Download or read book The Viking Discovery of America written by Helge Ingstad and published by Breakwater Books. This book was released on 2000 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Faced with harsh conditions in their Greenland home, a group of Vikings took the reins of fate into their own hands. With incredible luck, skill and fortitude, they discovered lands filled with a profusion of wood, wild game and fertile land. In the sagas that grew from this discovery, the lands were given names that resonated with hope and promise. Almost 1000 years later, a husband and wife team united their talents. Intrigued by allusions in the ancient sagas to fabled Vinland, they considered the scholarship on Viking culture and technology; they studied maps and they researched intensively the prominent theories on Vinland's location. And finally their efforts bore fruit when a remote Newfoundland peninsula yielded up a soapstone spindle-whorl, a Viking ring pin, and what had to be the overgrown remnants of over a dozen Viking buildings.
Download or read book The Vikings in North America written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-01-12 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the Vikings' expeditions from medieval sagas *Includes a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents Over the centuries, the West has become fascinated by the Vikings, one of the most mysterious and interesting European civilizations. In addition to being perceived as a remarkably unique culture among its European counterparts, what's known and not known about the Vikings' accomplishments has added an intriguing aura to the historical narrative. Were they fierce and fearsome warriors? Were they the first Europeans to visit North America? It seems some of the legends are true, and some are just that, legend. The ubiquitous picture of the Vikings as horn-helmeted, brutish, hairy giants that mercilessly marauded among the settlements of Northern Europe is based on a smattering of fact combined with an abundance of prejudicial historical writing by those who were on the receiving end of Viking depredations. At the same time, much of the popular picture of the Vikings is a result of the romantic imagination of novelists and artists. However, the Vikings' reputation for ferocious seaborne attacks along the coasts of Northern Europe is no exaggeration. It is true that the Norsemen, who traded extensively throughout Europe, often increased the profits obtained from their nautical ventures through plunder, acquiring precious metals and slaves. Of course, the Vikings were not the only ones participating in this kind of income generation; between the 8th and the 11th centuries, European tribes, clans, kingdoms and monastic communities were quite adept at fighting with each other for the purpose of obtaining booty. The Vikings were simply more consistently successful than their contemporaries and thus became suitable symbols for the iniquity of the times. Of course, the military reputation came about because the Vikings were the great mariners and explorers of medieval Europe. While many of their journeys were ones of conquest, they also had a deep love of exploration, and from their homeland in Scandinavia, they traveled as far as North America and became the first Europeans who are known to have set foot on what is now Canada. It was not until 1960 that the actual site of a Viking settlement in Vinland was found. At the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula in Newfoundland, Canada, a small Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows was excavated, with the foundations of three residential halls have been found. These halls would have housed between 70 and 90 people. As well as the sod covered halls, a smithy where nails were made and a small boat repair building have been found. It is believed that this settlement, which may have had as many as 500 inhabitants, is one of two settlements called Straumfjord and Hop mentioned in the Saga of Erik the Red as being his Vinland bases. L'Anse aux Meadows is thought to be the former, and it is believed that Hop was a summer camp perhaps as far south as New Brunswick. The native inhabitants of the New World were called Skrellings by the Vikings, and there is evidence that they engaged in battle with the Beothuks at L'Anse aux Meadows and the Mi'kmaq people further south. While there is still debate over where exactly the Norse settled the land, there is no hard evidence that they ventured further south than Newfoundland, where remains of a settlement have been found. If they had rounded Cape Breton and crossed the Cabot Strait, they would have come to a markedly different environment that would probably have compelled the explorers to come up with a fourth name for the region south of Vinland. The Vikings in North America chronicles the historic voyages the Vikings made to North America and what's known and unknown about their pre-Columbian settlements. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Norse colonization of North America like never before, in no time at all.
Download or read book Norse America written by Gordon Campbell and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the Vikings in North America as both fact and fiction, from the westward expansion of the Norse across the North Atlantic in the tenth and eleventh centuries to the myths and fabrications about their presence there that have developed in recent centuries. Tracking the saga of the Norse across the North Atlantic to America, Norse America sets the record straight about the idea that the Vikings 'discovered' America. The journey described is a continuum, with evidence-based history and archaeology at one end, and fake history and outright fraud at the other. In between there lies a huge expanse of uncertainty: sagas that may contain shards of truth, characters that may be partly historical, real archaeology that may be interpreted through the fictions of saga, and fragmentary evidence open to responsible and irresponsible interpretation. Norse America is a book that tells two stories. The first is the westward expansion of the Norse across the North Atlantic in the tenth and eleventh centuries, ending (but not culminating) in a fleeting and ill-documented presence on the shores of the North American mainland. The second is the appropriation and enhancement of the westward narrative by Canadians and Americans who want America to have had white North European origins, who therefore want the Vikings to have 'discovered' America, and who in the advancement of that thesis have been willing to twist and manufacture evidence in support of claims grounded in an ideology of racial superiority.
Download or read book North America from Earliest Discovery to First Settlements written by David B. Quinn and published by New York : Harper & Row. This book was released on 1977 with total page 666 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Details the activities of the Europeans who discovered, explored, and attempted to settle North America.
Download or read book The Vinland Sagas written by Leifur Eiricksson and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2019-05-23 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Saga of the Greenlanders and Eirik the Red’s Saga contain the first ever descriptions of North America, a bountiful land of grapes and vines, discovered by Vikings five centuries before Christopher Columbus. Written down in the early thirteenth century, they recount the Icelandic settlement of Greenland by Eirik the Red, the chance discovery by seafaring adventurers of a mysterious new land, and Eirik’s son Leif the Lucky’s perilous voyages to explore it. Wrecked by storms, stricken by disease and plagued by navigational mishaps, some survived the North Atlantic to pass down this compelling tale of the first Europeans to talk with, trade with, and war with the Native Americans.
Download or read book Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest written by Matthew Restall and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2004-10-28 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is an intriguing exploration of the ways in which the history of the Spanish Conquest has been misread and passed down to become popular knowledge of these events. The book offers a fresh account of the activities of the best-known conquistadors and explorers, including Columbus, Cortés, and Pizarro. Using a wide array of sources, historian Matthew Restall highlights seven key myths, uncovering the source of the inaccuracies and exploding the fallacies and misconceptions behind each myth. This vividly written and authoritative book shows, for instance, that native Americans did not take the conquistadors for gods and that small numbers of vastly outnumbered Spaniards did not bring down great empires with stunning rapidity. We discover that Columbus was correctly seen in his lifetime--and for decades after--as a briefly fortunate but unexceptional participant in efforts involving many southern Europeans. It was only much later that Columbus was portrayed as a great man who fought against the ignorance of his age to discover the new world. Another popular misconception--that the Conquistadors worked alone--is shattered by the revelation that vast numbers of black and native allies joined them in a conflict that pitted native Americans against each other. This and other factors, not the supposed superiority of the Spaniards, made conquests possible. The Conquest, Restall shows, was more complex--and more fascinating--than conventional histories have portrayed it. Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest offers a richer and more nuanced account of a key event in the history of the Americas.
Download or read book The Vikings written by Robert Ferguson and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009-11-25 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive and thrilling history of the Vikings for fans of the History Channel series From Harald Bluetooth to Cnut the Great, the feared seamen and plunderers of the Viking Age ruled Norway, Sweden, and Denmark but roamed as far as Byzantium, Greenland, and America. Raiders and traders, settlers and craftsmen, the medieval Scandinavians who have become familiar to history as Vikings never lose their capacity to fascinate, from their ingeniously designed longboats to their stormy pantheon of Viking gods and goddesses, ruled by Odin in Valhalla. Robert Ferguson is a sure guide across what he calls "the treacherous marches which divide legend from fact in Viking Age history." His long familiarity with the literary culture of Scandinavia with its skaldic poetry is combined with the latest archaeological discoveries to reveal a sweeping picture of the Norsemen, one of history's most amazing civilizations. Impeccably researched and filled with compelling accounts and analyses of legendary Viking warriors and Norse mythology, The Vikings is an indispensable guide to medieval Scandinavia and is a wonderful companion to the History Channel series.
Download or read book Grand Adventure written by Benedicte Ingstad and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2017-05-29 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1960, Helge Ingstad and Anne Stine Ingstad made a discovery that rewrote the history of European exploration and colonization of North America – a thousand-year-old Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland. In A Grand Adventure, the Ingstads’ daughter Benedicte tells the story of their remarkable lives spent working together, sharing poignant details from her parents' private letters, personal diaries, their dinner table conversations, and Benedicte’s own participation in her parents' excavations. Following young Helge Ingstad from his 1926 decision to abandon a successful law practice for North American expeditions through Canada's Barren Lands, Alaska's Anaktuvuk Pass, and the mountains of northern Mexico, the story recounts his governorship of Norwegian territories and marriage to Anne Stine Moe. The author then traces Helge and Anne Stine's travels around the world, focusing in particular on their discovery of the Viking settlement at the northern tip of Newfoundland. With Anne Stine as the head archaeologist, they excavate these ruins for eight years, while weathering destructive skepticism from academic peers, until indisputable evidence is unearthed and their find is confirmed. A remarkable look at a personal and professional relationship, A Grand Adventure shows two explorers' unrelenting drive and unfailing courage.
Download or read book 1493 written by Charles C. Mann and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2011 with total page 561 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents. Isolated from each other, the two halves of the world developed totally different suites of plants and animals. Columbus's voyages brought them back together--and marked the beginning of an extraordinary exchange of flora and fauna between Eurasia and the Americas.
Download or read book Myths of the Rune Stone written by David M. Krueger and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2015-10-01 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What do our myths say about us? Why do we choose to believe stories that have been disproven? David M. Krueger takes an in-depth look at a legend that held tremendous power in one corner of Minnesota, helping to define both a community’s and a state’s identity for decades. In 1898, a Swedish immigrant farmer claimed to have discovered a large rock with writing carved into its surface in a field near Kensington, Minnesota. The writing told a North American origin story, predating Christopher Columbus’s exploration, in which Viking missionaries reached what is now Minnesota in 1362 only to be massacred by Indians. The tale’s credibility was quickly challenged and ultimately undermined by experts, but the myth took hold. Faith in the authenticity of the Kensington Rune Stone was a crucial part of the local Nordic identity. Accepted and proclaimed as truth, the story of the Rune Stone recast Native Americans as villains. The community used the account as the basis for civic celebrations for years, and advocates for the stone continue to promote its validity despite the overwhelming evidence that it was a hoax. Krueger puts this stubborn conviction in context and shows how confidence in the legitimacy of the stone has deep implications for a wide variety of Minnesotans who embraced it, including Scandinavian immigrants, Catholics, small-town boosters, and those who desired to commemorate the white settlers who died in the Dakota War of 1862. Krueger demonstrates how the resilient belief in the Rune Stone is a form of civil religion, with aspects that defy logic but illustrate how communities characterize themselves. He reveals something unique about America’s preoccupation with divine right and its troubled way of coming to terms with the history of the continent’s first residents. By considering who is included, who is left out, and how heroes and villains are created in the stories we tell about the past, Myths of the Rune Stone offers an enlightening perspective on not just Minnesota but the United States as well.
Download or read book Epidemics and Enslavement written by Paul Kelton and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disease ecology of the Native Southeast, 1000-1492 -- The protohistoric puzzle, 1492-1659 -- Slave raids and smallpox, 1659-1700 -- The epidemiological origins of the Yamasee War, 1700-1715.
Download or read book Meadowland written by Thomas C. Holt and published by Abacus. This book was released on 2009-10-01 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1037, a senior civil servant of the Byzantine empire faces a tedious journey to Greece, escorting the Army payroll. His only companions are a detachment of the Empire's elite Guard, recruited from Viking Scandinavia. When the wagon sheds a wheel, he passes the time talking with two veterans, who have a remarkable story to tell; the Viking discovery of America.As he records the story, years later, he also considers its effect on the fourth member of the party; a young Norwegian guardsman who went on to become King Harald Hardradi, who died invading England in 1066 ...
Download or read book Our Little Viking Cousin of Long Ago written by Charles Haven Ladd Johnston and published by . This book was released on 1916 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Westviking written by Farley Mowat and published by Douglas & McIntyre. This book was released on 2024-09-28 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Step into the world of sagas, longships, and enigmatic Norse explorers with Farley Mowat’s captivating historical account, Westviking. The Viking sagas speak of a land called Vinland, a place of abundant resources and possibilities. Nearly a thousand years after the events those tales describe, Farley Mowat sets out to decipher these ancient accounts and trace their path along the rugged coastlines of the North Atlantic. In this celebrated classic, first published in 1965, Mowat’s immersive storytelling brings Viking culture to life as he tells the story of Viking settlement in Vinland—now thought to include areas of Newfoundland and New Brunswick—five hundred years before Christopher Columbus and John Cabot. With the vivid prose that made him a bestselling author and beloved storyteller, Mowat follows the stories of Norsemen like Erik the Red, Leif Erikson, Bjarni Herjolfsson and Thorfinn Karlsefni, unravelling their struggles and triumphs as they set sail for the uncharted waters of the New World—then face the challenges of a new and unfamiliar land. Meticulously researched and grippingly told, Mowat infuses his own adventurous spirit into the little-known story of the Viking culture that once took hold on the edges of North America.
Download or read book The Discovery of the Ancient City of Norumbega written by Eben Norton Horsford and published by . This book was released on 1890 with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Leif Erikson written by Captivating History and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-06-28 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explore the Captivating Life of Leif Erikson The Vikings were exceptional boat builders, seafarers, adventures, and explorers. They not only raided and attacked settlements across Europe and Britain, but they also sailed far and wide, discovering and colonizing new lands. Their impact on history is far-reaching and the mark that they made on the world, especially during the Viking Age, can still be seen today. In this book, you will learn about the world that shaped Leif Erikson and made him into an adventurous man who was not afraid to sail into the unknown to discover new lands. You will discover how he was able to cross the Atlantic on an open longboat and become the first known European to have set foot on the North American continent, almost half a millennium before Christopher Columbus. Some of the topics covered in this book include: The Making of the Man, Leif Erikson's Formative Years The Settlement of Greenland Life in Greenland Leif's First Voyage Mysterious Lands to the West of Greenland Voyage to Vinland Subsequent Voyages to Vinland Master shipbuilders The discovery of L'Anse aux Meadows The End of the Vinland Settlement Leif Erikson's place in History And much, much more! Scroll to the top and select the "add to cart" button to learn more about Leif Erikson!
Download or read book Westward Vikings written by Birgitta Linderoth Wallace and published by . This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 127 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
