Leif Ericson's Historic Voyage, Ho Hum

Leif Ericson is the first known European to sail to the New World. His exploits were certainly no secret, so why no sudden wave of exploration to the lands he discovered? What scenarios might have developed if the Vikings had been on the ball?
 

Redbeard

Banned
Whar do need cold wasteland at the end of world for, when you have Russia?

But perhaps a PoD making the usual Viking targets less easy prey will have the Scandinavian population surplus go to North America instead?

Regards

Steffen Redbeard
 
Whar do need cold wasteland at the end of world for, when you have Russia?

This is a bit harsh to Newfoundland, which has manaed to provide a home to a not insignificant number of people based on fishing, and seems attractive enough in the Vinland saga.
 

Valdemar II

Banned
This is a bit harsh to Newfoundland, which has manaed to provide a home to a not insignificant number of people based on fishing, and seems attractive enough in the Vinland saga.

It is not like Russia is all that bad either, but its still stands that there are nothing in New Foundland at the time that you can't find easier, safer and better closer to home.
 
nobody rushed to go see Vinland, because nobody really realized what it was.... tales of it did reach Europe, but just as another island out there.... plus, it was a place just barely in reach of the furthest outpost of European culture... hardly an easy jaunt from the large kingdoms of the Continent.... plus, the place was said to have only grapes and good grazing and a handful of primitive people... no gold, no silver, no fabulous wealth... why would anyone go running off to see it?
 
Also Lief may have been all the way out there 2000 miles from Norway and home due to a political disagreement between his father and the King,
But Lief and his crew were farmers and traders,
it was 150 years since the first vikings, and the days of every village and it's warriors getting in a boat and going Viking [roving] for loot were long over.
When He and his men were attacked by the natives, they got in their boat and Scadadled [It's dangerous over there].


I see this is your #1post, Welcome to the Board -Electric Earth-
nice first post, but do not expect everyone to be this gentle as you settle in, Whe get Viscious here sometimes.
 
Also Lief may have been all the way out there 2000 miles from Norway and home due to a political disagreement between his father and the King,
But Lief and his crew were farmers and traders,
it was 150 years since the first vikings, and the days of every village and it's warriors getting in a boat and going Viking [roving] for loot were long over.
When He and his men were attacked by the natives, they got in their boat and Scadadled [It's dangerous over there].


I see this is your #1post, Welcome to the Board -Electric Earth-
nice first post, but do not expect everyone to be this gentle as you settle in, Whe get Viscious here sometimes.

:) Speaking of which..

Leif and his crew weren't attacked by Skraelings. He didn't meet any on his village. His brother, Thorvald, did encounter them on a later expedition and got himself killed for it. Thorfinn Karlsefni led yet another expedition (a big one) to Vinland and settled there for a year or two... his band fought a battle with the Skraelings and defeated them, and then skedaddled...
 
I'm amazed the vikings even discovered America, but they were still way too ahead of their time. But like another poster said earlier, the days of hopping on a boat and raiding were gone and done.

Here's a thought though, could the Vikings have gotten there earlier? Were the ships good enough at that point in time? I ask this because maybe if we can get the raider/colonizing mentality earlier they might go there and settle down, and at least have a decent thing going before the mini-ice age hits. Though, if they're already established, it might not even drive them off.
 
I'm amazed the vikings even discovered America, but they were still way too ahead of their time. But like another poster said earlier, the days of hopping on a boat and raiding were gone and done.

Here's a thought though, could the Vikings have gotten there earlier? Were the ships good enough at that point in time? I ask this because maybe if we can get the raider/colonizing mentality earlier they might go there and settle down, and at least have a decent thing going before the mini-ice age hits. Though, if they're already established, it might not even drive them off.

They did have the shipbuilding technology to go there almost two hundred years earlier. Exploration of Iceland and Greenland were made with that. But as already pointed out Europe was just too ripe and ready for going aViking...:D
Change that and you might get something different.
There's been attempted/done a number of TLs on subject...;)
 
Vinland was at the end of a long supply chain. Form Norway to Iceland to Greenland, the population grew smaller with each step.

Also, the people of the day did not have access to our maps. Just because they landed on the continent, does not mean they got any idea of how big it was.

I suspect most people assumed Vinland to be an island about the size of Iceland. With somewhat better climate, but also agressive natives.

However, the question of its earlier discovery is interesting. When Erik the Red settled Greenland, he had the charisma and fire to get 25 ships to go there, and made a serious go of the place. I have wondered what would have happened if he had been drive of course in his earler exile, and landed in Vinland instead. Erik making a determined and organized attempt with a large following would have been different from the dribs and drabs that tried from Greenland.
 
Having thought about it. The trip from Icealnd to Vinland is significantly longer than the one from Iceland to Greenland. But assuming Eric is driven off course on the trip out, and lands in Vinland, he could discover Greenland on the way back.

Presumably he'll be less impressed with it after the warmer Vinland, but he could see its usefulness as a supply point and stopover on the trip out.
 

NapoleonXIV

Banned
I'm amazed the vikings even discovered America, but they were still way too ahead of their time. But like another poster said earlier, the days of hopping on a boat and raiding were gone and done.

Here's a thought though, could the Vikings have gotten there earlier? Were the ships good enough at that point in time? I ask this because maybe if we can get the raider/colonizing mentality earlier they might go there and settle down, and at least have a decent thing going before the mini-ice age hits. Though, if they're already established, it might not even drive them off.

There is a rather outlandish theory that exactly this happened. A Newfoundland Native American tribe called the Beothuks (all long gone) always baffled ethnologists because what was known of their culture seemed closer to neolithic Europeans than to other NA. Then someone suggested that Medieval European might look that way if they had lost the ironmaking facility, which would have been more likely with the Vikings; who adapted to the native culture very thoroughly.

Maybe, maybe not. One thing fairly certain but often overlooked, the Vikings in Greenland traded with North American Inuit quite extensively right up to the end, the metal goods and European coinage found in Inuit camps and the white hawks/narwhal horn from Baffin Island all over Europe in late medieval times pretty much prove that.
 
What attracts the 16th century to the New World is the search for riches. Vinland did,'t show signs of gold and silver. Also, the Spanish had a better climate to settle in. As decker alluded to, what if the Vikings sailed further south, to a more moderate climate? There were farmers willing to come to better land and weather than Iceland or Greenland (which may supply a good number of disatisfied immigrants). Tales of good land and successful settlements would circulate in Europe and bring more population
 
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