So this is a fun idea. It may take some doing, but the Norse were very well and far traveled traders, so it is not outside the realm of imagination. What if the Norse discovered Australia and made efforts to settle?
WI: Viking Australia
- Thread starter Emperor Norton I
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- australia colonialism norse viking
Earth Judicar
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This is probably very far fetched but some Norse are sailing down the coast of North Africa and get caught in a storm that blows them near the cape.
They somehow survive this and sail east surviving on fish and looting whatever coastal settlement is in sight. They get caught in a major Indian Ocean current after nearly a year at sea and end up on the northwest clad of Australia.
They'd need a heck of a lot of luck and probably the help of a god(or ASB as this site calls them) but maybe just maybe they could pull it off.
They somehow survive this and sail east surviving on fish and looting whatever coastal settlement is in sight. They get caught in a major Indian Ocean current after nearly a year at sea and end up on the northwest clad of Australia.
They'd need a heck of a lot of luck and probably the help of a god(or ASB as this site calls them) but maybe just maybe they could pull it off.
There is some evidence that the Norse may have made it as far as India....maybe. Its always a maybe.
https://www.lionsroar.com/the-buddha-statue-found-in-an-ancient-viking-hoard/
https://www.lionsroar.com/the-buddha-statue-found-in-an-ancient-viking-hoard/
Pretty much the only way. Get insanely unlucky and just decide to keep sailing since they'd probably never reach home again.
Wouldn't they WANT to go home after a raid? If they don't raid for food, they are dead. If they do raid, they'll likely take some valuables they want to bring home
Earth Judicar
Banned
If they get past the cape of South Africa and they travel east in a straight line they won't find much in the way of raiding.
They could travel north and establish a trade route into India and the Far East.
Not really. Atlantic travel, trade and raiding is what lead the Norse into the regions of Iceland, Greenland and Vinland. If the Norse did not go to Britain, they would not have gone to America. Indian/Pacific travel, trade and raiding...as much as it is pushing the boundaries...could lead to Australia. It may be pushing the boundaries of possibility, but if there were any people who could do it in the Pre-Modern era, it was the Norse.
Earth Judicar
Banned
I suppose if they did establish some sort of post or settlement in South or East Asia then it would make the possibility of them reaching Australia far more likely than a ship blown off course.
But it is stretching the bounds of possibility. It isn't impossible in the slightest and the Norse are probably more likely to find Australia in this era than a Chinese armada. They were the sea farers of the age.
I'd love to see a story about Vikings trekking across the outback or conquering what would one day be Sydney.
Dreaming and wondering about home on the other side of the world.
But it is stretching the bounds of possibility. It isn't impossible in the slightest and the Norse are probably more likely to find Australia in this era than a Chinese armada. They were the sea farers of the age.
I'd love to see a story about Vikings trekking across the outback or conquering what would one day be Sydney.
Dreaming and wondering about home on the other side of the world.
I would be interested in the interaction with the Aborigines.
Earth Judicar
Banned
I don't think it would be a pleasant one. The aborigines might die off from the imported disease. Or be hunted down and killed. Their technology was very much inferior to the Norse and I honestly don't think in a stand up fight it would be much of a contest.
However the Norse would probably trade iron and steel weapons, bows, and other implements of value to rival clans and tribes which would have its own problems making aborigine conflicts more bloody.
Though the interactions would of course be dependent on the circumstances of the Norse presence in Australia-my original scenario of a band away from home would probably need to cooperate. If the Vikings had more of a permanent presence Southeast and South Asia the relationship would be more complex and yet more violent.
It would probably go the same way as in Newfoundland. They'd leave a genetic legacy too.
Earth Judicar
Banned
Maybe depends on how much intermixing goes on with the natives, and how long the settlement lasts.
In the unlikely even that Vikings reach Australia, I doubt there would be a permanent Viking settlement in Australia. Since most of Australia is barely habitable, especialy the western part, it is more likely they would ignoreAustralia and move north and end up in Indonesia, with more people to trade with (or plunder). They probably would settle there or someplace in Asia (and obviously be assimilated, a vikingship does not have enough people to estabish a permanent settlement in Asia).
If they do settle in Australia, my guess is that the settlement dies relatively quickly, because Australia is pretty harsh. BTW how many women would be an board of a Viking ship, or other scandinavian ships of that era. You do need women to start a permanent colony. If they don't die because of the climate, the deadly animals, the lack of known plants they could eat or attacks by the aboriginal people, I think they would end up joining some of the aboriginal people, who know how to live in that area and get assimilated. When the Europeans arrive in Australia 800 years or so later, they find nothing that points to a viking settlement.
These ideas genraly sound interesting, but in reality they don't work. A permanent Viking settlement in the America's is hard enough. In Austrlia is impossible.
If they do settle in Australia, my guess is that the settlement dies relatively quickly, because Australia is pretty harsh. BTW how many women would be an board of a Viking ship, or other scandinavian ships of that era. You do need women to start a permanent colony. If they don't die because of the climate, the deadly animals, the lack of known plants they could eat or attacks by the aboriginal people, I think they would end up joining some of the aboriginal people, who know how to live in that area and get assimilated. When the Europeans arrive in Australia 800 years or so later, they find nothing that points to a viking settlement.
These ideas genraly sound interesting, but in reality they don't work. A permanent Viking settlement in the America's is hard enough. In Austrlia is impossible.
They would have to colonize many places just to get close to Australia. Maybe if a kingdom formed by creoles (the Norse,Natives)would make it more plausible if these events happen:
#1:Since the creoles would have Aboriginal-blood they are well-adapted to the Australian climate.
#2:Since the creoles would have European/Norse-blood ,the Aborigines would become better adapted to european diseases.
#3:The Norse would bring livestock,which would also mean if they release the livestock they would become feral and become adapted to the Australian climate.
Now here's the things that would result from this:
#1:The feral livestock would become invasive and consume the native vegetation making the native animals extinct.
#2:Aborigines would lose their food source and possible die from famine.
This would ultimately eliminate or decimate the Aboriginal population,which would make Australia easier to conquer.
Instead of being colonized from southeast Asia, it makes more sense for their to be a settlement in Patagonia from which colonizing Australia can start.
#1:Since the creoles would have Aboriginal-blood they are well-adapted to the Australian climate.
#2:Since the creoles would have European/Norse-blood ,the Aborigines would become better adapted to european diseases.
#3:The Norse would bring livestock,which would also mean if they release the livestock they would become feral and become adapted to the Australian climate.
Now here's the things that would result from this:
#1:The feral livestock would become invasive and consume the native vegetation making the native animals extinct.
#2:Aborigines would lose their food source and possible die from famine.
This would ultimately eliminate or decimate the Aboriginal population,which would make Australia easier to conquer.
Instead of being colonized from southeast Asia, it makes more sense for their to be a settlement in Patagonia from which colonizing Australia can start.
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Remember, the Norse (Viking is a job description, not an ethnicity) didn't succeed in settling Vinland which was really close (relatively) to Iceland and Greenland.
How the frip are they going to settle some place half the world away?
Ain't gonna happen. Nope. No way.
How the frip are they going to settle some place half the world away?
Ain't gonna happen. Nope. No way.
They end up in India, not in Australia. Ok, that's unfair. They probably won't even reach India.