0Canada Reading Card 3

Vikings - Warriors and Explorers

The first Europeans to set foot in Canada were theVikings. They come from that area In Europe calledScandinavia - the countries of Denmark, Norway andSweden. These brave people were used to violent storms,rough seas and many weeks of travel on the ocean.

The Vikings had already settled on two northernislands named Iceland and Greenland. They had decidedto explore further west In hopes that they would find aplace of rich farmlands and other treasures. Historiansbelieve that the Vikings probably landed in North Americaabout the year 1000 A. D.. Their first landing site was mostlikely Baffin Island. They were not Impressed with the barrencoast of flat stones and cold weather.

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01989 S & S Learning Materials United

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The Vikings were adventurous enough to continue

their search for new land on which to settle. Their voyages

took them from Heiluland, the name they gave to Baffin

Island, on to the area we know today as the Labrador

coast, which they named Markland.

They were still not truly satisfied with the results of their

journeys and pressed on towards the south. In an area

known today as Cape Cod, which they called Vinland,

they finally found the fertile farmland they had been

seeking. The climate was good, their cattle would be able

to stay outside all year and grapes grew in great numbers.

However, there was one problem. The Vikings and the

native inhabitants of the area did not get along at all. The

Viking colony only lasted a few years before the Skraelings,

their name for the Indians of that area, forced them to

leave their' new homes and return to more friendlier

settlements.

Though scientists and historians have long debated

whether the Vikings spent much time in North America one

fact remains true: they have discovered remains of Viking

relics In a number of sites in Newfoundland. The Vikings can

definitely claim to be the first Europeans to land in North

America, almost 500 years before Christopher Columbus.

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1989 S & S learning Materiels LknIted

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A Norse Discovery - Video Review1.Where in Canada was :Anse aux Meadows located?

2. The Norse People were also called

3. Which part of the world did the "history" behind L`anse aux Meadowsbegin? Where did the Norse People come from?

4. What four countries make up Scandinavia?a)

b)c)

d)

5. The Norse People were farmers. What kinds of foods did they eat?

6. The Norse People were the first explorers to cross what ocean?

7. Some of the Norse people left Scandinavia and settled inand

8. Please draw a picture of what their boats looked like, labeling anyimportant details on your design.

9. What were the Norse People searching for when they discovered

Newfoundland?

10.What types of food did the Norse People survive on once they arrived in

Newfoundland?

11.What were their homes made from?

brow a picture of what their homes would have looked like.

12. The Norse remembered their history in spoken stories called

13.Saga's were told by a group of people who were lead by a man named

14.What one important artifact did archeologists find at L' anse aux

Meadows to prove that Vikings existed?

15.What other items did the archeologists find there?

European Contact

Vikings were the f i rst Europeans to travel to North Americaabout 500 years before Columbus. They set up a village at L'Anseaux Meadows on northern Newfoundland. What happened to thoseVikings is still a mystery but they never stayed.

ftftb

In 1492, Columbus tried to sail from Spain to India to get spicesand riches of the East and ran into North America. Soon, othercountries like England and France tried to claim parts of the"New World" for themselves and explorers began to spread ofdeath and disease that would almost destroy many great Indiancultures.

FACT FILEIn the 1400's, spices from China and India were worth theirweight in gold. Because there was no refrigeration in those times,spices were used to help preserve and cover the taste of spoiledmeat.

The Norse in North America

As early as 800 CE, the Norse were on themove. Overcrowding and political unrestin Scandinavia led some people to searchfor new lands. Others were sent away aspunishment for crimes they had committed.In around 870, some of these emigrantslanded in Iceland where they built a colony.They were a hardy and independent people.

Eric the RedAround 982, a man named Eric the Redwas exiled to Iceland for a crime he hadcommitted in his homeland. Soon, he wasin trouble with the law again, and took tothe seas, looking for a place to build a newsettlement. He landed in a place he namedGreenland, even though it was treeless,cold, and wintry. He thought that morepeople would come to -live there if the landsounded like it was a warm and fertile place.

Soon Eric the Red (so named becauseof his red hair and beard) was joinedby more than 300 new settlers fromIceland. The settlement on Greenlandwould survive for nearly 500 years. FromGreenland came the Norse settlers whowould explore North America.

Leif the LuckyLeif Ericsson (son of Eric the Red) setsail from Greenland. He was searchingfor a tree-covered island he had heard

Who tt"OrYPIViking N

Scandinavian: These t*rmd

ofdescribing

eEurope. Th* r",

an rat of Europe

ed ,thom 04 name ,

which Is lbisi4 on eNorwegian word for "pirate." Hower. manyVikings were farmers„ not pirates.

about years earlier from a merchant namedBjarni Herjolfsson. He landed at a place hecalled Helluland (meaning "land of the flatstones"), believed to be Baffin Island. Healso explored present-day Newfoundlandand Labrador. He named the most fertile ofthese stopping points "Vinland." Leif tooka shipment of lumber back to Greenland,made his fortune, andnever returned.

Figure 43 Little is known of the Norse

ships that sailed across the AtlantfeOcean a thousand years ago. Mosthistorians believe Leif Ericsson andothers travelled In a one-masted shipcalled a knarr: Knarrs were about 18-17metres long and 4-5 metres wide.

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People and Stories of Canada to 1867 * Chapter 4

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Viking Explorations

Early Voyages fromScandinaviaEric the RedBjarni HerjolfssonLeif Ericsson

Figure 44 VIKING EXPLORATIONS. Vikings explored North America around 1000 C.

Thorvald the LucklessThorvald, Leif's brother, did return toVinland, however. Thorvald arrived withsupplies and 30 men who were determinedto build a colony there. They wereimpressed with the pastures, the trees,the fish, and the wild fruit.

The Sagas

Much of what we know about Norse explorationand settlement comes from the Sagas. These arestories that were passed on from generation togeneration. At first, the stories were told orally.Later, the stories were written down. For manyyears, no one knew if the stories were true.However, archaeologists have found things thatcan be read about in the Sagas. Some of the Sagasare actually fun to read. In one, we learn that Leif'smother- in-law was named "Thorbjorg the ship-chested." We also find out that Leif's father andgrandfather spent time in exile for murder.

They also found out that the land wasalready inhabited. In the first recordedencounter with Aboriginal peoples ofLabrador, the Norse stumbled across ninemen sleeping under boats. They killed eightof them, but one escaped and returned withothers to fight the intruders. Thorvald waswounded and died as a result of this skirmish.Those who survived returned to Greenland.

The Vinland settlementIn about 1012, a group of approximately160 Greenlanders sailed to Vinland toestablish a permanent colony there.

Although they traded with Aboriginalpeoples, the two groups sometimes foughtand even killed each other. After a while,the Norse decided to leave Vinland andreturn to their homeland.

The Europeans Come to North America

For a tong time, scholars believed that the Norsehad built a settlement in the place we now call

Newfoundland. Many other people, however,thought this was just a story. Then, in 196o,archaeologists uncovered an ancient Norse

settlement in Newfoundland. This settlement is

called VAnse aux Meadows. It proved, for the firsttime, that Vikings had crossed the Atlantic Oceanand landed in North America around moo cc,500 years before any other Europeans would tryIs t!'Anse aux Meadows the land that Leif namedVinland? No one knows for sure, although thereare several theories.

Theory 1: The viii in Vinland refers to wine, orgrapes. Since no one has ever grown grapes asfar north as Newfoundland and Labrador, Vinlandmust be located in a yet-to-be-discovered place

farther south.

Theory 2: L'Anse aux Meadows is Vinland.Vin refers to pastures, of which New

Figure 4.5 Artifacts such as these brooches and cloakpin have allowed historians to identify where the Norseexplorers la"&d in the New World.

as crowberries, partridgeberries, and blueberries,would make good wine.

Theory 4 Like father, like son? Greenland wasnamed by Leif Ericsson's father, Eric the Red, eventhough it was treeless, cold, and wintry. He thoughtthat more people would come to live there if the

land sounded like it was"a warm an fertile place.

Perhaps Leif Ericsson named 'Anse aux Meadows"Vinland" because he thought people would settlethere if they believed the place was warm enough

fou nd andLabrapled..

Theory 3: Vin does refer to wine,or grapes. The Norse thought

the wild berries growing inabundance in the area, such to grow grapes.

Figure 4.6 Today the historic site oft Anse aux Meadows fArchaeologists have concluded that early Norse settler

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People and Stories of Canada to 1867 • Chapter 4

► look ilksod houses like those in the picture above.

The Norse in North AmericaRead page 54-56 and answer the following questions.

What lead the Norse people to - arch for new lands?

2. Who was the first person to land in Greenland?

3. Why did he call it Greenland?

4. How is Leif the Lucky related to Eric the Red?

5. What was Leif Erickson searching for?

6. What parts of Canada did Leif the Lucky explore? What did he namethat area?

7. What did Leif take back to Greenland that made him rich?

8. Who was Leif's brother?

9. Why did Thorvald return to Vinland? Describe his experience inVinland?

10. Why do you think the Norse decided to leave Vinland?

11. Some scientists believe that the Norse built a settlement whereNewfoundland is today. Other scientists thought this was just a theory.This settlement was called L'Anse aux Meadows.

In your own words, describe two of the four theories about L'Anse auxMeadows.a.)

b.)

12. What 2 artifacts allowed historians to identify where the Norseexplorers landed in the New World?

13. Draw a picture of the buildings that the Norse settlers lived in,

"L'ANSE AUX MEADOWS"NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE OF CANADA Website

httg://ww_w.pg.9c.ca/lhn-nhs/nl/̀``meadows/notcul/"``Vinland e.asg

Today you will visit the "L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site" as avirtual field trip. Follow the instructions below to learn more about thisamazing discovering of Canadian's first European contact.

Type in the website address underlined above. Begin by clicking on theheading bulleted "Brief History".

Fill in this mini time- line with the correct event in history:

Ca.6000 B.P. -Ca. 1000 A.D.1960-

1978-

Now return to the bulleted subtitles and click on "The Vinland Saga".

What is a saga?

According to the 13th century Greenlander's Saga, who made the firstcontact with the continent of North America?

What did he call the new land?

One group of Norsemen met the native inhabitants, what did they call thenative people?

Where is L'Anse aux Meadows located in Canada?

Return to the subtitles again and click on "Discovery of the Site and InitialExcavations (1960-1968}"

Who was the Norwegian explorer who came upon the site at !.'Anse AuxMeadows in 1960?

Describe what the tngstads found under the overgrown ridges.

How do we know that women were also part of the Norse settlement?

What discovery more than any other find, led archeologists to identify the

site as Norse?

Now click on the bulleted subtitle "Native Sites".

How many different aboriginal groups have been identified at the site?

What are some "theories" as to why the Norse people did not stay in Canada

or try to explore further west?

If you have time, "explore" further at this site and learn more about this

amazing historical site and Viking exploration.

Historica Minute: The Vikings

1. What happened? (What was the plot?)

2. What is the mood? Who do you feel sympathy for inthe film?

3. How did the film make you feel sorry for the Vikings?

4. Who wasn't shown in the film?

5. If you were one of the First People, would you think thatthis film is "fair"?

6. How do you think the First People felt about the Vikingscoming?

24 T H E S T 0 R Y

O F

C .A N A D A

N A DAY IN LATE SUMMER. A THOUSAND YEARS AGO, LEIF ERICSSON

gripped the tiller of his wave-skimming ship. There it was,

rising from the ocean like a great humpback whale: Bjarni's

estem land!Leif Ericsson's people were Norsemen from

Scandinavia, in the north of Europe, and everyone in

Europe feared them. From Russia to the Mediterranean Sea,

the fierce Norsemen went raiding in their dragon-prowed

longships. Their word for raiding, viking, became the name

by which they were known. The Norsemen were bold

explorers. too. At a time when most European sailors

scarcely dared go beyond their own shores, the Norsemen

had settled Iceland. Leif's own father, the outlaw Eric the

Red, had sailed farther west to discover

Later that year, a merchant name

sailing to Greenland, had been caught by a howling sto

Carried far to the west, he had sighted a forested land.

When he finally reached the Greenland port, the story

he told fascinated Leif. Leif, whose friends called him Leif

the Lucky, was a big fellow, adventurous but also shrewd

and careful. He bought Bjami's ship, put it in good repair,

and went with his crew in search of the unknown land.

Leif was as lucky as his friends said, for now he had

found Bjarni Herjolfsson's land. Early one morning, the

wean, salt-caked adventurers waded ashore on an island

off this new coast. "They touched the dew with their

hands," wrote a Norse skald, or storyteller, in Saga of the

Greenlanders, "and they thought they had never known

anything to taste so sweet." The Norsemen had come to

North America.When they pulled their ship ashore on the mainland,

Leif's men found a land that was everything they had

hoped for. Salmon "bigger than any they had ever seen

S before" ran in the rivers. Deep forests covered the hills.

Soon after they arrived, Tvrker, a German who had sailed

with Leif, decided to go exploring. When he returned, he

was brandishing what looked like grapes and vines. What

a marvellous country, far richer than cold Greenland!

Leif named it Vinland the Good and decided to spend

Previous pages:The crew of a Portuguese fis

boat, sheltering from a storm

on a summer day in I SOO, is

startled by the arrival of Wicmac

traders eager to exchange their

pelts for the newcomers' wares,

To visit the only place in

Canada where we know

Vikings lived, travellers

follow the long road up

Newfoundland's Great

Northern Peninsula to

L'Anse aux Meadows, at the

tip of the island. In 1961,

archeologists discovered the

ruins of a Norse settlement

there. L'Anse aux Meadows

has been named a World

Heritage Site by the United

Nations. It is famous as one

of the first places where the

people of Europe and North

America bridged an ocean

one another.

Was L'Anse aux Meadows

Leif Ericsson's Vinland?

Many archeologists say no.

one of the

places where Thorfinn and

Gudrid wintered, maybe

even where Snorri was born.

But grapes never grew

at the northern tip of

Newfoundland, and L'Anse

aux Meadows rarely has a

winter without frost. Leff s

Vinland may still be

waiting for some lucky

archeologist to discover.

the winter. He set the men to building huts. The saga

says there was no frost that winter, and the cattle were

able to browse outdoors.The following spring, Leif loaded his ship with

timber and sailed back to Greenland. Soon there were new

expeditions setting out for Vinland. Leif's brother Thorvaid

led one the next year. But his expedition was not as lucky

as Leif s. One day Thorvald and his men found strange men

sleeping under upturned kayaks. The Norsemen killed eight

of the Native men, but one escaped and soon returned with

many more men in kayaks. Thorvald's men fought them

from their Iongship, sheltering behind a row of shields, but

an arrow flew between the shields and struck Thorvald. He

realized that he was going to die. "We have found a good

country," he said, "but we will not be able to benefit from

it." His men buried him on a high headland and went home.

T H E

S T 0 R Y

O F

C .A N A D A

a large fleet from Greenland to

theTi ww'1'anu a ye or so later, carrying 250 men and

women. They spent several years there, living in houses of

sod and stone to keep out the cold winds that raged across

the headland. Their sheep and goats grazed on the natural

meadows. They made rough clothing from the sheep's wool

and drank nourishing goat's milk. The first winter,

Thorfinn's wife, Gudrid, gave birth to a baby boy named

Snord - the first European child born in North America.

The winter was harsh. People grew hungry and sick,

and they fought with each other. They too met the Native

people of the land. They called them Skraelings, and fought

with them. The Skraelings fought back, and soon the

settlers were afraid to stay in this new land. Snorri was

Norse fighting men valued

three years old when he returned to Greenland.

bravery and laughed at death,

After that, Norse sailors seldom visited the land west of

but they did not always win their Greenland. The seas were rough, the climate was getting

battles. In North America they

colder, and the Skraelings fought, hard to defend their, land.

could not defeat the Skraelings.

In Greenland, the cold and lonely Norse settlements slowly

dwindled away, defeated by the worsening climate. The

Norse people retreated to Iceland, or the countries of their

ancestors: Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. So the Vikings

went no more to Vinland the Good, and remembered it

only in the sagas the skalds told in the great halls at night.

Not long after the Norse had abandoned Vinland the

Good for ever, Inuit in their kayaks began exploring the

coast of Labrador, the places where Leif and Thorvald had

been. It would be hundreds of years before Europeans

returned to the shores of Canada.

The Explorers

About five hundred years after Leif Ericsson's time, Native

people must have stood among the trees along the coast of

Newfoundland, watching in astonishment as a sailing ship

came up over the horizon, its grey sails waving like the

wings of a great wooden bird.

Native people had been living on the Atlantic shores

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for about nine thousand years. They understood the landand the sea and how to live well from both. Micmacs,Maliseets, and Abenakis shared the mainland and theislands south of the great river that would later be calledthe St. Lawrence. North of the river lay the-country-of theMontagnais. On the island of Newfoundland lived theBeothuk. Farther to the north was the territory of the Inuit.

In winter and spring, when floating ice packs from theArctic came drifting and grinding along the shore, peoplelived inland, in the forests, taking shelter in skin -coveredwigwams. Dressed in bearskin cloaks and beaver furs, theyhunted moose. deer, caribou, and small game. Whensummer came, they moved to bays along the coast. Therethey wore cooler deerskin clothes, or nothing at all in thehottest weather: They caught salmon and eels in the riverand gathered clams and mussels by the shore. Although the

different tribes spoke different languages, they shared quitea few words and they understood each other's ways.

Then, on a spring day in 1497, a ship called Mathew,

commanded by a man named John Cabot, reached theirshores from Europe.

What made European sailors set out across the oceans

of the world? Europe had changed since Leif Ericsson's day.Learning had spread. Ships now plied the coasts of Europe,and adventurers gazed at maps and wondered what laybeyond. Some five hundred years after the Norsemen had

These Beothuk nnen are heading

for Funk Island, Newfoundland,

to gather birds' eggs. Their bodiessmeared with red ochre, they

brave the rough Atlantic in theirdistinctive high-sided canoe.

Detail: bone ornaments foundin Beothuk sites; their purpose

is unknown.

The Vikings

The Vikings were people who lived inThey were also called

Vikings also settled on Iceland. banished for killing, settled inwith a group of settlers.

Another Viking, Bjami Herjolfsson, traveling from Iceland to Greenland becamelost because

. He sailedalong an unknown coast for several days and was the first European to see

Around

AD, Eric the Red' s son,

,followed Bjarni's route backwards. He stopped at three places along the way. Henamed them from Viking legends: Helluland meaning land offlat stones waslikely Baffin Island, Markland meaning land of wood was likely Labrador andVinland meaning land of grapes was likely

Leif stayed in Vinland that winter.. When he returned to Greenland he told storiesin the cultural tradition about the abundance of salmon, timber and grapes.During that winter they traded with the local peoples. However, they also foughtwith the native people and Leif's brother was killed.

The next Viking to visit North America was an Icelander, Thorfinn Karlsefni.He brought with him other Wanders and cattle for the purpose of. They stayed for 3 winters butagain they

with the native people and decided to leave.How do we know that this really happened? For years, historians only knewabout the Vikings in North America from the Norse stories, especially theGreenlanders' Saga and Saga of Eric the Red. Then in the 1960's, 2 Norwegiansfollowed the route described in the sagas and dug up the remains of a settlementat

in Newfoundland. This was proofthat the credit for the European discovery of Canada (America) and its firstcolony belongs to the