14 - The Arctic from Norse contact to modern times

Summary

FIRST CONTACTS: NORSE AND THULE PEOPLES IN THE EASTERN ARCTIC

The Norse colonists

When Erik the Red (Eirikr Thorvaldsson) and his followers landed in southwest Greenland near the end of the tenth century, they discovered traces of previous inhabitants, including the remains of dwellings, parts of skin boats, and stone implements. Archaeologists agree that these were remains of people of the Dorset culture (see Chapter 3). Late Dorset people probably inhabited the west Greenland coast to the north of the Holsteinsborg region in the period A.D. 700 to 900 and thus preceded the Norse occupation by about 100 years. While Dorset people lived in other parts of Greenland during Norse times, there is little likelihood of meetings between the two groups.

The Norse settlers distributed themselves in two colonies, which were designated the Eastern Settlement and the Western Settlement, although both were located on the southwest coast of Greenland. They lived for up to five centuries a life which combined animal husbandry with hunting sea mammals and some terrestrial animals, fishing being a minor occupation. Chief domesticates were sheep and goats, though cattle, pigs, and horses were also kept. In the farms, scattered deep in the fjords, the Norse used meadows for grazing their animals and harvesting hay to feed them over the winter. It appears that they experimented with growing domesticated grain but were unsuccessful. Exports to Europe included hides, fats and oils, falcons, and walrus ivory. The Norse in Greenland clothed themselves in garments made from the wool of their sheep and partly in animal skins. Their houses were substantial structures with frames of driftwood and walls and roofs covered with sod. Population estimates for these colonies are 4,000 to 5,000 for the Eastern Settlement, and 1,000 to 1,600 for the Western Settlement at peak periods.

First contacts between Norse and the ancestors of modern Inuit of the Thule culture are usually assigned to about the beginning of the thirteenth century. Norse sagas and Inuit legends agree that these contacts took place around the Disko Bay region, some distance north of the Western Settlement, in the course of hunting trips. The historian Finn Gad notes that “The small History of Norway … tells mainly of bloody combats, but the archaeological finds reveal that peaceful contacts must also have existed.