Vinland

Vikings · North America · exploration · history

Vikings explored it. Around the year 1000, a Viking explorer named Leif Erikson sailed west from Greenland and reached a new land he called Vinland. This made him one of the first Europeans to visit North America, centuries before other explorers arrived.

Named for grapes. The name Vinland likely comes from wild grapes that grew there, or possibly from meadows of grass. The Vikings thought this land was special enough to give it a descriptive name based on what they found.

Stories tell the tale. We know about Vinland from ancient stories called the Vinland Sagas, which were written down by Vikings and tell of their journeys across the ocean. These stories describe a land beyond Greenland with forests and resources.

West of Greenland. Vinland was described as lying beyond other Viking discoveries like Helluland and Markland, all located in what we now know as North America. The Vikings had mapped out a route to reach these distant lands.

Real place confirmed. Modern historians believe Vinland was probably located in what is today Newfoundland, Canada, where archaeologists have found evidence of Viking settlements and camps.