History of Greenland

The Island of Greenland has had a rich and vibrant history. Yet, little is generally known about the island by the general population. This video will go into some insight, as the islands long history.

Have you ever wondered what is the northern most point of land? Well. It isn't the North Pole. So... What is it?

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The prehistory of Greenland was largely of Paleo-Eskimo cultures migrating from the northern America. Because of Greenland's remoteness and climate, survival there was difficult. Over the course of centuries, one culture succeeded another as groups died out and were replaced. The earliest known culture in Greenland is the Saqqaq culture which is still the longest lasting group to have lived on Greenland, lasting from 2500 BCE to 800 BCE. The Saqqaq lived in tandem with the Independence 1 culture in northern Greenland, named after independence fjord. The first culture lasted around one thousand years, and was replaced by Independence culture 2 six centuries later.

The Dorset culture appears around 500BCE and lasted around 1,500 years. While their orgins aren't well known, It is believed by some that the Dorset replaced the Saqqaq or any of the previously existing groups on the island, but the lack of bow and arrow and drill technology within the Dorset is a big sign that they may not have come from these groups, as both forms of technology were widely adopted by previous Greenlandic cultures. By the turn of the millennium, Greenland is largely seen to have been uninhabited up until the eighth century, when late Dorset people crossed over, who lasted until the 14th century.

Europeans likely first became aware of Greenland's existence when Gunnbjörn Ulfsson, was blown off course by a storm and sighted some islands off Greenland. The date of this citing isn't exactly known, as it's only mention is in Landnáma, an extensive telling of the settlement of Iceland from the time. Eric the Red explored Greenland while in exile, and came back to Iceland to get settlers, naming the land Greenland to encourage settlement. The sagas make mention that 25 ships left Iceland with Erik in 985, and that only 14 of them arrived safely in Greenland. These settlers established two or three settlements, marked as the Eastern, Western and the Middle Settlement, even though the middle settlement is sometimes combined with the Eastern one. The population was around 2-9,000, with more modern estimates figuring on the lower end.

The economy was largely built around pasture farming mixed with hunting and fishing. I've seen claims that the Norse in Greenland didn't eat fish, largely citing that few fish bones exist from the time while found in many other locations. I just want to dispel this myth since I have the chance. The main reason so little fish bones remain is that they would have been spread into the hay /Barley fields to act as a fertilizer. Not only do the bones make a good fertilizer on their own, but the soil in Greenland is rather acidic, making it hard for certain material to grow, and the bones acted as a way to raise the PH of the soil and allow the crops and pasture grass to grow much more efficiently.

Anyway, The settlements traded ivory from walrus tusks with Europe, as well as exporting rope, sheep, seals, wool and hides in exchange for much needed material such as iron tools, wood, which was largely from Norway, Iceland or Labador, food, and other important material. Trade ships would come once every few months, staying in port over winter if the need arises. In the mid 1200's, All ships had to go from Greenland to Norway directly, bypassing Iceland,. This caused some issues as many of ships would be lost in transit, and it become nearly impossible once the little ice age came, starting the following century. By 1350, the western settlement had been abandoned, both by the result of the increasingly harsh winter, as well as hostile contact with the native Thule people. After 1408, very few written mentions of the Norse remained. The last reported ship to reach Greenland was a private ship that was blown off course, reaching Greenland in 1406, and departing in 1410 with the last news: the burning at the stake of a condemned witch, Correspondence from pope Nicholas the fifth in 1448 called for a few priests and a bishop to be sent to Greenland from Iceland. The last mention of any Norse is from a German ship that landed in the Eastern Settlement in the 1540's and found the body of a Norse man, dressed up in the native clothing.