newfoundland, Labrador, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and parts of maybe the coastal region of Nova Scotia. I'll show you on the map just now as well. So the Vikings generally sailed from Greenland for their Viking expeditions to North America, and they would have sailed down and explored parts of Easter in Canada. So this is the general area here of Newfoundland, Labrador, the Gulf of St. Lawrence as well in Nova Scotia, and this general area, the coastal area of Nova Scotia, was potentially explored by the Vikings that they called the Fjordastradder. This is a map in the back of the book that shows this area that we're discussing just flipped on its side as well, and it shows the Fjordastradder, this area, this coastal area, down Nova Scotia, which is interesting to note that they potentially in this voyage explored all the way down that area. This story tells us that, when Leif had saved King Olaf Trigvison and was told by him to convert Greenland to Christianity, the king had given him two Scots, a man named Haki and a woman called Petja. The king told him to call upon them whenever he needed someone with speed, as they were fleeter of foot than any deer. Leif and Eric had sent them to a company, Carol Sefney. After sailing the length of the Fjordastradder, they put the two Scots ashore and told them to run southwards to explore the country, and return before three days time had elapsed. They were dressed in a garment known as the Yafau, which had a hood at the top but no arms. It was open at the sides and fastened between the legs with a button and a loop. They wore nothing else. The ships cast anchor and lay during this time. After three days had passed, the two returned to the shore, one of them with grapes in hand and the other with self-sown wheat. Carol Sefney said that they had found good land. After taking them on board once more, they sailed onwards until they reached a Fjord cutting into the coast. They steered the ships into the Fjord with an island near its mouth where there were strong currents and called the island Stromsy, meaning stream island. There were so many birds there that they could hardly walk without stepping on eggs. They sailed up into the Fjord, which they called Stroms Fjord, unloaded the cargo from the ships and began settling in. They had brought all sorts of livestock with them and explored the land and its resources. There were mountains there and a pleasant landscape. They paid little attention to things other than exploring the land. The grass there grew tall. After three years spent in Vinland, Thorfinn, Carol Sefney, along with the surviving crew and his family, including his son Snorri, who I think is considered by many to be one of the first, if not the first, European to ever be born in North America, basically left Vinland and returned back to Iceland eventually after some detour. Some sources suggest that they may have left in a hail of arrows being chased out by the local populations. To find out more about the Viking voyages to North America, please click here. Thanks for watching. Please subscribe and hit the bell and tell your friends and family about this channel for ways to support my work, all being in the description below. Thanks again for watching and I'll see you next time.