The Vikings crossed the Atlantic centuries before Columbus. Why did their American adventure disappear from history?

Christopher Columbus will always be associated with the discovery of the New World by Europeans, but the history of transatlantic explorations goes much further back than Christopher Columbus arriving in the Caribbean in October 1492. About five hundred years before that, the Norse had reached the territory of Canada and started exploring from there. Their accomplishment was indeed astonishing, but it never served as a basis for any permanent presence of Europeans in North America.

Vikings’ traces remain archaeological finds, bits and pieces of written documents and questions that are being discussed by historians even today. As is evident from the report of BBC, Vikings' voyages uncover an overlooked episode of the history of the Atlantic, where bold exploration did not necessarily translate into any successful conquest.

The question is not only how the Norsemen found their way to North America. It is why their voyages were not reflected in history as well as voyages of Columbus later did.

A Viking outpost that rewrote the history of exploration

Indeed, for many years, knowledge of the Norse explorations was gleaned from medieval stories written in Iceland and referred to as sagas, which contained a narrative blend of people and locations and the storytelling culture of the period.

According to these documents, there had been expeditions by the Norse westwards from Greenland to several destinations which the Vikings called Helluland, Markland and Vinland.

The geography of the sagas gave rise to interesting hints – Helluland meant a land of rocks, Markland meant a forest, while Vinland referred to a southern location.

In 1960, archaeologists discovered the Norse settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada.

This was tangible evidence of how Europeans had arrived in North America long before Columbus' voyage. A study conducted in 2021 showed that Vikings had inhabited this place in AD 1021, as determined from a dating process involving the effect of solar activity on tree ring formation.

As per the BBC report on the findings, the settlement was used by the Vikings as a base for exploration of the nearby area, and was not an established colony in the style of later European colonies. It confirmed definitively that Norse sailors had sailed across the Atlantic and were active on the land of North America about a thousand years ago.

Iceland and Greenland became stepping stones across the Atlantic

The Vikings did not have to make one journey across the Atlantic to arrive at North America. Their western movement was a series of settlements and progressively more ambitious voyages.

The Norse settled in Iceland by the end of the ninth century. It would take almost a century after that for them to settle in Greenland, where Erik the Red would be responsible for establishing their first settlement in Greenland after his exile from Iceland in the 980s.

The voyage was tough. The sailors sailed in open ships through icy waters using their understanding of the weather, the shorelines, and the changing conditions. The journey from Greenland to Baffin Island via the Davis Strait was much shorter compared to sailing directly from Europe to the area. From this point, the explorers could continue along the Canadian shoreline southward.

As the BBC's Timewatch documentary series noted, the Sagas talk about voyages that required more than one stop and a long absence from home. The voyages were not necessarily quick visits to the unknown areas. The Sagas show that the Norse sailors visited different places and considered settling in some of the areas.

Why the Viking presence in America did not last

Getting to North America was difficult enough, but staying put there presented additional challenges.

It seems that the L’Anse aux Meadows Norse settlement in North America did not last very long.

While there is evidence of Norse activity, such as buildings and ironworks, this does not suggest the creation of a large and lasting Norse colony. According to the 2021 dating study, the activity occurred in AD 1021; however, the exact frequency and extent of Norse visits are unknown.

According to BBC historical coverage, there is a difference between the discovery of a new piece of land and its permanent occupation. Greenland provided a launching pad for transatlantic expeditions, but North America was far away from the centres of Norse settlement. A remote outpost needed to be supplied constantly by ships with enough crew members brave enough to travel there.

Relationships with the Indigenous population were also part of this tale. There is conflict in these encounters described in the sagas, and there is no indication of a straightforward story of unopposed European expansion. The Norse were arriving in places where Indigenous populations lived, and this history preceded their own.

Greenland would lose its Norse populations by the beginning of the 15th Century.

The causes have been argued about, with some citing environmental issues and economic problems as well as trade relationships as factors. In this way, as the Norse network in the Atlantic became weaker, the basis for future western voyages became less secure.

The Vikings had proven that North America was accessible. They had not created the political or economic systems to maintain this presence.

Did Columbus know about the Vikings' western voyages?

In the period between the time of the Norse journeys and the well-known voyage of Columbus, yet another question emerges – was the information about the previous voyages known to European seafarers?

According to the article on the BBC Timewatch, historian Kirsten Seaver explained some information pointing to the possibility of previous seafaring adventures of sailors from Bristol who had reached the North American continent before the known journey in 1497 by John Cabot.

A letter of an Englishman, John Day, written in the winter of 1497-98, makes mention of previous voyages from Bristol to the northern parts, apparently presenting the fact as something common knowledge.

It cannot be concluded from there that Columbus knew anything about the previously mentioned journeys. Neither does it prove the theory that he tried to evade North America on his way to Asia.

However, Columbus’s expedition brought about repercussions of a sort that did not accompany the Viking voyages.

In 1492, Columbus began regular contact with the Americas and, as a result, conquered and colonised the New World with catastrophic results for the native population. The follow-up expeditions led to systems of trade and conquest.

The contribution of the Vikings was quite different as well – an amazing voyage, a few traces of material culture and stories of a trip across the sea. It became obvious through archaeology that the stories were not fiction.

Today, L'Anse aux Meadows is evidence that the history of contact between Europe and the Americas did not begin with one voyage in 1492. Vikings came half a millennium before, but their contact did not change the world of the Atlantic; their discovery remained in pieces until archaeology restored the story.