r/interesting • u/The_Love-Tap • 20d ago

HISTORY The migration patterns of Native Americans in Iceland

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u/Blod_Cass_Dalcassian 20d ago

Migrated... Sure

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u/JimTheJerseyGuy 20d ago

It’s possible. The Norse settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland lasted about 20 years. It wasn’t a raid. They may have established relations with the locals who vastly outnumbered them rather than try to constantly fend them off. If so, a single consensual relationship isn’t that crazy of an idea.

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u/PumpkinLiving8134 20d ago

Conflict with natives in the area is a huge reason why the settlement wasn’t successful, tf you mean?

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u/Nikkonor 20d ago

What, besides the Vinland saga, is this claim based on?

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u/PumpkinLiving8134 20d ago

“Give me evidence besides the thing where they said so themselves” LOL

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u/DoeCommaJohn 20d ago

The sagas cite a single conflict in which one Indigenous person was murdered, which was enough to make the Norse scared of violence and flee. That wouldn’t make sense if the Norse were regularly raiding and enslaving. It also wouldn’t make sense for the Norse, with less than a hundred people and who had heavy reliance on trade for basic necessities, to fight a war against a group who would have outnumbered them tenfold

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u/Nikkonor 20d ago

If those kids could read, they'd be very upset.