WI: A Viking/Inuit state

Chimera0205

Banned
What if instead of bieng wiped out the Scandanavia colonys in North America had integrated with local Inuit and created a Native state with Metal Working, ship building and other european technologys and a higher resistance to european plagues do to Viking genes bieng present. Not to mention the occasional red headed Inuit. How would this state do upon later contact with europeans? Could the metal working spread to other native groups?
 
Inuit and Viking lifestyles were diametrically opposed. One was a hunter-gatherer group always on the move to gain every bit of advantage out of one of Earth's harshest environments. The other were settled agriculturalists and herdsmen out of their element in a cooling climate.

Overall, they have no reason to mix or assimilate. A Norse blacksmith is out of his element and has little to give the Inuit. A Norse farmer can't farm, since this isn't Lands of Ice and Mice and the Inuit have no crops. Wooden ships are pretty useless to the Inuit, since their ships were good enough for what they needed the for.

Conversely, adopting the Inuit is too difficult of a change for the Norse. Better to take your chances with what you know or just bite the bullet and go back to Iceland then go native.
 
Maybe some Norse could carve out a niche as middlemen for Inuit and Europe? Perhaps Norse could also create and dominate the Eastern American seaboard trade? Additionally the Norse could trade products of craftmanship in exchange for resources.

Later some sort of confederation may be organised. The confederation could regulate hunting, mining, lans ownership, laws, etc.
 
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Didn’t a lot of Vikings assimilate into the Inuit and that why they died

The greenland colony was abandoned IOTL mainly due to it being no longer profitable to exist. IE. The main reason for the "colony" (after 500 years is it still a "colony"?) was for resource exploitation of the high arctic. Ivory (walrus and whale), hides and furs, etc. The farming was a means to help support these activities. Yearly trips to Markland and Vinland were for resources (such as lumber, meat, nuts and fruits, etc) to help support these high arctic adventures.

Towards the end of the colony's run, the Norse were living a life style similar to the inuit (their diet consisting of upwards of 80% seal, fish, etc). But the profits were largely gone, and they did not want to give up (totally) their culture. So the remaining thousand or so people departed for parts unknown. :)

That being said, IOTL, a good number of norse people likely did integrate into Inuit and other native groups over the centuries. Norse populations were often short on women, and men being men... Not to mention when western settlement was abandoned, ~400 to 500 people "vanished" (and went heathen, according to the church). They likely migrated to the Americas. Some lost on the voyage and the rest integrating into the cultures they were trading with for centuries.

So IOTL, there was (very likely) some integration with the natives, etc. But it was not enough to have a lasting noticeable effect on the locals.

(It had more of an affect on Europe, in that the europeans "learned" of the lands beyond the ocean and their wealth. And we all know what happened then...).
 

Chimera0205

Banned
The greenland colony was abandoned IOTL mainly due to it being no longer profitable to exist. IE. The main reason for the "colony" (after 500 years is it still a "colony"?) was for resource exploitation of the high arctic. Ivory (walrus and whale), hides and furs, etc. The farming was a means to help support these activities. Yearly trips to Markland and Vinland were for resources (such as lumber, meat, nuts and fruits, etc) to help support these high arctic adventures.

Towards the end of the colony's run, the Norse were living a life style similar to the inuit (their diet consisting of upwards of 80% seal, fish, etc). But the profits were largely gone, and they did not want to give up (totally) their culture. So the remaining thousand or so people departed for parts unknown. :)

That being said, IOTL, a good number of norse people likely did integrate into Inuit and other native groups over the centuries. Norse populations were often short on women, and men being men... Not to mention when western settlement was abandoned, ~400 to 500 people "vanished" (and went heathen, according to the church). They likely migrated to the Americas. Some lost on the voyage and the rest integrating into the cultures they were trading with for centuries.

So IOTL, there was (very likely) some integration with the natives, etc. But it was not enough to have a lasting noticeable effect on the locals.

(It had more of an affect on Europe, in that the europeans "learned" of the lands beyond the ocean and their wealth. And we all know what happened then...).
Ok but what if they did leave a lasting impact and got some metal smithing going.
 

Chimera0205

Banned
The inuit were already using metal (meteoric iron) and "cold forging" it for knives. Hard to see much more than this, with such a scarcity of fuel. Further south, however.
ok what if there meltal working knowledge slowly spreads south. maybe even reaching mesoamerica.
 
ok what if there meltal working knowledge slowly spreads south. maybe even reaching mesoamerica.
The problem is "why". Mesoamerica already knew of metal working to a degree (copper, gold etc at levels on par with europe when it comes to craftsmanship. their obsidian blades, etc, were good for their lifestyles and sharper than steel). While steel would eventually take over, it would take a long time (obsidian is cheeper than forging a steel blade).
 
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