Norse settlement of North America

The exploration of North America by Norsemen began in the late 10th century. Voyages from Iceland reached Greenland and founded settlements along its western coast. Norse settlements on Greenland lasted almost 500 years, and the population peaked at around 2,000–3,000 people. The settlements consisted mostly of farms along Greenland's scattered coastal fjords. Settlements relied heavily on hunting, especially of walruses and the harp seal. For lumber, they harvested driftwood, imported wood from Europe, and sailed to modern-day Canada.

Archaeological evidence indicates that the Greenland settlers used lumber and possibly iron ore imported from North America. Archaeologists found remains of one short-term settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows near the northern tip of Newfoundland. The remains of buildings excavated there in the 1960s dated to approximately 1,000 years ago. Although it likely held at least 30 and perhaps as many as 160 people, it seems not to have been a permanent settlement, for it lacks evidences of agriculture, livestock pens, or graves. The site was abandoned, seemingly deliberately, by 1145 AD with no valuables or tools left behind. Some wood fragments and nuts in the Norse remains were from plants not found in Newfoundland, but native to the continental mainland across the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Evidence of apparent Norse contact with the indigenous people is provided by a genetic lineage now carried by many Icelanders that seems to have been introduced then by an American native. No other settlements in Canada and no settlements on the North American mainland have been conclusively identified as Norse.

One explanation for why it seems the Norse did not create permanent settlements beyond Greenland is a lack of population pressure. The Greenland settlements were abandoned gradually during the 14th and 15th centuries, at least in part because of climate change. The Little Ice Age brought more storms, longer winters, and shorter springs. It reduced the availability of food at the same time that the value of Greenland's exports to Europe plummeted. The last written record from Norse Greenland was a 1408 marriage. The latest article of clothing from the Eastern Settlement has been radiocarbon dated to 1430 (±15 years). The reasons for its abandonment have long been debated.

The Norse exploration has been subject to numerous controversies concerning the exploration and settlement of North America by Europeans. The primary sources for descriptions of the Norse voyages beyond Greenland are the Vinland Sagas. These heroic sagas were first written down in Iceland centuries after the events they describe. After the European discovery of the Americas, it was debated whether the lands they describe beyond Greenland (Helluland, Markland, and Vinland) corresponded to real places in North America. Since the public acknowledgment of Norse expeditions and settlements, pseudoscientific and pseudohistorical theories have emerged.