When we studied the discovery of America on the benches of the school, we soon learned that it was the navigator Christopher Columbus who was the first to settle in those distant lands of Europe. In fact, the information turns out to be wrong for two fundamental reasons: first, America had already been discovered by various native populations thousands of years ago; second, the first European to locate himself in these same lands was the Viking Leif Eriksson.
As part of the oral Viking tradition, this story goes back to the ancient tradition that these people had in the exploration and conquest of new lands. According to their accounts, it all started when “Eric the Red” was expelled from Iceland at the end of the 10th century after committing murder. Sent to Greenland, this Viking built a farm and raised his family. It was from there that Leif, one of three of his sons, was excited by the reports of sailors who spoke of the presence of lands to the West.
Reaching the present region of Terra Nova (Canada), this Viking would have named the territory as Vinland. For specialists, the meaning of the given name generates great controversies, being given as “Terra das Vinhas” or “Terra do Pasto”. Confirmation of the arrival of the Vikings on American territory took place in the 1960s, when an expedition led by Helge Ingstad raised a series of artifacts and ancient ruins that were previously erroneously considered to be of origin indigenous.
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Unlike the Spanish settlers, the presence of the Vikings in American territory ended up not lasting very long. Other accounts of the Viking people suggest that the short stay would have been motivated by attacks carried out by local people called “skraelings” (ugly men). Some scholars already suggest that the homesickness of the homeland and the difficulties of settlement in an isolated area would be safer hypotheses to explain the short season of the Vikings in America.
By Rainer Sousa
Master in History
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
SOUSA, Rainer Gonçalves. "The Vikings in America"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historia-da-america/os-vikings-na-america.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
