HE GREAT ATLAS OF DISCOVERY

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<rr 1r neu p"llt"9ld eft f Inn » » y Mrnnrtlnf The world of the Sagas

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Most of what we know about the
settlement of Greenland, and the Viking
voyages to North America, comes from
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Voyages
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orimn fiml fllflf HrtW >**ffe «*" lhm/zloirr*i'^fc-
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the Norse Sagas. One of these was the
frt uimVKcA imi tunr i?l1 flf ^ 4^ fiuJ (tr Ifl 4 1
Graenlandmga saga, or Greenlander's Saga
l«fm^!%!lhp«*Iij'B»»i(SV«i;uni;r*» (left), wntten in the 12th century, after the
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Viking voyages. Although some Sagas give
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Vikings, meaning "men
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of the >
MJWr* Mim* «S f j ijl<' v 5» 2,
a history of the Norse people, they were
mi i|N lui.^Ko written as stories, for entertainment, and
creek," is the name given to the people of Scandinavia 'Tii»frr-frrrila
so they are not necessarily true. For
who raided the coasts of Great Britain and northwest \jl» mi »«W
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example, the Sagas tell of the one-legged
inhabitants of America! Proof that the
Europe from a.d. 800 to 1100. They were ruthless
Norse -Green landers settled in
warriors who plundered and pillaged other lands. They Newfoundland comes not from the Sagas
but from remains of their houses found at
often traveled far from their homeland in search of new L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland.
lands to trade with or to settle. Their restless voyaging
carried them halfway around the world: west across the
stormy Atlantic, south into the warm Mediterranean,
and north into the freezing Arctic.
No one knows for sure why the Vikings began to
venture abroad in this way. Scandinavia was a rich
country, but its population was growing. Younger
sons, who had no land to inherit, may have seized
the chance to make their fortune by raiding
foreign shores. They also became wealthy
by settling new lands and escaping the
taxes of their own lands.

N ,0 R T H,
A M E rR I
1
C A'
,

Every summer the national assembly met

^^ A settlement is made in
at Thingvellir ("Parliament Plain"), Iceland.

Newfoundland: a group of
i huts called "Leifs Houses."

:-/.- - *- •

T L T I C C E

KEY TO MAP
Leifs men discoya YinLmd { "\\'ineland"), where
Viking routes 800-1100
wild grapes grow, hater settlers fight local people,
who they call skraelings (meaning "savage wretches").
IZ3