Markland

He named it Marklan, from the woods that were upon it.

They had landed on Markland, and afterward, sailing southward, they came to an island that was off a mainland.

there they went ashore and wandered about there was dew upon the grass there and they put their hands down and gathered the dew with their hands and put it into their mouths it seemed to them that never before in their whole lives had they tasted anything so sweet and so refreshing as this dew was then they put to sea again they sailed into a sound that was between the island and a cape which ran out to the eastward of the land then they sailed westward past the cape at ebb tide there were broad reaches of shallow water there and their ship grounded they did not wait for the tide to float her so anxious were they to get to the land but they went off the ship and they dashed across the reaches to the land a river flowed out of a lake at the place afterwards they went back to the ship and as soon as the tide rose beneath her they floated her up the river and thence to the lake there they cast anchor they went ashore taking their hammocks with them and in that place they built their huts and they settled down their ship was secure and they resolved to stay in the land beside the lake for the winter they built a large house making themselves comfortable there there was salmon in the river and the lake larger salmon than they had ever seen before and they were easily able to take them the grass hardly withered in the winter and they saw that cattle could graze there without having to be foddered the days and nights were of more equal length than they were in iceland and greenland when the house had been built lef divided his men into two parties one when exploring the country while the other remained near the house catching game and preparing meals alternately each party did these things leif ordered the exploring party not to go so far but that they could return to the house the same evening and not to separate from each other at times leif joined the exploring party and at times he remained at the house there was a man named tyrker with the crew he was not a seaman he was a very expert craftsman and he had been so long in his father's house that leif looked upon him as his foster-father this man separated from the exploring party one day and he did not return to the house that evening this made leif very anxious he got together a party of twelve men and they went in search of they had not gone very far when they saw the man coming towards them and they shouted out a welcome to him tyrker was an undersized individual with a prominent forehead and quick-moving eyes as leif watched him coming towards them he saw that his foster-father was grinning and mumbling and rolling his eyes about wherefore art thou so belated asked leif tyrker stood grinning there and nodding his head then as they came up to him he began to throw out words in his own language in german leif could not understand what he said nor what had happened to him and he laid his hand upon his shoulder and shook him then tyrker grinning still spoke to them in the norse language i haven't been much farther away than the rest of you he said but i have found something that has made it worth while to come here what have you found foster-father something that is in my own country and not in yours thereupon he led them to a place and showed them grapes growing grapes that wine is made from he said grinning again leif and his men were overjoyed to see the fruit that they had often been told of growing there the grapes were in great abundance and the men came and took bunches from the vines they brought heaps of grapes to the ship also they made wine there They cut trees down and loaded them on the ship, making a cargo of them, for timber was scarce and valuable in Greenland.

And in the woods they found something very valuable.

The Viking sagas talk about the Norse traveling to these three mythical land masses.

One's called Helioland, one is called Markland, the other one is called Vinland.

I believe that Vinland is in what is now the United States.

Scholars believe that Helluland, Markland, and Vinland are real locations the Vikings voyaged to.

It is accepted that the Vikings started in Norway and sailed west, traveling to Iceland and Greenland, and eventually reaching the shores of North America.

Helluland is thought to be the present-day Baffin Island.

Markland is believed to be Labrador, which includes the island of Newfoundland.

Vinland hasn't officially been found, and scholars still debate its location.

An island lay off the land to the southeast, and there they found a bear.

And they called this Bjarni, or Bear Island, while the land where the wood was they called Markland, or Forest Land.

Thence they sailed southward along the land for a long time, and came to a cape.

The land lay upon the starboard.

Then the men began to divide into factions, of which the women were the cause, and those who were without wives endeavored to seize upon the wives of those who were married, whence the greatest trouble arose.

Snorri, Karlsefni's son, was born the first autumn, and he was three winters old when they took their departure.

When they sailed away from Wineland they had a southerly wind, and so came upon Markland where they found five skrellings, of whom one was bearded, two were women, and two were children.

Karlsefni and his people took the boys, but the others escaped, and these skrellings sank down into the earth.

Most historians place this around Baffin Island, way up in the Arctic, a rocky, barren place that apparently didn't impress anyone enough to stick around.

Then there's Markland, meaning forest land, generally thought to correspond to the coast of Labrador, thick with timber, which if you're a Norse settler coming from a mostly treeless Greenland, is basically hitting the jackpot.

And finally, the one everyone remembers, Vinland, Land of Wine, or possibly Land of Meadows, depending on which translation you trust.

And we'll get into that argument later because it's a genuinely fun rabbit hole.

Names start to circulate.

Helluland, the stony high coast.

Markland, the forest land.

Someplace even further, where grapes supposedly grow wild, or where the meadows are so rich the grass almost mows itself.

And as the dragon-peaked craft glided swiftly onward, there rose into view a long coastline, flat and covered with white sand in the foreground, while a dense forest spread over the rising ground in the rear.

"Markland, land of forest, let it be called," cried Leif.

"This must be the land which Bjarni first saw.

We will not be like him, but will set foot on its promising shores." They landed, but tarried not long.

Lugar al que llamaron Helluland, la tierra de las losas.

Según las sagas, siguieron la costa hacia el sur hasta Labrador o Markland, la tierra de los bosques, y continuaron ms al sur hasta lo que denominaron Vinland, la tierra de las vides.

According to the sagas, they followed the coast south to Labrador or Markland, the land of forests, and continued further south to what they called Vinland, the land of vines.

Según las sagas, siguieron la costa hacia el sur hasta Labrador o Markland, la tierra de los bosques, y continuaron ms al sur hasta lo que denominaron Vinland, la tierra de las vides.

Las sagas no solo describen a estos hombres haciendo escala en un único lugar, sino deteniéndose en varios sitios, comenta Emily Lethbridge, de la Universidad de Islandia, en el programa Timewatch en 2016.

The sagas not only describe these men stopping in one place, but stopping in several places, commented Emily Lethbridge from the University of Iceland on the Timewatch program in 2016.

"This land shall be given a name, too," said Leif.

He named it Markland from the woods that were upon it.

They had landed on Markland, and afterward, sailing southward, they came to an island that was off a mainland.

There they went ashore and wandered about.

There was dew upon the grass there, and they put their hands down and gathered the dew with their hands and put it into their mouths.

They came first to the land that was named for the large flat stones that were on it, Helluland, where they saw many northern foxes.

They sailed on for two days more, and turned from the south to the southeast, and came to a land that was covered with woods, and that had many wild beasts upon it.

This was Markland, named because of its woods.