Iron and Longships, A Vinland TL

[Evilprodigy]

It is the year 1000 Anno Domini.

Our story is focused not in Europe, or in China, or in the Middle East, but in the life of a man by the name of Leif Eriksson. Leif Eriksson at this time was in Greenland, bringing Christianity to the people there. A local merchant had told Leif Eriksson that he had seen land to the west when he was blown off course at sea. Leif Eriksson, being the explorer that he was, organized an expedition of 3 boats and 110 men. He sailed and rowed to the west and landed in a flat rocky place he named Helluland, he then traveled south and landed in a forested area he named Markland. He then traveled to the south for two days and made landfall once winter started to roll around at a place he named Vinland after the pasture land in the area but also for berries he observed in the region. Vinland he figured would be a good name as he would follow in his father’s footsteps of naming things to make people want to go there and calling the place grapeland/wineland or pastureland is a good place to start since Greenland is taken. He and his men left their ships and founded a settlement they called Leifsbudir, at the tip of a peninsula that seemed to be near a local bay to the west. While making landfall one of the three ships was damaged and it could not be repaired so they used it to help build the settlement.

During the winter months in Leifsbudir the Norsmen hunted for food and used what supplies they had. During their time here they came across a local tribal person, while initially hostile to the foreigner the man was cold and starving so they took pity on him and brought him into their community, giving him food and water and a place to stay to survive winter. After several weeks of being completely immersed in the language the Norsemen spoke and working quite hard in his own right to understand his saviours, the native eventually learned the language of the people he was with. The man was of the local tribal group that the Norsemen called Skraeling, which means foreigner or barbarian. He was given a new name once he was accepted amongst the Norse, they named him Jakob Thorirsson, with his last name being the first name of the man who found him. The Norse eventually convinced Jakob to convert to Christianity as he became more and more assimilated in the winter months. When spring came the two remaining ships were supplied with provisions they could get and the two boats and 70 men (with 40 left at Leifsbudir) as well as Jakob. They sailed back to Greenland and brought with them pelts from their hunting kills and antlers from moose that were killed to feed the men.

1001
When the two ships of Leif Eriksson’s exploration return to Greenland Leif Eriksson lands at Eystribyggð and goes to Brattahlíð, which is his family’s estate in Greenland. Once there he tells his father Erik the Red about his discovery of Vinland and introduces him to Jakob Thorirsson, who still has an extremely thick accent and proves to be difficult to understand for Erik the Red, who’s knowledge of language is more aristocratic than that of Leif Eriksson’s crew that taught Jakob Thorirsson the Norse language. Never the less they get communication to work properly and Jakob tells the Paramount Chieftain about his homeland in Vinland. Erik the Red gets to be extremely interested in this location as a way to enhance his prestige in the views of the nobility of Norway and the new King Sweyn I Forkbeard, who is also the king of Denmark.

Leif Eriksson and Jakob Thorirsson get supplies in Eystribyggð and word of the discovery of Vinland expands throughout the colony and by the time they are leaving it seems that Leif’s son Thorgils Leifsson is organizing another expedition back to Vinland to expand the colony as the potential for local lumber trade into Greenland to ship building and burning for fires would be good for the Greenland colony. Leif and Jakob leave Eystribyggð in late spring of 1001 and sail all the way Roskilde, stopping in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Niðarós along the way. When they arrive in Roskilde the King does not believe them that there is more land to the west of Greenland and sends them out. Not even the darker skinned Jakob Thorirsson convinces him who just believes he is some sort of Mediterranean slave. Enraged Leif Eriksson prowls the docks of Roskilde and spreads word of a great land to the west, far to the west past Greenland and collects money as well as men (end even some women) to accompany him back to Vinland. The money gained from this allows Leif to purchase some new ships and supplies for these people. He repeats the process in Trondheim and Reykjavík and finds similar results and by the time he returns to Eystribyggð he has a colonization fleet of 67 ships and 1,800 men along with a few hundred women and cattle. At first Erik the Red is extremely happy as he thinks that he has the support of the monarchy in the colonization of Vinland. However Leif breaks the news to his father about what happened in Roskilde and his father falls into depression and dies the next year.



With this TL I plan to include a map of Vinland with each update to show the progression of the colony, this first map is going to be hard to see given that there is only one settlement and it is only 3 pixels large.

Despite my 2 year membership here I have never made a TL before, please be nice. Also if I got anything wrong please let me know and take into account I have no specific POD for the sake of ambiguity and so I can tell a better story.

 

[King Nazar]

Looks like a nice start, I look forward to more.

 

[Cuāuhtemōc]

It's a nice start. Continue ahead.

 

[freethinker]

Very good T.L ill sub this one

 

[Color-Copycat]

Looking good so far. And I wish you the best of luck on your first timeline.

 

[Lorn Of Rome]

very nice work keep it up

 

[Darth_Kiryan]

Well done. Detailed. Hell, you added stuff in there which i didn't even know. So yeah, awesome.

 

[Evilprodigy]

Good to know I am actually getting readers.

The next update will probably be up later today or tomorrow.

 

[Evilprodigy]

LEIFSBURGH AND THORGILSTON

1002
When Leif’s fleet arrives in Vinland they make landing in Leifsbudir who tell them that Leif Eriksson’s son had appeared here a few months ago with his fleet, dropped off his fleet’s women, and then went to the south. Later the settlement received news of Thorgils Leifsson’s discovery of what he called, “More fish than the thousand fattest Norwegian Noblemen could eat in a lifetime.”

Thorgils Leifsson founded the settlement of Thorgilston in what was OTL St. John’s Newfoundland, it survives off of fishing the extremely plentiful Cod in the area and some local farming in the area along with trade with the Skraelingi there.

Leif Eriksson traveled to the west and south, eventually landing on fertile farming land he named Terra Nova, New Land in Latin, and establishing the third of Vinland’s settlements, Leifsburgh. The community there in the massive colonization fleet did what they could in mid spring to set up the colony and sow seeds in fields they formed quickly. To survive until the crops could be harvested the colony made regular trade with Thorgilston for fish in exchange for local birds and animal skins.

During this time Jakob Thorirsson was left in Leifsbudir to try and promote more trade with the local Skraeling, it worked to some degree and trade did start to improve but the local Beothuk people launched some raids to Leifsbudir that were repelled by superior Iron weaponry. There were quite a few native women who were taken in retaliation and made into the wives of some of the colonists. Some of the men became Thralls of the more wealthy of the Norsemen (a thrall is the Norse equivalent of a Serf) for use in farming and other tasks.

Economically speaking Vinland was surviving mostly on the lumber trade with Greenland as no one in Vinland could mint coins they became more valuable and society reverted to the barter system if they were not using it already. Vinland has zero known locations for Iron and thus iron tools are some of the most expensive things in Vinland, normally gained from Greenland via trade there. Around the end of the year 1002 when harvest season came around in Leifsburgh the other colonists were astounded by the size of the yields they had gained from farming crops from Europe like wheat and other gains in this land.

Leif Eriksson was in Vinland running the new colony but occasionally would leave to explore and map out the region he was in. He discovered that not only was his new colony on an island but Vinland proper (Newfoundland Island) was also an island. He traveled all around what looked to be a bay, charting courses for trade with the other colonies. He eventually found a massive river in July to the west of Leifsburgh and went all the way up the river until it opened into a new sea, or so he thought until one of his men fell overboard and told him that the water was not salty. Leif Erkisson named the river the St. Ansgar River, named after the man who brought Christianity to Scandinavia.

 

[Winnabago]

Wouldn’t it be cheaper for the Vinlanders to focus on shipping lumber from Vinland to Greenland, with the Native Americans getting paid for the chopping?

That requires much less labor sent over. If Vikings were moving to Vinland, I imagine they would have to be doing work that the natives could not do, perhaps farming, herding, or grape-growing.

Anyway, how do you intend to have Vinland, dependent on trade with Greenland, to survive the Little Ice Age, which killed Greenland OTL?

 

[Evilprodigy]

Wouldn’t it be cheaper for the Vinlanders to focus on shipping lumber from Vinland to Greenland, with the Native Americans getting paid for the chopping?

That requires much less labor sent over. If Vikings were moving to Vinland, I imagine they would have to be doing work that the natives could not do, perhaps farming, herding, or grape-growing.

Anyway, how do you intend to have Vinland, dependent on trade with Greenland, to survive the Little Ice Age, which killed Greenland OTL?

Only really Leifsbudir survives off the Lumber trade and that is sort of the situation regards to labour for some of the more wealthy members of society that can take Thralls and the trade with the Skraelings is for lumber or fur mostly. Thorgilston and Leifsburgh both don't really use the lumber trade much since they are fishing and farming communities mostly.

When the Little Ice Age happens the Vinlanders will be hurt but they will survive or this wouldn't be much of a Vinland TL. Although I'd rather not spoil exactly how that happens.

 

[Basileus444]

I like the title and the timeline. Good work. I'm guessing that by the time the Little Ice Age (in about 3 centuries?) Vinland will have established enough of an agricultural and population basis to survive even if Greenland buys it (although with Vinish/Vinlandish resources that's not guaranteed to happen either). It might also push the Vikings south. Viking tobacco plantations?

 

[thekingsguard]

Subscribed. Hope to see how Vinland expands, here's hoping for a Norse new world!

 

[Bavarian Raven]

just to point out, Markland, aka labrador and newfoundland, does have deposits of bog iron. so when they are found, they can have their own supply of iron to forge. otherwise, nice start

 

[Evilprodigy]

just to point out, Markland, aka labrador and newfoundland, does have deposits of bog iron. so when they are found, they can have their own supply of iron to forge. otherwise, nice start

I know full well about the bog iron, near Grand Falls in particular, and it's going to be discovered in a later update.

 

[freethinker]

very good update

 

[Detlef]

Wouldn’t it be cheaper for the Vinlanders to focus on shipping lumber from Vinland to Greenland, with the Native Americans getting paid for the chopping?

That requires much less labor sent over. If Vikings were moving to Vinland, I imagine they would have to be doing work that the natives could not do, perhaps farming, herding, or grape-growing.

But a larger population (especially women too) will be better for Vinland short-, mid- and long-term.
They already have a colony on Newfoundland (cod) and Leifsburgh ("astounded by the size of the [grain] yields") so feeding more people should be possible. More people now means even more people in the next generation.
And more people now also means some / more people available for non-essential (survival) tasks. Scouting the areas / coasts (looking for iron perhaps), shipbuilders or charcoal burners (needed for iron later on)? Potters or barrel makers? Some blacksmiths to repair broken weapons? Maybe even produce some new iron products in case Vinland imports - for now - iron bars from Europe?
Not to mention that a larger population is also better for (a maybe needed) defense in case of large scale attacks and for founding new settlements.

Sheep and cattle were transported by Vikings to Greenland in our TL. So farm animals might also reach Vinland in this TL?
Maybe even horses from Iceland?
They´ve got 3 centuries before the Little Ice Age after all.
So "importation" of some other important plants might happen too?
Flax? Seedlings for some fruit trees (apples and the like) to improve the diet?

Anyway, how do you intend to have Vinland, dependent on trade with Greenland, to survive the Little Ice Age, which killed Greenland OTL?

If Vinland has a food surplus they can ship some of it to Greenland?
However I suspect that "surplus" people from Greenland will emigrate to Vinland starting now. And once the Little ice Age hits most people in Greenland will probably come to Vinland.
To stay in contact with Europe (via Iceland), Vinland really only needs a (maybe fortified) trade post / harbor with supplies in Greenland. The supplies and trading goods can be transported by ship from Vinland.
Not to mention that the Vikings in Vinland do have 3 centuries to become self-sufficient?

 

[Montanian]

You'd likely find these older books:
"Lost America" by Arlington Mallory, a sea captain/engineer who retraced a lot of the Viking presence in the U.S. including finding iron forges using European Middle Ages techniques and tools not only on the coast but down the Ohio River Valley as well. Also mentions that when the Vikings came down the St. Lawrence River there were already considerable numbers of long-settled Irish farmers who'd been these some generations.)
"Viking America" by James Enterline, a computer scientist, took a closer look at the maps, the terrain, etc. and makes a strong case for the Vinland/pastureland being quite a bit more hospitable then than it is now, particularly for livestock.
Another well-researched article made a strong case for the Vikings having brought a lot of horses successfully to North America, particularly the Icelandic Ponies, and doing horseborne reconnaissance or diversion attacks by horseback were a common feature of Viking raids in the British Isles and Europe.
Connecticut has a lot of small iron ore deposits that are readily accessible, that's one of the places American ironmaking started in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
1,800 people would be a significant community, sufficient for full ship-building (it was an early colonial industry and Viking villages of a few hundred or less routinely built their own ships.) The massive virgin timber of New England would allow much longer keels which greatly increases cargo capacity and applied to the Viking's cargo ships rather than long-ships would make cross-Atlantic voyages much more productive with bulk cargos and returning with cattle, pigs, horses. That longer keel advantage was a major aid to first the British maritime and naval ships and then the American, only Russia had comparable timbers left at harbors' edge.
They're also arriving and settling before the collapse of the Mississipian civilization headquartered probably near St. Louis at Cahokia but with extensive trading networks that keep getting expanded with better archeaology, several hundred thousand people or more directly organized in their cities the full length of the Mississippi and up to the Great Lakes, so contact could be peaceful or violent. Mallory suspected the Mississipians were mostly wiped out by Bubonic Plague traveling on the ship from France sent to take a new Bishop to Vinland during the Black Death in Europe, timing's about right and a plague would explain the sudden collapse of many dense communities at once.
Great start!

 

[CELTICEMPIRE]

Awesome

 

[Winnabago]

@Evilprodigy:
So what’s really the incentive for you to have Vikings do your wood-chopping? Any merchant would figure this out quickly, simply by looking at what workers are available.

@Detlef: A larger population is only necessary if there’s a crapload of work to be done right now. There isn’t, because I can guarantee you the first merchant who shows up doesn’t have very much money to pay his wood-choppers with. Once he starts making money, more unemployed locals will start chopping wood and bringing it to Mr. Merchant to sell. The colony would do best as simply a trading post and a safe harbor.

The locals know the paths around Vinland, while the Vikings know the sea route to Vinland. You can guess what people will do.

Historically, the Vinland colonists refused to sell iron weapons to the locals. The imports to Vinland would likely be food, animals, artisanal goods, and precious metals.

The original colonies were small: if they were prosperous, I doubt they would need large Viking populations. Likely a lot of mixed-race people in the second generation.

Vinland regardless would be seen as an outpost, a shithole at the edge of Viking influence, a bit like how Rome felt about England. I bet they would go to Iceland, as it’s closer to home.