Vikings remain in Vinland and perhaps explore of North America?

The Vikings were essentially criminal thugs. They sailed for plunder, to rob from people who worked land, not to explore or develop land to create wealth. That's why they weren't good colonisers.

While that is true for "vikings" not every Norse sailor or Norseman was a "viking" they may have gone on ships frequently and traveled alot, but the only real "vikings' in modern context would be the Pagan raiders who would attempt to sack and rob. The Greenlanders were mostly Christian and had not gone "viking" much because of the sheer distance to anyone worth raiding. The Greenlanders were alright colonizers, and if there was any reason that made it worth facing the Skraeling threat they probably would have stayed. Infact it was said many of them thought that in a few years they would try to colonize vinland again, and just like the United States space Program eventually interest died off.

Albeit let's say a contagion from Greenland spread to the Natives in the short time the Norse had traded and lived peacefully with the Natives (maybe even the Plague that killed Erik the Red OTL) and killed off three quarters of the population, Thorfinn's colony would have lasted longer and a subsequent die-off of Natives would make the continent ripe for colonization.
 
Okay, in Ireland, Normandy, England, and Scotland they were barbarian thugs.

Well. That is...less than complete. Clearly, some where thugs. It was the dark ages, not a very tolerant time. Most, of course, were traders, farmers or colonizers. Trader and raider probably overlapped quite a bit though.

Barbarian is harder to argue, as it implies a lower level of tech than the natives.

Most of the Vikings reputation stems from the fact that they had no religious hang-ups about raiding churches and monasteries. Who happened to be where the literate natives clustered, and who wrote the histories.
 
Okay, in Ireland, Normandy, England, and Scotland they were barbarian thugs. Presumably places without literary records they were civilizers?

Not civilizers, but they were loyal guards of the Roman Emperor and valiant crusaders in South Italy (these both involve brutal thuggery. but so does everything else in a world of petty kingdoms and endless feudal struggles). And they did influence the Kievan Rus', debatable the extent of that influence may be.

:p:p:p:p:p
 
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If it possible perhaps is it possible the Vikings could of survive without contact from Europe?

Certainly the Norse had ships which could make the voyage to the valley of the St. Lawrence, Canadian Maritimes and New England. Those lands are far far better than Greenland so had there been population pressure back in Europe to drive even a few hundred Norse a year to migrant starting in say 1300 a.d. a considerable nordic State(s) might have already occupied New England. Even a one time migration of 2000 or so folk over a decade would in three centuries multiply to quite a population.
 
OK, if we're doing the Vikings stay in and explore North America, let's look at some ways it could be done....................................................................

1 Foster some alliances with Native American tribes. The Beothuk were hostile from the beginning and a long shot, but there are alternatives. Maybe the ancestors of the Mi'kmaq and Iroquois or perhaps the Dorset. There's several ways to do it as well. Have a Viking chieftain take a native bride and offer a Viking bride to chief of the same tribe.

2 Long ships Great Lakes and rivers. The Viking long ships were used to navigate rivers as well as sail seas. If they can get to the Great Lake region, that'd help as well. Newfoundland and Labrador have forests so that's not a problem. If they can keep a couple of shipwrights to keep the long ships in shape, they can explore the interior of North America.

3 Mound Builders. Relatively close by, large population with a fairly advanced civilization. Could definitely see the Vikings set up trade with them.

4 Cliff Dwellers or otherwise known as the Ancestral Puebloans. It's a long shot, but there's word of mouth through the native trade route. Vikings have long ships and probably kept horses, so there might be incentive there.

5 Incentive for going to Vinland. Get a handful of thriving settlements with established trade and get word of mouth out to Scandinavia and Ireland. You'll have young Vikings coming out to try and make their fortune, pagans who'd rather not convert and monks from Ireland doing their damndest to convert them or at least set up a monastery. And since this is Vikings we're talking about, they will bring Irish and Rus slaves more than likely.
 
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