Have to correct you on this one, Jens. It was Leiv Eriksson, son of Erik the Red, who went to Northern America. The spelling of the land was Vinland, from Vine meaning grassland. It has nothing to do with grapes, which is a Eurasian plant, btw. (read the biography of Helge Ingstad a while back)
Jostein ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jens Bladt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Greenland got populated by the Scandinavian Vikings a thuosand years ago. I > guess the Vikings got there during summer, where the coastal areas appeared > quite green. Remember that the climate at that time was considerably warmer > than it is today. Greenland is up to this day still a part of the Kingdom of > Denmark. > > Erik the Red, was a Norwegian Viking (actually rebbel an a murderer - a kind > of an outlaw - a refugee from Norway and Iceland) left Norway to go to > Island and later moved on to Greenland. On a trip to Greenland in 985 he > missed Greenland and reached North America, which was then called Wineland, > because they found wine plants there (somewhere in todays Canada, I > believe). The first European to see North America was a man from Iceland, > travelling with Erik the Red. His name was Bjarni Herjolfsson. Actually he > dissovered North America, not Christoffer Columbus, who got there about 500 > years later. Erik the Red Never reached America himself but wnt back to > Greenland. His son Leif the Happy, got to America 10-14 years later. They > never really established a Viking coloni there, because the native > population (indian, inuit) was giving them a very hard time. So, it was in > fact the Vikings who "discovered" America. After that the world was never > the same... > > Jens Bladt > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://hjem.get2net.dk/bladt > > > -----Oprindelig meddelelse----- > Fra: David Mann [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sendt: 4. december 2004 05:37 > Til: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Emne: Re: Some really neat northern lights photos > > > On Dec 2, 2004, at 10:29 PM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I always thought that "Greenland" was an early example of false > > advertizing in the attempt to make people move there :-) > > Probably named by the guy who invented the greenhouse. > > Cheers, > > - Dave (we call them glasshouses here) > > http://www.digistar.com/~dmann/ > > >
