Vikings: The Explorers of America
Vikings: The Explorers of America is a book by the Norwegian author Knut Lindh , which is about the gradual discovery and settlement of Greenland and Newfoundland , with a special focus on the deeds of Leif Eriksson and his father, Erik the Red . The book was first published in Oslo in 2000 under the title Leif Eiriksson. Oppdagelsen av Amerika and was first published in Germany in 2003 by Piper Verlag, translated into German.
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Lindh begins his book with the discovery of Greenland by the Viking Eirik the Red, who did not keep Erik in the German translation , but instead - as in Norwegian - kept the name Eirik . The story is told of the circumstances that force him to leave his homeland: he killed a man in the course of a quarrel and exile is now the best alternative for the red man.
The focus then shifts to his son, Leif Eirikssohn, who is said to have heard as a boy that there was probably still land further west of Greenland that Bjarni Herjúlfsson discovered when he was off course due to a storm that followed him Greenland was supposed to lead, was driven off. He had sailed towards a coast that he had not known before and soon decided to leave it again in order to go in search of Greenland, which was found again after a short time.
In the following it is told how the now grown up Eirikssohn prepared for a voyage of discovery that his father wanted to accompany, but was no longer allowed due to his health situation. Eirikssohn discovered the coast of Newfoundland and there - like his father in Greenland - started to build a small colony and tried to make people settle down there. However, due to the conflicts that are said to have broken out with the locals soon, a peaceful life was unthinkable, so that the colony was not maintained for long.
The author also speculates on the etymology of the word Vinland , as Eirikssohn called the land he discovered. It presents two theses that are both circulating in the scientific world. One says that the word Vin is derived from wine , which can be explained by the fact that large berries grew where Eirikssohn settled. The other theory is that the word Vin comes from the fertility of the soil, but this would be refuted by the fact that it was later stated in writings that Eirikssohn took some of Vin on the ship to bring it to Greenland. Lindh then denies that this could be arable land that Eirikssohn wanted to ship.
Another sub-point in the chapter on the discovery of America is the question of the date of the first discovery of America. Lindh does not go into the discovery by tribes immigrating from Northeast Asia, which spread over the entire double continent from north to south during the Ice Age , but focuses on the maritime voyages of discovery from Europe. He takes up the story of Saint Brendan , who as a monk from Ireland set out into the sea centuries before to discover new land further west, although it is not known whether Brendan reached the American continent or not. In any case, a test by modern scientists who reconstructed Brendan's boat on the basis of the descriptions showed that it was theoretically possible to discover America with Brendan's original means.
In the last part of his book, Lindh goes into the literary processing of the deeds of Leif Eirikssohn and Eirik the Red, which is reflected in the Greenland saga and the saga of Eirik the Red.
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literature
- Knut Lindh: Vikings: The discovery of America , Piper Verlag, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-492-23997-8