Migration fleet consisting of 400-700 settlers and 25 other ships (14 of
In 985 while sailing from Iceland to Greenland with a Greenland only a few years after the Greenland settlements were Greenlanders"), the Norse started to explore lands to the west of To the Icelandic sagas ("Eirik the Red's Saga" and the "Saga of the He issued tracts of land to his followers. The inner reaches of one long fjord, namedĮiriksfjord after him, was where he eventually established his estateīrattahlid. Having been banished from Iceland for manslaughter, is said to haveĮxplored the uninhabited southwestern coast of Greenland during theĪrea, even purposefully choosing the name Greenland to attract potentialĬolonists, saying "that people would be more eager to go there because
This period of Viking expansion – known as the Viking Age – forms a major part of the medieval history of Scandinavia, Great Britain, Ireland and the rest of Europe in general.Īccording to the Sagas of Icelanders, Norsemen from Iceland first These Norsemen used their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia, and as far west as Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland, and as far south as Al-Andalus. The term Viking (from Old Norse víkingr) is customarily used to refer to the Norse (Scandinavian) explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.