Eyes On.... VIKING EXPLORERS
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Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad gazed intently at the earth ridges near L'Anse aux Meadows, Canada. To untrained eyes, such ridges would mean little. But the two Norwegian explorers had a hunch that they concealed the ruins of buildings. The Ingstads recognized, too, that the nearby shoreline closely resembled a place that had been described in old Norse sagas....

Those sagas told of voyages that Leif Eriksson and other Norse Vikings had made to a place they called "Vinland," around 1000 CE. But where, historians later wondered, was Vinland located? It was now 1961. And the Ingstads thought they'd found the answer....
     Excavations at the site soon proved them right: Vikings had once lived near L'Anse aux Meadows. The ridged earth did contain remains of buildings that were typical of the early Vikings' Norse homeland. Artifacts at the site were Norse products. And radiocarbon technology indicated that the artifacts had originated in the 10th century. Proof positive: Vikings had crossed the Atlantic and reached America 500 years before Columbus!

Context... But people rarely think of Vikings as explorers of America. And that fact has a lot to do with the way historians can shape our thinking.... The Vikings' Norse ancestors were farmers, herders, and seafarers who lived in places we now call Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. Over the centuries, they became master boatbuilders. And when their shipbuilding skills peaked, they launched a series of daring voyages — some for exploration; others for colonization or trade; others for plunder.
     Between 793 and 1066, those seafarers planted settlements in Europe, as close to home as France and as far away as Russia. They colonized Greenland, launched democracy in Iceland, explored northeast North America. And some conducted sea-raids against the coastal villages of their European neighbors. Christian Europe condemned those raiders, scorning them as "Viking" nonbelievers (though the Norse believed in many gods). And that stereotype became a label for all Norse voyagers in the era. Result? The real achievements of Norse explorers were mostly ignored by contemporary historians. And, in some ways, the "Viking" portrait created by such historians endures today.

Consequences... Nevertheless, the Vikings did make history. Their sleek ships — halfskips, knarrs, drakkars — gave them a technological edge over other seafarers. They opened trade networks linking Baffin Bay (west of Greenland) to the Black Sea, and they became skilled at exchanging amber and iron for silk and spices. In fact, Vikings probably hastened the formation of European nations! The evidence? Many Europeans began to fortify their cities and form defensive coalitions after the Viking raids began.
     Viking explorers also left us lessons to ponder. Lessons in courage: Imagine setting out across an uncharted ocean with only a sail and oars for power! Lessons about foresight: The Vikings' experience proved that having new technology doesn't guarantee success. Their ships were able to reach North America. But the settlers they transported lacked steady supply-lines to their homeland. And they lacked useful plans for interacting with native populations — or for coping with major climate changes. The settlement near L'Anse aux Meadows lasted a few years. The Greenland settlements vanished by 1500.

Eyes On... Yet the spirit of the Vikings lives on. When the Smithsonian Institution opened its exhibit on North Atlantic Vikings in April 2000, Helge Ingstad was a guest of honor. Perhaps he, too, reflected on why it has taken so long for Americans to recognize the Vikings in their past. Or maybe he was thinking about what's still out there to be explored: The human genome? Space colonization? New ways to protect the environment? Keep your eyes on people exploring such challenges.... They're modern-day Vikings!