What I was taught in school in Canada in the mid 1960s: While the Vikings settled in both Greenland as well as Iceland, Iceland was the better (although smaller) location. Since they did not want too many people headed for the better smaller location, they reversed the names. (better not come here, it is the land of ice and snow). Yep, they were master real estate agents 🙂
This sounds about right, neilrieck. Most of what I know about Vikings on Greenland is from reading Jared Diamond’s “Collapse”, a fascinating but obviously downbeat look at why various civilizations and settlements fell apart. Greenland has had an ice cap since there have been humans, but the sheltered fjords where the Vikings settled did (and sometimes still do) actually look green from the water. The settlements lasted for centuries but eventually succumbed as the local climate got cooler AND the settlers found it hard to change their culture to depend on fishing rather than livestock and farming. They eventually starved even though the native people (whom the Vikings disdained) managed to survive.
Reblogged this on A Green Road Daily News.
What I was taught in school in Canada in the mid 1960s: While the Vikings settled in both Greenland as well as Iceland, Iceland was the better (although smaller) location. Since they did not want too many people headed for the better smaller location, they reversed the names. (better not come here, it is the land of ice and snow). Yep, they were master real estate agents 🙂
This sounds about right, neilrieck. Most of what I know about Vikings on Greenland is from reading Jared Diamond’s “Collapse”, a fascinating but obviously downbeat look at why various civilizations and settlements fell apart. Greenland has had an ice cap since there have been humans, but the sheltered fjords where the Vikings settled did (and sometimes still do) actually look green from the water. The settlements lasted for centuries but eventually succumbed as the local climate got cooler AND the settlers found it hard to change their culture to depend on fishing rather than livestock and farming. They eventually starved even though the native people (whom the Vikings disdained) managed to survive.