Once again, the New World beckons. In this episode, we travel with the children of Eirik the Red to Vinland. Yes, every single one of Eirik’s children make their own expedition to North America in search of fame and fortune. This saga covers each of them. Leif Eiriksson is the first of his siblings to make the trip, but he’s not the first Viking to spot land in the New World. According to this saga, that honor goes to Bjarni Herjolfsson (if you call it an honor, since he’s later made fun of for not disembarking and checking things out). Where’s that spirit of adventure, Bjarni? That said, Bjarni may be wiser than we think, given how the journey turns out for most of the Viking explorers of Vinland. Find out what happens when the Vikings meet the skraelings in the New World as Saga Thing takes on The Saga of the Greenlanders.
The Vinland Sagas (Penguin Classics)
If all of this sounds familiar, that’s because we already traveled to Vinland and discovered America way back in episode 4 when Saga Thing covered The Saga of Eirik the Red. You’d be wise to refresh your memory by listening to that one again, since The Saga of the Greenlanders is best enjoyed as a companion to The Saga of Eirik the Red. You may also be interested in our supplementary post from that episode about Norsemen in the New World.
This episode also features Andy’s most ridiculous brief summary. He apologizes in advance. He was no doubt tired and pressed for time.
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Update (05/07/2016)
Received some interesting insights from our listener William about the tip jet winds off of Cape Farewell in Greenland and their potential role in the Vikings discovery of North America. Wish we had known about this when we recorded. Thanks, William!
Here are some relevant articles on the subject:
Summary of the findings in New Scientist from 4 September 2008
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