# Why Did The Viking Colonies In North America Fail? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 20, 2003, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-viking-colonies-in-north-america-fail/169828 "2003-04-20T09:27:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-viking-colonies-in-north-america-fail/169828/21 "2003-04-21T07:08:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MLS \* > Because seafarers did not have to rely solely on word of mouth and hand-written directions. Also the travelers’ accounts and discoveries could be more widely distributed. OK, maps would be more widely distributed, of course. But other colonizations (the polynesians colonizing half of the Pacific comes to mind) had succeeded without a printing press. I have trouble believing that printing could be a decisive advantage. Is the “printing press theory” of the American colonies widely held? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-viking-colonies-in-north-america-fail/169828/22 "2003-04-21T11:02:37Z")
I have heard that the Vikings accidently earned the ire (and subsequent hostility) of the local native population by trading them milk. The lactose-intolerant Indians became ill after drinking it, and, thinking they had been poisoned by the settlers, attacked them. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-viking-colonies-in-north-america-fail/169828/23 "2003-04-21T11:14:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by squeegee \* > \*\*OK, maps would be more widely distributed, of course. But other colonizations (the polynesians colonizing half of the Pacific comes to mind) had succeeded without a printing press. I have trouble believing that printing could be a decisive advantage. Is the “printing press theory” of the American colonies widely held? \*\* True, but the Polynesians lacked an organized inter-island political structure except in cases of very closely neighboring island groups, such as Hawaii. This meant that anything more than a couple of days’ voyage away became a separate society. Also, the Polynesians spread across previously uninhabited islands, which meant that there was no pressing need to send requests for emergency supplies or reinforcements. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-viking-colonies-in-north-america-fail/169828/24 "2003-04-21T11:34:14Z")
Too many Krispy Kreme Donuts. Clogged arteries, & all. PS-- May the Curse Of The Seven White Geese fall on the next hapless cretin that usees that overworked Homer Simpson/donuts line. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-viking-colonies-in-north-america-fail/169828/25 "2003-04-21T16:15:55Z")
In addition to the worsening climate of the Little Ice Age, Greenland probably was visited by bubonic plague as well. As others point out, there were only a few thousand Norse in Greenland, and it was impossible to colonize N America with such a small population base. Oddly enough, Greenland was in regular contact with the outside world until the late 1400’s-bodies exhumed from the Norse graveyards in Greenland were wearing clothes that were of the latest European styles! One author has suggested that the last Greenlanders were abducted by English pirates, and trnsported as slaves to the sugar plantations of the new world. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-viking-colonies-in-north-america-fail/169828/26 "2003-04-21T16:39:50Z")
Denny Green is the most recent reason, as well as doing poorly in the draft. In the seventies it was lack of offense, more recently, a lack of defense. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-viking-colonies-in-north-america-fail/169828/27 "2003-04-22T01:09:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by squeegee \* > \*\*OK, maps would be more widely distributed, of course. But other colonizations (the polynesians colonizing half of the Pacific comes to mind) had succeeded without a printing press. I have trouble believing that printing could be a decisive advantage. Is the “printing press theory” of the American colonies widely held? \*\* I don’t know that I’d dignify my somewhat offhand comment on the importance of printing as a “theory”, but in discussing the differences between the Europe of 1000 (which couldn’t sustain American colonies) and the Europe of 1500 (which could and did), I don’t think it should be overlooked. See this [book excerpt](http://www.cnn.com/books/beginnings/9902/new.renaissance/) for some discussion along these lines. Also, note that when the Viking efforts faltered, no other European nation picked up the slack. Indeed, their venture seems never to have entered general European knowledge. Whereas, within a few years of Columbus’s voyage, other nations were exploring as well–because printed accounts quickly circulated throughout the continent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-viking-colonies-in-north-america-fail/169828.md?page=1)