History for ready reference, Volume 4, Nicæa to TunisLarned, J. N. (Josephus Nelson)
History
History for ready reference, Volume 4, Nicæa to Tunis
Larned, J. N. (Josephus Nelson)
History -- Dictionaries
"The discovery of Greenland was a natural consequence of the
settlement of Iceland, just as the discovery of America
afterward was a natural consequence of the settlement of
Greenland. Between the western part of Iceland and the eastern
part of Greenland there is a distance of only 45 geographical
miles. Hence, some of the ships that sailed to Iceland, at the
time of the settlement of this island and later, could in case
of a violent east wind, which is no rare occurrence in those
regions, scarcely avoid approaching the coast of Greenland
sufficiently to catch a glimpse of its jokuls,—nay, even to
land on its islands and promontories. Thus it is said that
Gunnbjorn, Ulf Krage's son, saw land lying in the ocean at the
west of Iceland, when, in the year 876, he was driven out to
the sea by a storm. Similar reports were heard, from time to
time, by other mariners. About a century later a certain man,
by name Erik the Red, … resolved to go in search of the land
in the west that Gunnbjorn and others had seen. He set sail in
the year 984, and found the land as he had expected, and
remained there exploring the country for two years. At the end
of this period he returned to Iceland, giving the
newly-discovered country the name of Greenland, in order, as
he said, to attract settlers, who would be favorably impressed
with so pleasing a name. The result was that many Icelanders
and Norsemen emigrated to Greenland, and a flourishing colony
was established, with Gardar for its capital city, which, in
the year 1261, became subject to the crown of Norway. The
Greenland colony maintained its connection with the mother
countries for a period of no less than 400 years: yet it
finally disappeared, and was almost forgotten. Torfæus gives a
list of seventeen bishops who ruled in Greenland."
_R. B. Anderson,
America not Discovered by Columbus,
chapter 7._
ALSO IN:
_D. Crantz,
History of Greenland,
book 4, chapter 1._
NORMANS: A. D. 885-886.
The Great Siege of Paris.
See PARIS: A. D. 885-886.
NORMANS: 9-10th Centuries.
The Danish conquests and settlements in Ireland.
See IRELAND: 9-10th CENTURIES and A. D. 1014.
NORMANS: 9-10th Centuries.
The ravages of the Vikings on the Continent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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