# Did the Greenland colonists really starve to death rather than eat fish? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 14, 2007, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-greenland-colonists-really-starve-to-death-rather-than-eat-fish/415525 "2007-08-14T04:26:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2007, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-greenland-colonists-really-starve-to-death-rather-than-eat-fish/415525/41 "2007-08-18T05:02:28Z")
[QUOTE=The Cosmople] …perhaps there was a feeling of “the other” resisting the missionary influences, and thus discrediting all their ways. [/QUOTE] Since I assume you meant they were resisting the Eskimo ways because they were “the other,” _Nova_ presented that as a possibility. Knowing a Norskie or two, ya, that could be true. Before anybody jumps on me for ethnic slurs, my Norskie creds: **dropmom** still has her granny’s trunk with her Oslo address. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2007, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-greenland-colonists-really-starve-to-death-rather-than-eat-fish/415525/42 "2007-08-18T05:08:47Z")
And “Texan” isn’t an ethnicity, but I think you can find it in the [DSM.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagnostic_and_Statistical_Manual_of_Mental_Disorders)😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tyrrell\_McAllister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tyrrell_mcallister/32/16772_2.png) [@Tyrrell\_McAllister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tyrrell_McAllister)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-greenland-colonists-really-starve-to-death-rather-than-eat-fish/415525/43 "2007-08-20T19:22:49Z")
[QUOTE=monstro] My old boss, a somewhat well-known population biologist, has a pretty low professional opinion of Jared Diamond because he remembers when he came out against the neutral theory of biodiversity (which my boss attributes to his lack of sophistification and familiarity with complex mathematics). I’m thinking a lot of his deterministic hypotheses in _GGS_ probably grate a lot of evolutionary biologists. . [/QUOTE] Is there a place where a mathematically educated, but biologically and sociologically ignorant, person could read about these criticisms of Jared Diamond? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-greenland-colonists-really-starve-to-death-rather-than-eat-fish/415525/44 "2007-08-21T00:06:32Z")
I think it’s actually possible to eat fish _and_ starve to death - fish contains next to no carbohydrates and humans can quite easily become malnourished on a fish-only diet. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-greenland-colonists-really-starve-to-death-rather-than-eat-fish/415525/45 "2007-08-21T08:38:05Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] I think it’s actually possible to eat fish _and_ starve to death - fish contains next to no carbohydrates and humans can quite easily become malnourished on a fish-only diet. [/QUOTE] You can become malnourished and starve to death on _any_ diet that consists of only one food. But how long would it take? And did the Greenland Norsemen only have fish available to them? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-greenland-colonists-really-starve-to-death-rather-than-eat-fish/415525/46 "2007-08-21T09:13:33Z")
Dunno, and I have to confess that my basis for that statement was Lucy Irvine’s book _Castaway_. ---
**Author:** ![gladiadelmarre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4af34b/32.png) [@gladiadelmarre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gladiadelmarre)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-greenland-colonists-really-starve-to-death-rather-than-eat-fish/415525/47 "2007-08-21T13:04:46Z")
Greenland was 3 days from Iceland by boat and 7 days from Norway. Is there any evidence that the Greenlanders were trapped there a la Easter Island? If not, the most reasonable assumption is that the Greenland settlements were abandoned just like with the thousands of ghost towns all over the world. Does anyone look at American ghost towns and dramatically claim that the residents starved rather than adapt like the native American Indians in the surrounding area? ---
**Author:** ![Ispolkom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47774/32.png) [@Ispolkom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ispolkom)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-greenland-colonists-really-starve-to-death-rather-than-eat-fish/415525/48 "2007-08-21T13:19:47Z")
[QUOTE=gladiadelmarre] Greenland was 3 days from Iceland by boat and 7 days from Norway. Is there any evidence that the Greenlanders were trapped there a la Easter Island? If not, the most reasonable assumption is that the Greenland settlements were abandoned just like with the thousands of ghost towns all over the world. [/QUOTE] I think that this is the most reasonable explanation, that the Greenlander Norse went to either a) Iceland, b) Norway, and/or c) the New World. The Eastern Settlement certainly doesn’t show signs of a violent end, more of an orderly abandonment. Imagine you’re a Greenlander in the late 15th/early 16th century. It’s getting colder and harder to raise your sheep and cows, the European market for your walrus tusks has crashed, and fewer ships are visiting your ports. At the same time, the North Atlantic cod trade is booming, and there are plans for colonies in the New World. Why stick around Greenland? ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-greenland-colonists-really-starve-to-death-rather-than-eat-fish/415525/49 "2007-08-21T15:15:02Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] 😕 You mean you don’t watch _Nova?_ That “cathedral” was pathetic–it fit maybe 50 people. But at least it wasn’t a soddy. THAT wuld’ve been embarassing. My money’s on the mass of them packing off for Iceland, leaving the most stubborn, old Norskies behind. Whether they made it is a different question. [/QUOTE] A community of Norwegian Bachelor Farmers will not reproduce… ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-greenland-colonists-really-starve-to-death-rather-than-eat-fish/415525/50 "2007-08-21T17:54:00Z")
And thank God, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-greenland-colonists-really-starve-to-death-rather-than-eat-fish/415525.md?page=2)