Vinland

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.

But that links in as well with the the old Norse idea of the Skrælings.

So the Skrælings, usually interpreted as Native Americans that the Norse people encountered in Vinland, which, of course, is Newfoundland.

So, yeah, there's there's a possibility of a link there or it might be something completely different.

Whenever fall comes back around, it always feels like a fresh start.

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.

Vinland is usually associated with the coastline further south, possibly Newfoundland, possibly stretching even further down into what's now the Gulf of St. Lawrence or beyond.

Notice something about all three of these names.

They're descriptive.

And from the western coast of Greenland, the distance to Baffin Island, to Labrador, to Newfoundland suddenly isn't some impossible oceanic leap.

It's closer than you'd think.

Is it because of the need for food? That may well have been a part of it.

We were talking about a land they called Vinland, uh, or, or Vineland because it was green, and they were coming around Iceland and Greenland, and guess what? This was a part of the territory in what's now northern Canada that was a lot greener than what they'd seen before.

And there was also wood, and it turns out that may have been a central issue.

They needed wood in order to build and repair so much, not only their settlements, but their boats, those Viking boats.

After what must have been a grueling journey, he discovered a land full of wild grapes and timber.

He dubbed it Vinland, meaning wine land.

Throughout Europe, it was known that Scandinavians had sailed far and wide, reaching lands across the Atlantic.

But no one really knew if these stories were true or if the discovery was even significant.

They contained dwellings, workshops, an ironworking smithy, and a full ship repair facility.

It was used for years, helping to keep the explorers' equipment in prime condition.

The site was radiocarbon dated to 1041 AD, over 40 years after Leif Erikson reportedly discovered Vinland.

The Norse were clearly actively exploring North America 500 years before Columbus's famous voyage.

Um, but then it gets to the-

Called it Vinland, right?

Yeah, Vinland.

Vineland? Yeah.

But, um, then you get to the stuff that you've talked about every single year on our stupidest holiday, Columbus Day.