# The Vikings' encounter with the New World -- How extensive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2007, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vikings-encounter-with-the-new-world-how-extensive/400169 "2007-04-15T02:23:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vikings-encounter-with-the-new-world-how-extensive/400169/1 "2007-04-15T02:23:30Z")
What is the current thinking about the Vikings in North America? How extensive was the contact between Vikings and Amerinds? Also – is there any theory as to why a population crash happened after the 1492 contact, but not before? (Perhaps Scandinavians had different diseases than Meditteraneans?) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vikings-encounter-with-the-new-world-how-extensive/400169/2 "2007-04-15T04:35:41Z")
The Vikings are thought to have had only slight contact. There are no documented remains or evidence of any presence inside of what is now the United States. There is a confirmed settlement in Canada and evidence of other contact. [http://www.mnh.si.edu/vikings/](http://www.mnh.si.edu/vikings/) > [@](#): > > But in 1960, undeniable proof of Vikings in North America came to light at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada. Several Norse Viking pieces and clear Icelandic- style house foundations gave proof positive that Vikings had indeed landed, and briefly settled, in North America 500 years before Columbus. > > More recent archaeological work has revealed over 300 years of sporadic contact between the Greenlandic Norse and various Indian, Inuit, and other Native American peoples, concentrated primarily in the Canadian Arctic. But that’s it. The Vikings had one small settlement at the very tip of the continent and put almost all their energy into their major settlements on Greenland and Iceland. The Spaniards tried to conquer and enslave the natives wherever they found them. There’s really no comparison. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vikings-encounter-with-the-new-world-how-extensive/400169/3 "2007-04-15T06:19:44Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] The Vikings are thought to have had only slight contact. There are no documented remains or evidence of any presence inside of what is now the United States. There is a confirmed settlement in Canada and evidence of other contact. [http://www.mnh.si.edu/vikings/](http://www.mnh.si.edu/vikings/) But that’s it. The Vikings had one small settlement at the very tip of the continent and put almost all their energy into their major settlements on Greenland and Iceland.. [/QUOTE] Overall, a good answer. But a slighty better answer is “The Vikings had one _known_ small settlement at the very tip of the continent…”. They also explored around a bit. How far we don’t know. From Wiki: > **[Vinland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinland)** > > Vinland, Vineland, or Winland (Old Norse: Vínland hit góða, lit. 'Vinland the Good') was an area of coastal North America explored by Vikings. Leif Erikson landed there around AD 1000, nearly five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus and John Cabot. The name appears in the Vinland sagas and describes a land beyond Greenland, Helluland, and Markland. Much of the geographical content of the sagas corresponds to present-day knowledge of transatlantic travel and North Amer In 1960, ar... \*“Historians do not agree on the location of Vinland. Rafn and Erik Wahlgren believed that Vinland was probably in New England. In the 1960s a Viking settlement was discovered and excavated at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, and some historians believe that this was Leif’s settlement, thus connecting Vinland to Newfoundland. Others have followed Rafn in sharing the belief that Vinland was farther to the south. In this view, L’Anse aux Meadows was perhaps part of an undocumented later attempt at settlement” \* There is the Kensington Runestone, > **[Kensington Runestone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensington_Runestone)** > > 8 : göter : ok : 22 : norrmen : po : > ...o : opþagelsefärd : fro : > vinland : of : vest : vi : > hade : läger : ved : 2 : skLär : en : > dags : rise : norr : fro : þeno : sten : > vi : var : ok : fiske : en : dagh : äptir : > vi : kom : hem : fan : 10 : man : röde : > af : blod : og : ded : AVM : > frälse : äf : illü. > här : (10) : mans : ve : havet : at : se : > äptir : vore : skip : 14 : dagh : rise : The Kensington Runestone is a slab of greywacke stone covered in runes that was discovered in Western Minneso... but that is thought by some to be a forgery. In fact once it was generally conceded to be a forgery but now there is much doubt. And then there’s the Maine Penny: > **[Maine penny](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_Penny)** > > The Maine penny, also referred to as the Goddard coin, is a Norwegian silver coin dating to the reign of Olaf Kyrre King of Norway (1067–1093 AD). It was claimed to be discovered in Maine in 1957, and it has been suggested as evidence of pre-Columbian transoceanic contact. Guy Mellgren, a local resident and amateur archaeologist, said he found this coin on August 18, 1957, at the Goddard Site. This was an extensive archeological site at an old Native American settlement at Naskeag Point on Penobs... ---
**Author:** ![T\_SQUARE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de053/32.png) [@T\_SQUARE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T_SQUARE)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vikings-encounter-with-the-new-world-how-extensive/400169/4 "2007-04-15T06:34:33Z")
There’s [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newport_Tower_%28Newport%29) tower in Rhode Island too, as well as some other sites in New England. Rune stones, or at least rune stone hoaxes, have made it as far inland as [Oklahoma](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavener_Runestone).