1.
Norsemen
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Norsemen are the group of people who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language between the 8th and 11th centuries. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages, Norseman means man from the North and applied primarily to Old Norse-speaking tribes living in southern and central Scandinavia. In history, Norse or Norseman could be any person from Scandinavia, even though Norway, Denmark, in some other historical references, the term may also refer to the East Norse, meaning mainly Danes and Swedes, for instance, Cnuts Empire and Swedes adventures East. In the early Medieval period, as today, Vikings was a term for attacking Norsemen, especially in connection with raids and monastic plundering by Norsemen in the British Isles. The Norse were also known as Ascomanni, ashmen, by the Germans, Lochlanach by the Gaels, the Gaelic terms Finn-Gall, Dubh-Gall and Gall Goidel were used for the people of Norse descent in Ireland and Scotland, who assimilated into the Gaelic culture. Dubliners called them Ostmen, or East-people, and the name Oxmanstown comes from one of their settlements, they were known as Lochlannaigh. However, British conceptions of the Vikings origins were not quite correct and those who plundered Britain lived in what is today Denmark, Scania, the western coast of Sweden and Norway and along the Swedish Baltic coast up to around the 60th latitude and Lake Mälaren. They also settled on the island of Gotland, the border between the Norsemen and more southerly Germanic tribes, the Danevirke, today is located about 50 kilometres south of the Danish-German border. The southernmost living Vikings lived no further north than Newcastle upon Tyne, archaeologists and historians of today believe that these Scandinavian settlements in the Slavic lands formed the names of the countries of Russia and Belarus. The Slavs and the Byzantines also called them Varangians, and the Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard. In the Old Norse language, the term norrœnir menn, was used correspondingly to the modern English name Norsemen, referring to Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, Faroe Islanders, Icelanders, etc. The modern people of Norway, Sweden and Denmark never identify themselves as skandinaver, as they are Norwegians, Swedes, the Vikings were simply people partaking in the raid. On occasions Finland is also mentioned as a Scandinavian country, Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands are also geographically separate from the Scandinavian peninsula. The term Nordic countries is used to encompass the Scandinavian countries, Iceland, Greenland
2.
Minnesota State Capitol
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The building also includes a chamber for the Minnesota Supreme Court, although court activities usually take place in the neighboring Minnesota Judicial Center. The building is set in a landscaped campus, various monuments are to its sides and front. Behind, a bridge spans University Avenue, and in front others were added over the sunken roadway of Interstate 94. Set near the crest of a hill, from the Capitol steps a panoramic view of downtown Saint Paul is presented, however, like all capitols with domes in the US it is also inspired by the idea of domed capitols originating with the United States Capitol dome. Work began on the capitol in 1896, and construction was completed in 1905. It is the building to serve this purpose, the first capitol was destroyed by fire in 1881, and the second was completed in 1883. Above the southern entrance to the building is a gilded quadriga called The Progress of the State which was sculpted by Daniel Chester French and it was completed and raised to the roof of the capitol in 1906. The four horses represent the power of nature, earth, wind, fire, the women leading the horses symbolize civilization, and the man on the chariot represents prosperity. In 1994 and 1995, the statues underwent a procedure which included replacing the gold leaf on the figures. A sphere perched above the dome also has similar treatment. Any classical dome built since Michelangelos must expect to be compared to it and his drawings show that he originally planned a wider drum and, correspondingly, a more massive dome. The smaller dome as built could be criticized by some as too small and it is smaller than St. Peters and has a simplified design, single columns round the upper lantern instead of double ones, for instance. The ribs on the dome are less pronounced than those on St. Peters. Gilbert knew that St. Peters dome was on the edge of being unstable and his engineer for this project, Gunvald Aus, bound the brick dome in reinforcing steel bands, and Gilbert crowned the paired columns round the drum with additional stone. Other than St. Peters, additional buildings with marble domes include the Taj Mahal in India, the central block under the dome needed three entrances, and Gilbert avoided creating visual references to a triumphal arch, which would have been inappropriate in its position. Equally, he managed to avoid any reference to a block that would have been offensive to Minnesotans. However, Gilbert drew ire for choosing stone from Georgia rather than native Minnesota stone, the capitol cost US$4.5 million at the beginning of the 20th century. It opened its doors to the public for the first time on January 2,1905, a hundred years later, the buildings estimated value was $400 million
3.
Icelandic Commonwealth
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With the probable exception of Papar, Iceland was an uninhabited island until around 870. The medieval Icelandic state had a unique judicial structure, the first settlers of Iceland were greatly influenced by their Norwegian roots when creating their own form of government. The most powerful and elite leaders in Iceland were the chieftains, the office of the goði was called the goðorð. The goðorð was not delimited by strict geographical boundaries, thus, a free man could choose to support any of the goðar of his district. The supporters of the goðar were called Þingmenn, in exchange for the goði protecting his interests, the Þingmaðr would provide armed support to his goði during feuds or conflicts. The Þingmenn were also required to attend regional and national assemblies, on a regional level, the goðar of the thirteen district assemblies convened meetings every spring to settle local disputes. The goðar also served as the leaders of the Alþingi, the assembly of Iceland. Today, the Alþingi is the oldest parliamentary institution in existence and it began with the regional assembly at Kjalarness established by Þorsteinn Ingólfsson, son of the first settler. The leaders of the Kjalarnessþing appointed a man named Úlfljótr to study the laws in Norway and he spent three years in Norway and returned with the foundation of Úlfljótr’s Law, which would form the basis for Icelands national assembly. Sections of his law code are preserved in the Landnámabók, the first Alþingi assembly convened around the year 930 at Þingvellir. The Alþingi served as a gathering at which people from all over the country met for two weeks every June. The Alþingi revolved around the Lögrétta, the council of the assembly. The Lögrétta comprised the 39 goðar and their advisors and they also appointed a Lawspeaker once every three years. The Lawspeaker recited and clarified laws at Lögberg, located at the center of Þingvellir, the descendants of Ingólfr Arnarson, the first settler of Iceland, held the ceremonial position of allsherjargoði and had the role of sanctifying the Alþingi each year. Iceland was divided into four administrative regions called fjörðungar, each of these was ruled by nine goðar. The Alþingi was made up of the four Quarter Courts and this judicial body of Iceland consisted of 36 judges, each appointed by one of the goðar. These courts tried individual cases and served as a judicial authority to the regional courts. The rulings of the judges had to be virtually unanimous
4.
Greenland
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Greenland is an autonomous constituent country within the Danish Realm between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for more than a millennium. The majority of its residents are Inuit, whose ancestors began migrating from the Canadian mainland in the 13th century, Greenland is the worlds largest island. Three-quarters of Greenland is covered by the permanent ice sheet outside Antarctica. With a population of about 56,480, it is the least densely populated country in the world, the Arctic Umiaq Line ferry acts as a lifeline for western Greenland, connecting the various cities and settlements. Greenland has been inhabited off and on for at least the last 4,500 years by Arctic peoples whose forebears migrated there from what is now Canada, Norsemen settled the uninhabited southern part of Greenland beginning in the 10th century, and Inuit peoples arrived in the 13th century. The Norse colonies disappeared in the late 15th century, soon after their demise, beginning in 1499, the Portuguese briefly explored and claimed the island, naming it Terra do Lavrador. In the early 18th century, Scandinavian explorers reached Greenland again, to strengthen trading and power, Denmark-Norway affirmed sovereignty over the island. Greenland was settled by Vikings more than a thousand years ago, Vikings set sail from Greenland and Iceland, discovering North America nearly 500 years before Columbus reached Caribbean islands. Though under continuous influence of Norway and Norwegians, Greenland was not formally under the Norwegian crown until 1262, the Kingdom of Norway was extensive and a military power until the mid-14th century. Thus, the two kingdoms resources were directed at creating Copenhagen, Norway became the weaker part and lost sovereignty over Greenland in 1814 when the union was dissolved. Greenland became a Danish colony in 1814, and was made a part of the Danish Realm in 1953 under the Constitution of Denmark, in 1973, Greenland joined the European Economic Community with Denmark. However, in a referendum in 1982, a majority of the population voted for Greenland to withdraw from the EEC which was effected in 1985, Greenland contains the worlds largest and most northernly national park, Northeast Greenland National Park. Greenland is divided into four municipalities - Sermersooq, Kujalleq, Qaasuitsup and it also retains control of monetary policy, providing an initial annual subsidy of DKK3.4 billion, which is planned to diminish gradually over time. Greenland expects to grow its economy based on increased income from the extraction of natural resources, the capital, Nuuk, held the 2016 Arctic Winter Games. At 70%, Greenland has one of the highest shares of renewable energy in the world, the early Viking settlers named the island as Greenland. In the Icelandic sagas, the Norwegian-born Icelander Erik the Red was said to be exiled from Iceland for manslaughter, along with his extended family and his thralls, he set out in ships to explore an icy land known to lie to the northwest. After finding an area and settling there, he named it Grœnland
5.
Icelanders
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Icelanders are a Germanic ethnic group and nation, native to Iceland. On 17 June 1944, when the Icelandic republic was founded, the language spoken is Icelandic, a North Germanic language, and Lutheranism is the predominant religion. Historical and DNA records indicate that around 60 to 80 percent of the settlers were of Norse origin, Icelanders have had a tumultuous history. Development of the island was due to a lack of interest from the countries controlling it for most of its history, Norway, Denmark–Norway. Through this time, Iceland had relatively little contact with the outside world, the island became independent in union with Denmark in 1918. Since 1944, Iceland has been a republic, and Icelandic society has undergone a modernisation process in the post-independence era. Iceland is a young land mass, having formed an estimated 20 million years ago due to volcanic eruptions on the Mid-Atlantic ridge. The first Viking to sight Iceland was Gardar Svavarsson, who went off due to harsh conditions when sailing from Norway to the Faroe Islands. His reports led to the first efforts to settle the island, flóki Vilgerðarson was the first Norseman to sail to Iceland intentionally. His story is documented in the Landnámabók manuscript, and he is said to have named the island Ísland, the first permanent settler in Iceland is usually considered to have been a Norwegian chieftain named Ingólfur Arnarson. He settled with his family in around 874, at a place he named Bay of Smokes and they traveled 1,000 km in their Viking longships to the island of Iceland. These people were primarily of Norwegian, Irish or Gaelic Scottish origin, about 20-25% of the Icelandic paternal gene pool is of Gaelic origin, with the rest being Nordic. In 930, on the plain near Reykjavík, the chieftains and their families met and established the Alþingi. However, the Alþingi lacked the power to enforce the laws it made, in 1262, struggles between rival chieftains left Iceland so divided that King Haakon IV of Norway was asked to step in as a final arbitrator for all disputes, as part of the Old Covenant. This is known as the Age of the Sturlungs, Iceland was under Norwegian leadership until 1380, when the Royal House of Norway died out. At this point, both Iceland and Norway came under the control of the Danish Crown, with the introduction of absolute monarchy in Denmark, the Icelanders relinquished their autonomy to the crown, including the right to initiate and consent to legislation. In particular, the lack of help in defense led to constant raids by marauding pirates along the Icelandic coasts, unlike Norway, Denmark did not need Icelands fish and homespun wool. This created a deficit in Icelands trade, and no new ships were built as a result
6.
Norwegians
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Norwegians are a Germanic ethnic group native to Norway. They share a culture and speak the Norwegian language. Towards the end of the 3rd millennium BC, Proto-Indo-European speaking Battle-Axe peoples migrated to Norway bringing domesticated horses, agriculture, cattle, during the Viking age, Harald Fairhair unified the Norse petty kingdoms after being victorious at the Battle of Hafrsfjord in the 880s. Two centuries of Viking expansion tapered off following the decline of Norse paganism with the adoption of Christianity in the 11th century, during The Black Death, approximately 60% of the population died and in 1397 Norway entered a union with Denmark. In 1814, following Denmark-Norways defeat in the Napoleonic Wars, Norway entered a union with Sweden, rising nationalism throughout the 19th century led to a 1905 referendum granting Norway independence. Although Norway remained officially neutral in World War I, the country was allied with the Entente powers. In World War II Norway proclaimed its neutrality, but was occupied for five years by Nazi Germany. In 1949, neutrality was abandoned and Norway became a member of NATO, discovery of oil and gas in adjacent waters in the late 1960s boosted Norways economic fortunes but in referenda held in 1972 and 1994, Norway rejected joining the EU. Key domestic issues include integration of a fast growing immigrant population, maintaining the countrys generous social safety net with an aging population, as with many of the people from European countries, Norwegians are spread throughout the world. There are more than 100,000 Norwegian citizens living abroad permanently, mostly in the U. S, Norwegian Vikings travelled north and west and founded vibrant communities in the Faroe Islands, Shetland, Orkney, Iceland, Ireland, Scotland, and northern England. They conducted extensive raids in Ireland and founded the cities of Cork, Dublin, in 947, a new wave of Norwegian Vikings appeared in England when Erik Bloodaxe captured York. Apart from Britain and Ireland, Norwegian Vikings established settlements in largely uninhabited regions, the first known permanent Norwegian settler in Iceland was Ingólfur Arnarson. In the year 874 he settled in Reykjavík, after his expulsion from Iceland Erik the Red discovered Greenland, a name he chose in hope of attracting Icelandic settlers. Viking settlements were established in the fjords of the southern and western coast. Eriks relative Leif Eriksson later discovered North America, during the 17th and 18th centuries, many Norwegians emigrated to the Netherlands, particularly Amsterdam. The Netherlands was the second most popular destination for Norwegian emigrants after Denmark, loosely estimated, some 10% of the population may have emigrated, in a period when the entire Norwegian population consisted of some 800,000 people. The Norwegians left with the Dutch trade ships that when in Norway traded for timber, hides, herring, young women took employment as maids in Amsterdam. Young men took employment as sailors, large parts of the Dutch merchant fleet and navy came to consist of Norwegians and Danes
7.
Vinland
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Vinland, Vineland or Winland is the area of coastal North America explored by Norse Vikings, where Leif Erikson first landed in ca. 1000, approximately five centuries prior to the voyages of Christopher Columbus, Vinland was the name given to North America as far as it was explored by the Vikings, presumably including both Newfoundland and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence as far as northeastern New Brunswick. In 1960, archaeological evidence of a Norse settlement in North America was found at LAnse aux Meadows on the tip of the island of Newfoundland. Before the discovery of evidence, Vinland was known only from Old Norse sagas. The 1960 discovery conclusively proved the pre-Columbian Norse colonization of the Americas, LAnse aux Meadows may correspond to the camp Straumfjörð mentioned in the Saga of Erik the Red. Vinland or Winland was the given to part of North America by the Icelandic Norseman Leif Eiríksson. The exact meaning of this Norse toponym has not been established, to write it he visited the King of Denmark, Sweyn II Estridsson who had knowledge of the northern lands. The name contains Old Norse vin which means meadow, there is a long-standing Scandinavian tradition of fermenting berries into wine. The question whether the name refers to actual grapevines or just to berries was addressed in a 2010 excavation report on L’Anse aux Meadows, another proposal for the names etymology, was brought up by Sven Söderberg in 1898. This suggestion involves interpreting the Old Norse name not as vín-land but as vin-land, Old Norse vin has a meaning of meadow, pasture. It was rejected by Einar Haugen, who argued that the vin element had changed its meaning from pasture to farm long before the Old Norse period, names in vin were given in the Proto-Norse period, and they are absent from places colonized in the Viking Age. Haugens basis for rejection has since been challenged, there is a runestone which may have contained a record of the Old Norse name slightly predating Adam of Bremens Winland. The Hønen Runestone was discovered in Norderhov, Norway shortly before 1817 and its assessment depends on a sketch made by antiquarian L. D. Klüwer, now also lost but in turn copied by Wilhelm Frimann Koren Christie. The Younger Futhark inscription was dated to c. The stone had been erected in memory of a Norwegian, sophus Bugge read part of the inscription as ᚢᛁᚿ᛫ᛆᛁᚭ᛫ᛁᛌᛆ uin aią isa Vínlandi á ísa from Vinland over ice. This is highly uncertain, the sequence is read by Magnus Olsen as ᚢᛁᚿ᛫ᚴᛆᚭ᛫ᛁᛌᛆ uin kaą isa vindkalda á ísa over the wind-cold ice. The main sources of information about the Norse voyages to Vinland are two Icelandic sagas, the Saga of Eric the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders and these stories were preserved by oral tradition until they were written down some 250 years after the events they describe. The existence of two versions of the shows some of the challenges of using traditional sources for history, because they share a large number of story elements. A possible example is the reference to two different men named Bjarni who are blown off course, a brief summary of the plots of the two sagas, given at the end of this article, shows other examples
8.
Newfoundland (island)
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Newfoundland is a large Canadian island off the east coast of the North American mainland, and the most populous part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It has 29 percent of the land area. The island is separated from the Labrador Peninsula by the Strait of Belle Isle and it blocks the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, creating the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the worlds largest estuary. Newfoundlands nearest neighbour is the French overseas community of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, with an area of 108,860 square kilometres, Newfoundland is the worlds 16th-largest island, Canadas fourth-largest island, and the largest Canadian island outside the North. The provincial capital, St. Johns, is located on the southeastern coast of the island, Cape Spear, just south of the capital, is the easternmost point of North America, excluding Greenland. It is common to consider all directly neighbouring islands such as New World, Twillingate, Fogo, by that classification, Newfoundland and its associated small islands have a total area of 111,390 square kilometres. Additionally 6. 1% claimed at least one parent of French ancestry, the islands total population as of the 2006 census was 479,105. Long settled by peoples of the Dorset culture, the island was visited by the Icelandic Viking Leif Eriksson in the 11th century. The next European visitors to Newfoundland were Portuguese, Basque, Spanish, French, the island was visited by the Genoese navigator John Cabot, working under contract to King Henry VII of England on his expedition from Bristol in 1497. In 1501, Portuguese explorers Gaspar Corte-Real and his brother Miguel Corte-Real charted part of the coast of Newfoundland in a attempt to find the Northwest Passage. Newfoundland is considered Britains oldest colony, at the time of English settlement, the Beothuk inhabited the island. While there is evidence of ancient indigenous peoples on the island. LAnse aux Meadows was a Norse settlement near the northernmost tip of Newfoundland, the site is considered the only undisputed evidence of Pre-Columbian contact between the Old and New Worlds, if the Norse-Inuit contact on Greenland is not counted. There is a second suspected Norse site in Point Rosee, the island is a likely location of Vinland, mentioned in the Viking Chronicles, although this has been disputed. The indigenous people on the island at the time of European settlement were the Beothuk, later immigrants developed a variety of dialects associated with settlement on the island, Newfoundland English, Newfoundland French. In the 19th century, it also had a dialect of Irish known as Newfoundland Irish, Scottish Gaelic was spoken on the island during the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in the Codroy Valley area, chiefly by settlers from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The Gaelic names reflected the association with fishing, in Scottish Gaelic, it was called Eilean a Trosg, or literally, similarly, the Irish Gaelic name Talamh an Éisc means Land of the Fish. The first inhabitants of Newfoundland were the Paleo-Eskimo, who have no link to other groups in Newfoundland history
9.
Erik the Red
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Erik Thorvaldsson, known as Erik the Red was a Norwegian Viking, remembered in medieval and Icelandic saga sources as having founded the first Norse settlement in Greenland. The Icelandic tradition indicates that he was born in the Jæren district of Rogaland, Norway, as the son of Þorvald Ásvaldsson, he also appears, patronymically. The appellation the Red most likely refers to his hair color, Leif Erikson, the famous Icelandic explorer, was Eriks son. Erik the Reds father was banished from Norway for the crime of manslaughter and he sailed West from Norway with his family and settled in Hornstrandir in northwestern Iceland. The Icelanders later sentenced Erik to exile for three years for killing Eyiolf the Foul around the year 982, after marrying Thjodhild, Erik moved to Haukadal where he built a farm called Eiríksstaðir. The initial confrontation occurred when his thralls started a landslide on the farm belonging to Valthjof. Valthjofs friend, Eyiolf the Foul, killed the thralls, in retaliation, Erik killed Eyjiolf and Holmgang-Hrafn. Eyiolfs kinsmen demanded his banishment from Haukadal, Erik then moved to the island of Öxney. He asked Thorgest to keep his setstokkr - inherited ornamented beams of significant mystical value, when he had finished his new house, he went back to get them, but they could not be obtained. Erik then went to Breidabolstad and took them and these are likely to have been Thorgests setstokkr, although the sagas are unclear at this point. Thorgest gave chase, and in the ensuing fight Erik slew both Thorgests sons and a few other men, after this, each of them retained a considerable body of men with him at his home. The dispute was resolved at an assembly, the Thing, with the result that Erik was outlawed for three years, even though popular history credits Erik as the first person to discover Greenland, the Icelandic sagas suggest that earlier Norsemen discovered and tried to settle it before him. Tradition credits Gunnbjörn Ulfsson with the first sighting of the land-mass, nearly a century before Erik, strong winds had driven Gunnbjörn towards a land he called Gunnbjarnarsker. But the accidental nature of Gunnbjörns discovery has led to his neglect in the history of Greenland, after Gunnbjörn, Snæbjörn Galti had also visited Greenland. According to records from the time, Galti headed the first Norse attempt to colonize Greenland, Erik the Red was the first permanent European settler. In this context, about 982, Erik sailed to a somewhat mysterious and he rounded the southern tip of the island and sailed up the western coast. He eventually reached a part of the coast that, for the most part, seemed ice-free and consequently had conditions—similar to those of Iceland—that promised growth, according to the Saga of Erik the Red, he spent his three years of exile exploring this land. The first winter he spent on the island of Eiriksey, the winter he passed in Eiriksholmar
10.
Viking expansion
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The Vikings extended their journeys all the way to the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, and on the way they raided Galicia. In contemporary texts, the Vikings are often referred to as normandos or lordimani and our knowledge of Vikings in Spain is mainly based on written accounts. There are archeological findings of anchors of Viking ships, and some shapes of mounds by riversides look similar to the Norse longphorts in Ireland and these were ports or docks for Viking longships. After plundering a number of villages they were ultimately repulsed in the vicinity of Farum Brecantium i. e. the Tower of Hercules. Ramiro I of Asturias who was king of Asturias at the time, after the Asturian victory, the Vikings continued their voyage in direction of Lisbon. A major storm was unleashed, sinking most of the fleet, Vikings returned to Galicia in 859, during the reign of Ordoño I of Asturias. It was a contingent of a hundred ships from looting expeditions by the French coast that was now directed toward the Arousa estuary, after looting Iria Flavia they continued to Santiago de Compostela, where they laid siege. Their neighbours had paid tribute to avoid looting, but in spite of this and they were faced with an army led by Don Pedro who dispersed them and destroyed thirty eight of their ships, after which the surviving Vikings went south. As a result of this expedition the episcopal see of Iria relocated to Santiago de Compostela, in 951, the Vikings reappeared and attacked the Galician coast. Galician cities would then strengthen their defenses over the following years, in 964, the Vikings arrived again in Galicia, because the own bishop of Mondonedo, Rosendo of Celanova, they had to face. The expedition of 1015 was led by Olaf Haraldsson, who became king Olaf II of Norway. He destroyed four settlements, Castropol, Betanzos, Rivas de Sil and Tui
11.
North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands
12.
Christopher Columbus
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Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator, colonizer, and citizen of the Republic of Genoa. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean and those voyages and his efforts to establish permanent settlements on the island of Hispaniola initiated the European colonization of the New World. Western imperialism and economic competition were emerging among European kingdoms through the establishment of routes and colonies. During his first voyage in 1492, he reached the New World instead of arriving at Japan as he had intended, landing on an island in the Bahamas archipelago that he named San Salvador. Over the course of three voyages, he visited the Greater and Lesser Antilles, as well as the Caribbean coast of Venezuela and Central America. These voyages had, therefore, an impact in the historical development of the modern Western world. He spearheaded the transatlantic trade and has been accused by several historians of initiating the genocide of the Hispaniola natives. Columbus himself saw his accomplishments primarily in the light of spreading the Christian religion, Columbus never admitted that he had reached a continent previously unknown to Europeans, rather than the East Indies for which he had set course. He called the inhabitants of the lands that he visited indios, the name Christopher Columbus is the Anglicisation of the Latin Christophorus Columbus. His name in Italian is Cristoforo Colombo and, in Spanish and he was born before 31 October 1451 in the territory of the Republic of Genoa, though the exact location remains disputed. His father was Domenico Colombo, a wool weaver who worked both in Genoa and Savona and who also owned a cheese stand at which young Christopher worked as a helper. Bartolomeo, Giovanni Pellegrino, and Giacomo were his brothers, Bartolomeo worked in a cartography workshop in Lisbon for at least part of his adulthood. He also had a sister named Bianchinetta, Columbus never wrote in his native language, which is presumed to have been a Genoese variety of Ligurian. In one of his writings, he says he went to sea at the age of 10, in 1470, the Columbus family moved to Savona, where Domenico took over a tavern. In the same year, Christopher was on a Genoese ship hired in the service of René of Anjou to support his attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Naples. Some modern historians have argued that he was not from Genoa but, instead and these competing hypotheses have generally been discounted by mainstream scholars. In 1473, Columbus began his apprenticeship as business agent for the important Centurione, Di Negro, later, he allegedly made a trip to Chios, an Aegean island then ruled by Genoa. In May 1476, he took part in a convoy sent by Genoa to carry valuable cargo to northern Europe
13.
Sagas of Icelanders
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They are the best-known specimens of Icelandic literature. They are focused on history, especially genealogical and family history and they reflect the struggle and conflict that arose within the societies of the early generations of Icelandic settlers. Eventually many of Icelandic sagas were recorded, mostly in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the authors, or rather recorders of these sagas are unknown. One saga, Egils saga, is believed by scholars to have been written by Snorri Sturluson, a descendant of the sagas hero. The standard modern edition of Icelandic sagas is known as Íslenzk fornrit, the saga – set in the anthology of sagas known as Möðruvallabók between Njáls saga and Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar – tells of a man named Gaukur Trandilsson who lived in the 10th century. Gaukur is mentioned in chapter 26 of Njáls saga, Icelandic professor and poet Jón Helgason managed to decipher a line that read Let Trandilssons story be written here. I am told that Grim knows it, however, the story was never put to paper. The Grim mentioned in the manuscript is believed to have been Grímur Þorsteinsson, knight, Gaukur is reported to have been an exceptionally brave and gentle man. He was the brother of Ásgrimur. However, it is said that he had an out with his foster brother. Gaukur must have been a figure in Icelandic folklore as he is mentioned in not only Njáls Saga but also the Íslendigadrápa. The south of the land refers to Iceland, Icelanders produced a high volume of literature relative to the size of the population. Leaders from old and established principalities did not produce any Sagas, as they were already cohesive political units, the production of literature was a way for chieftains to create and maintain social differentiation between them and the rest of the population. It has also proposed that the Icelandic settlers were so prolific at writing in order to capture their settler history. Historian Gunnar Karlsson does not find that explanation reasonable though, given that other communities have not been as prolific as the early Icelanders were. It has been argued that a combination of readily available parchment, norse Saga Family saga Örnólfur Thorsson. The Sagas of the Icelanders, a selection, lampeter, Edwin Mellen Press Karlsson, Gunnar. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press Liestol, Knut, the Origin of the Icelandic Family Sagas
14.
Norse colonization of North America
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The Norse colonization of North America began as early as the 10th century AD when Norsemen explored and settled areas of the North Atlantic including the northeastern fringes of North America. Viking houses were found at L’Anse aux Meadows near the tip of Newfoundland in 1960. This discovery aided the reignition of archaeological exploration for the Vikings in the north Atlantic, the Norse colony in Greenland lasted for almost 500 years. Continental North American settlements were small and did not develop into permanent colonies, while voyages, for example to collect timber, are likely to have occurred for some time, there is no evidence of any lasting Norse settlements on mainland North America. According to the Sagas of Icelanders, Norsemen from Iceland first settled Greenland in the 980s, Erik the Red, having been banished from Iceland for manslaughter, allegedly explored the uninhabited southwestern coast of Greenland during the three years of his banishment. The inner reaches of one long fjord, named Eiriksfjord after him, was where he established his estate Brattahlid. He issued tracts of land to his followers, at its peak the colony consisted of two settlements. The Eastern was at the tip of Greenland, while the Western Settlement was about 500 km up the west coast. A smaller settlement near the Eastern Settlement is sometimes considered the Middle Settlement, the combined population was around 2, 000–3,000. At least 400 farms have been identified by archaeologists, Norse Greenland had a bishopric and exported walrus ivory, furs, rope, sheep, whale or seal blubber, live animals such as polar bears, and cattle hides. In 1126, the population requested a Bishop, and in 1261 and they continued to have their own law and became almost completely independent after 1349, the time of the Black Death. In 1380, the Norwegian Kingdom entered into a union with the Kingdom of Denmark. There is evidence of Norse trade with the natives, the Norse would have encountered both Native Americans and the Thule, the ancestors of the Inuit. The Dorset had withdrawn from Greenland before the Norse settlement of the island, a small ivory statue that appears to represent a European has also been found among the ruins of an Inuit community house. The colony began to decline in the 14th century, the Western Settlement was abandoned around 1350, and the last bishop at Garðar died in 1377. After a marriage was recorded in 1408, no written records mention the settlers and it is probable that the Eastern Settlement was defunct by the late 15th century. The most recent radiocarbon date found in Norse settlements as of 2002 was 1430, several theories have been advanced to explain the decline. In addition, Greenlandic ivory may have been supplanted in European markets by cheaper ivory from Africa, despite the loss of contact with the Greenlanders, the Norwegian-Danish crown continued to consider Greenland a possession
15.
L'Anse aux Meadows
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LAnse aux Meadows is an archaeological site on the northernmost tip of the island of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Discovered in 1960, it is the most famous site of a Norse or Viking settlement in North America, dating to around the year 1000, LAnse aux Meadows is widely accepted as evidence of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact. It is notable for its connection with the attempted colony of Vinland established by Leif Erikson around the same period or, more broadly. It was named a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1978, the site now known as LAnse aux Meadows was first recorded as Anse à la Médée on a French nautical chart made in 1862. The toponym probably referred to a named after the Greek mythological figure of Medea. The cove facing the village of LAnse aux Meadows is still named Médée Bay. How the village came to be named LAnse aux Meadows is not clear. Parks Canada, which manages the site, states that the current name was anglicized from Anse à la Médée after English speakers settled in the area, another possibility is that LAnse aux Meadows is a corruption of the French designation LAnse aux Méduses, which means Jellyfish Cove. The shift from Méduses to Meadows may have occurred because the landscape in the area tends to be open, based on the idea that the Old Norse name Vinland, mentioned in the Icelandic Sagas, meant wine-land, historians had long speculated that the region contained wild grapes. The Ingstads doubted this theory, saying that the name Vinland probably means land of meadows. and this speculation was based on the belief that the Norse would not have been comfortable settling in areas along the American Atlantic coast. This dichotomy between the two views could have possibly been due to the two historic ways in which the first vowel sound of Vinland could be pronounced. In 1960, George Decker, a citizen of the fishing hamlet of LAnse aux Meadows. These bumps covered with grass looked like the remains of houses, Helge Ingstad and Anne Stine Ingstad carried out seven archaeological excavations there from 1961 to 1968. They investigated eight complete house sites and the remains of a ninth, though a possible Norse settlement has been found in southern Newfoundland at Point Rosee, LAnse aux Meadows is currently the only confirmed Norse site in North America. It represents the extent of European exploration and settlement of the New World before the voyages of Christopher Columbus almost 500 years later. Historians have speculated there were other settlement sites, or at least Norse-Native American trade contacts. In 2012, possible Norse outposts were identified in Nanook at Tanfield Valley on Baffin Island, as well as Nunguvik, Willows Island and the Avayalik Islands. The archaeological excavation at LAnse aux Meadows was conducted in the 1960s by a team led by archaeologist Anne Stine Ingstad under the direction of Parks Canada in the 1970s
16.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
17.
Archaeology
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Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. In North America, archaeology is considered a sub-field of anthropology, archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology as a field is distinct from the discipline of palaeontology, Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for whom there may be no written records to study. Prehistory includes over 99% of the human past, from the Paleolithic until the advent of literacy in societies across the world, Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time. The discipline involves surveying, excavation and eventually analysis of data collected to learn more about the past, in broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Archaeology developed out of antiquarianism in Europe during the 19th century, Archaeology has been used by nation-states to create particular visions of the past. Nonetheless, today, archaeologists face many problems, such as dealing with pseudoarchaeology, the looting of artifacts, a lack of public interest, the science of archaeology grew out of the older multi-disciplinary study known as antiquarianism. Antiquarians studied history with attention to ancient artifacts and manuscripts. Tentative steps towards the systematization of archaeology as a science took place during the Enlightenment era in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, in Europe, philosophical interest in the remains of Greco-Roman civilization and the rediscovery of classical culture began in the late Middle Age. Antiquarians, including John Leland and William Camden, conducted surveys of the English countryside, one of the first sites to undergo archaeological excavation was Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments in England. John Aubrey was a pioneer archaeologist who recorded numerous megalithic and other monuments in southern England. He was also ahead of his time in the analysis of his findings and he attempted to chart the chronological stylistic evolution of handwriting, medieval architecture, costume, and shield-shapes. Excavations were also carried out in the ancient towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum and these excavations began in 1748 in Pompeii, while in Herculaneum they began in 1738. The discovery of entire towns, complete with utensils and even human shapes, however, prior to the development of modern techniques, excavations tended to be haphazard, the importance of concepts such as stratification and context were overlooked. The father of archaeological excavation was William Cunnington and he undertook excavations in Wiltshire from around 1798, funded by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. Cunnington made meticulous recordings of neolithic and Bronze Age barrows, one of the major achievements of 19th century archaeology was the development of stratigraphy. The idea of overlapping strata tracing back to successive periods was borrowed from the new geological and paleontological work of scholars like William Smith, James Hutton, the application of stratigraphy to archaeology first took place with the excavations of prehistorical and Bronze Age sites
18.
Gulf of St. Lawrence
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The Gulf of Saint Lawrence is the outlet of the North American Great Lakes via the Saint Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean. The gulf is a sea, covering an area of about 236,000 square kilometres and containing about 35,000 cubic kilometres of water. As for significant islands the Gulf of Saint Lawrence contains Anticosti Island, PEI, Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Cape Breton Island, Saint Pierre Island, and Miquelon-Langlade. Half of the ten provinces of Canada adjoin the Gulf, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Quebec. Branches of the Gulf include the Chaleur Bay, Fortune Bay, Miramichi Bay, St. Georges Bay, Bay St. George, Bay of Islands, the Cabot Strait between Newfoundland and Saint-Pierre and Cape Breton Island,104 km wide and 480 m deep at its deepest. The Strait of Canso between Cape Breton Island and the Nova Scotia peninsula,1.0 km wide and 60 m deep at its deepest. Due to the construction of the Canso Causeway across the strait in 1955, the limits of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence vary between sources. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence as follows, Fisheries, St. Paul Island, Nova Scotia, off the northeastern tip of Cape Breton Island, is referred to as the Graveyard of the Gulf because of its many shipwrecks. Access to this island is controlled by the Canadian Coast Guard, the five provinces bordering the Gulf of Saint Lawrence also have several provincial parks apiece, some of which preserve coastal features. The Laurentian Channel is about 290 m deep and about 1,250 km long from the Continental Shelf to the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River. Deep waters with temperatures between 2 and 6.5 °C enter the Gulf at the slope and are slowly advected up the channel by estuariane circulation. Over the 20th century, the waters of the end of the channel have become hypoxic. The gulf has provided an important marine fishery for various First Nations that have lived on its shores for millennia. The first documented voyage by a European in its waters was by the French explorer Jacques Cartier in the year 1534. Cartier named the shores of the Saint Lawrence River The Country of Canadas, after a word meaning village or settlement. At just about the period, Basques came to frequent the area for whale-hunting and trade with the First Nations people of the modern Canadian Atlantic. They left vestiges of their presence in locations of the area—docks, furnaces, graveyards
19.
Eastern Settlement
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The Eastern Settlement was the first and largest of the three areas of Norse Greenland, settled c. AD985 by Norsemen from Iceland, at its peak, it contained approximately 4,000 inhabitants. The last written record from the Eastern Settlement is of a wedding solemnized in 1408, approximately 500 groups of ruins of Norse farms are found in the area, including 16 church ruins, including Brattahlíð, Dyrnæs, Garðar, Hvalsey and Herjolfsnes. The Vatnahverfi district to the southeast of Einarsfjord had some of the best pastoral land in the colony, the economy of the medieval Norse settlements was based on livestock farming - mainly sheep and cattle, with significant supplement from seal hunting. A climate deterioration in the 14th century may have increased the demand for winter fodder, isotope analysis of bones excavated at archaeological investigations in the Norse settlements have found that fishing played an increasing economic role towards the end of the settlements life. While the diet of the first settlers consisted of 80% agricultural products and 20% marine food, in the Greenlandic Inuit tradition, there is a legend about Hvalsey. According to this legend, there was war between the Norse chief Ungortoq and the Inuit leader Kaissape. The Inuit made an attack on Hvalsey and burned down the Norse inside their houses. Kaissape conquered him after a pursuit, which ended near Cape Farewell. However, according to studies, there is no sign of a conflagration. Other explanations have also offered including soil erosion due to overgrazing. History of Greenland Norse colonization of the Americas Western Settlement Ivittuut, the scene of a smaller Middle Settlement Danish colonization of the Americas
20.
Hebrides
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The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of mainland Scotland. There are two groups, the Inner and Outer Hebrides. This diversity is reflected in the given to the islands. The Hebrides are the source of much of Scottish Gaelic literature, today the economy of the islands is dependent on crofting, fishing, tourism, the oil industry, and renewable energy. The Hebrides have lower biodiversity than mainland Britain, but there is a significant presence of seals, the Hebrides have a diverse geology ranging in age from Precambrian strata that are amongst the oldest rocks in Europe to Paleogene igneous intrusions. The Hebrides can be divided into two groups, separated from one another by the Minch to the north and the Sea of the Hebrides to the south. The Inner Hebrides lie closer to mainland Scotland and include Islay, Jura, Skye, Mull, Raasay, Staffa, there are 36 inhabited islands in this group. The Outer Hebrides are a chain of more than 100 islands, there are 15 inhabited islands in this archipelago. The main islands include Barra, Benbecula, Berneray, Harris, Lewis, North Uist, South Uist, in total, the islands have an area of approximately 7,200 square kilometres and a population of 44,759. A complication is that there are descriptions of the scope of the Hebrides. The Collins Encyclopedia of Scotland describes the Inner Hebrides as lying east of the Minch, there are various islands that lie in the sea lochs such as Eilean Bàn and Eilean Donan that might not ordinarily be described as Hebridean, but no formal definitions exist. In the past, the Outer Hebrides were often referred to as the Long Isle, today, they are also known as the Western Isles, although this phrase can also be used to refer to the Hebrides in general. The Hebrides have a temperate climate that is remarkably mild and steady for such a northerly latitude. In the Outer Hebrides the average temperature for the year is 6 °C in January and 14 °C in summer, the average annual rainfall in Lewis is 1,100 millimetres and sunshine hours range from 1,100 –1,200 per annum. The summer days are long, and May to August is the driest period. The Hebrides were settled during the Mesolithic era around 6500 BC or earlier, after the conditions improved enough to sustain human settlement. Occupation at a site on Rùm is dated to 8590 ±95 uncorrected radiocarbon years BP, there are many examples of structures from the Neolithic period, the finest example being the standing stones at Callanish, dating to the 3rd millennium BC. Cladh Hallan, a Bronze Age settlement on South Uist is the site in the UK where prehistoric mummies have been found
21.
Vikings
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The term is also commonly extended in modern English and other vernaculars to the inhabitants of Viking home communities during what has become known as the Viking Age. Facilitated by advanced seafaring skills, and characterised by the longship, Viking activities at times also extended into the Mediterranean littoral, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. A romanticized picture of Vikings as noble savages began to emerge in the 18th century, current popular representations of the Vikings are typically based on cultural clichés and stereotypes, complicating modern appreciation of the Viking legacy. One etymology derives víking from the feminine vík, meaning creek, inlet, various theories have been offered that the word viking may be derived from the name of the historical Norwegian district of Viken, meaning a person from Viken. According to this theory, the word simply described persons from this area, however, there are a few major problems with this theory. People from the Viken area were not called Viking in Old Norse manuscripts, in addition, that explanation could only explain the masculine and ignore the feminine, which is a serious problem because the masculine is easily derived from the feminine but hardly vice versa. The form also occurs as a name on some Swedish rune stones. There is little indication of any negative connotation in the term before the end of the Viking Age and this is found in the Proto-Nordic verb *wikan, ‘to turn’, similar to Old Icelandic víkja ‘to move, to turn’, with well-attested nautical usages. In that case, the idea behind it seems to be that the rower moves aside for the rested rower on the thwart when he relieves him. A víkingr would then originally have been a participant on a sea journey characterized by the shifting of rowers, in that case, the word Viking was not originally connected to Scandinavian seafarers but assumed this meaning when the Scandinavians begun to dominate the seas. In Old English, the word wicing appears first in the Anglo-Saxon poem, Widsith, in Old English, and in the history of the archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen written by Adam of Bremen in about 1070, the term generally referred to Scandinavian pirates or raiders. As in the Old Norse usages, the term is not employed as a name for any people or culture in general, the word does not occur in any preserved Middle English texts. The Vikings were known as Ascomanni ashmen by the Germans for the ash wood of their boats, Lochlannach by the Gaels, the modern day name for Sweden in several neighbouring countries is possibly derived from rōþs-, Ruotsi in Finnish and Rootsi in Estonian. The Slavs and the Byzantines also called them Varangians, Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard. The Franks normally called them Northmen or Danes, while for the English they were known as Danes or heathen. It is used in distinction from Anglo-Saxon, similar terms exist for other areas, such as Hiberno-Norse for Ireland and Scotland. The period from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 is commonly known as the Viking Age of Scandinavian history, Vikings used the Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea for sea routes to the south. The Normans were descended from Vikings who were given feudal overlordship of areas in northern France—the Duchy of Normandy—in the 10th century, in that respect, descendants of the Vikings continued to have an influence in northern Europe
22.
Norway
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The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him
23.
Thrall
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A thrall was a slave or serf in Scandinavian lands during the Viking Age. The corresponding term in Old English was þēow, the status of slave contrasts with that of the freeman and the nobleman. The Middle Latin rendition of the term in early Germanic law is servus, the social system of serfdom is continued in medieval feudalism. Thrall is from the Old Norse þræll, meaning a person who is in bondage or serfdom, the Old Norse term was lent into late Old English, as þræl. The term is from a Common Germanic þragilaz, Old High German had a cognate, dregil, meaning servant, runner. The English derivation thraldom is of High Medieval date, the verb to enthrall is of Early Modern origin. Thralls were the lowest class of workers in Scandinavian society and they were Northern Europeans brought into slavery due to debt, the losers of wars, and the children of previous thralls. Thralls in Scandinavia had no rights and their conditions were variable depending on the master. The thrall trade as the prize of plunder was a key part of the Viking economy, while there are some estimates of as many as thirty slaves per household, most families only owned one or two slaves. In 1043, Hallvard Vebjørnsson, the son of a nobleman in the district of greater Lier, was killed while trying to defend a thrall woman from men who accused her of theft. The Church strongly approved of his action, recognizing him as a martyr and canonizing him as Saint Hallvard, despite the existence of a caste system, thralls could experience a level of social fluidity. Thralls could be freed by their masters at any time, be freed in a will, once a thrall was freed, he became a freedman—a member of an intermediary group between slaves and freemen. He still owed allegiance to his master and would have to vote according to his former masters wishes. It took at least two generations for freedmen to lose the allegiance to their masters and become full freemen. If a freedman had no descendants, his former master inherited his land, the Viking slave trade slowly ended in the 11th century, as a number of Vikings settled in the European territories they had once raided. They converted serfs to Christianity and merged with the local populace, the thrall system was finally abolished in the mid-14th century in Scandinavia
24.
Christian Krohg
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For the politician of the same name, see Christian Krohg. Christian Krohg was a Norwegian naturalist painter, illustrator, author, Krohg was the son of lawyer and statesman Georg Anton Krohg and the grandson of Christian Krohg who was a government minister. Krohg studied law at the University of Oslo and was educated in Germany at the Baden School of Art in Karlsruhe under Hans Gude, inspired by the ideas of the realists he chose motives primarily from everyday life – often its darker or socially inferior sides. Particularly well known are his pictures of prostitutes, prostitution is also the subject of his novel Albertine, which caused a scandal when first published, and was confiscated by the police. Krohg’s style made him a figure in the transition from romanticism to naturalism. Through his periodic residence at Skagen, where he arrived for the first time in 1879, he had influence on Anna and Michael Ancher. Krohg was the editor of the Bohemian journal, Impressionisten. He then became a journalist for the Oslo newspaper Verdens Gang, later he became a professor director at the The Norwegian Academy of Arts 1909-1925. He was married to artist Oda Krohg and was the father of muralist Per Lasson Krohg, there are notable paintings by Christian Krohg in the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo and at Skagens Museum in Denmark. Clicking on the thumbnail will give you the full image and information concerning it
25.
Olaf Tryggvason
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Olaf Tryggvason was King of Norway from 995 to 1000. He was the son of Tryggvi Olafsson, king of Viken, and, according to later sagas, Olaf played an important part in the conversion of the Norse to Christianity, often by forcible means. He is said to have built the first church in Norway, a statue of Olaf Tryggvason is located in the citys central plaza. Historical information about Olaf is sparse and he is mentioned in some contemporary English sources, and some skaldic poems. The oldest narrative source mentioning him briefly is Adam of Bremens Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum, in the 1190s, two sagas of Olaf Tryggvason were written in Iceland, by Oddr Snorrason and Gunnlaugr Leifsson. Snorri Sturluson gives an account of Olaf in the Heimskringla saga. The accuracy of these sources is not taken at face value by modern historians. The following account is based on the late saga sources. There is uncertainty about both the date and the place of Olafs birth, the earliest Norwegian written source, the late 12th century Historia Norwegiæ, states that Olaf was born in the Orkney Islands after his mother fled there to escape the killers of Olafs father. Another late 12th-century source, Ágrip af Nóregskonungasögum, says Olafs mother fled to Orkney with Olaf when he was three years old, for the same reason, all the sagas agree that Olaf eventually ended up in Kievan Rus, at the court of King Valdemar. The version in Heimskringla is the most elaborate, but also the latest and it states that Olaf was born shortly after the murder of his father in 963, while other sources suggest a date between 964 and 969. The later dates cast doubt over Olafs claim to be of Harald Fairhairs kin, greycloak and his brothers had seized the throne from Haakon the Good. Astrid fled to her fathers home in Oppland, then went on to Sweden where she thought she, Harald sent emissaries to the king of Sweden, and asked for permission to take the boy back to Norway, where he would be raised by Greycloaks mother Gunhild. The Swedish king gave them men to help claim the young boy. After a short scuffle Astrid fled again and this time their destination was Gardarike, where Astrids brother Sigurd was in the service of King Valdemar. Olaf was three years old when they set sail on a merchant ship for Novgorod, the journey was not successful, in the Baltic Sea they were captured by Estonian vikings, and the people aboard were either killed or taken as slaves. Olaf became the possession of a man named Klerkon, together with his foster father Thorolf, Klerkon considered Thorolf too old to be useful as a slave and killed him, and then sold the two boys to a man named Klerk for a ram. Olaf was then sold to a man called Reas for a fine cloak, six years later, Sigurd Eirikson traveled to Estonia to collect taxes for King Valdemar
26.
Saga of Erik the Red
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Eiríks saga rauða or the Saga of Erik the Red is a saga, thought to have been composed before 1265, on the Norse exploration of North-America. Despite the name, the saga mainly chronicles the life and expedition of Thorfinn Karlsefni and his wife Gudrid, the saga is preserved in two manuscripts in somewhat different versions, Hauksbók and Skálholtsbók. Modern philologists believe the Skálholtsbók version to be truer to the original, the original saga is thought to have been written in the 13th century. Chapter 1, The saga starts off by explaining Olaf’s ancestry, when Olaf dies in battle in Ireland, Thorstein and Aud left to Hebrides where Thorstein marries and became a great warrior king who ruled more than half of Scotland. Upon Thorstein’s death, Aud sails to Iceland where she then occupies much of the land, chapter 2, Eriks thralls “slaves” started a landslide that destroyed a farm. In retaliation a friend of the owner, Eyjolf the Foul. Because of this, Erik then killed Eyjolf the Foul, eyjolf’s kinsmen then demanded he be banished from that area. Erik left to Oxney where he asked Thorgest to keep some of his beams, Thorgest would not give them back, so Erik took them by force. Thorgest and Erik each acquired a following, then at the Thorsnes Thing, Erik and his people were outlawed from Iceland. Erik then sailed to Greenland where he named many places, then, he came back to Iceland and reconciled with Thorgest. Then he decided to go back to Greenland and recruited people to come with him and he named the land Greenland because “men will desire much the more to go there if the land has a good name. ”Chapter 3, Thorbjorn had a daughter named Gudrid. Einar, a traveling merchant wanted to marry Gudrid. Additionally, Thorbjorn was starting to have financial issues so he decided to leave with his family to Greenland and find Erik the Red, chapter 4, There is a prophetess named Thorbjorg who dresses very eloquently. One night she went to Thorkell’s to deliver prophecies and eventually needed assistance from someone else who knew “werid-songs. ”Gudrid said she learned these “werid-songs” from her mother back in Iceland. Gudrid sang them beautifully, and then Thorbjorg told of her prophecy that Greenland’s dearth will last no longer, then Thorbjorn sailed and found Erik the Red who gave him land and buildings. Chapter 5, Erik the Red’s sons were Leif and Thorstein, Leif had gone to Norway to be with King Olaf. Olaf suggested that Leif preach Christianity in Greenland and Leif agreed, on his way back to Norway, Leif was tossed about a long time at sea and accidentally discovered a land with wild wheat, large trees, vine trees, and maple trees. He then sailed back on course to Greenland where he converted people to Christianity including his mother
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Greenland saga
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Grœnlendinga saga is one of the sagas of Icelanders. Along with Saga of Erik the Red, it is one of the two main sources of information for the Norse exploration of North America. It relates the colonization of Greenland by Erik the Red and his followers and it then describes several expeditions further west led by Eriks children and Þorfinnr Karlsefni Þórðarson. Parts of the saga are fanciful but it is believed to be based on historical truth, Erik the Red migrates from Norway to Iceland with his father, Þorvaldr Ásvaldsson, because of some killings. In Iceland, Erik finds a wife, Thjodhild and he again becomes a part of a dispute and is proclaimed an outlaw at a local assembly. He resolves to go west and seek a land spotted by a man named Gunnbjorn who had gone astray, Erik sets sail from near Snæfellsjökull and reaches the coast of a glacial land. He travels south along the coast searching for a habitable area, after two years of exploring the country, he returns to Iceland and tells of his discoveries. He names the land which he had explored Greenland because he said people would be attracted to go if the land had a good name. After spending one winter in Iceland, Erik sets sail again intending to colonize Greenland and his expedition has 30 ships but only 14 reach their destination. Erik founds a colony in Brattahlid in south-west Greenland, with Thjodhild he has the sons Leif, Thorvald and Thorstein as well as the daughter Freydis. A man named Bjarni Herjolfsson has the custom of spending alternate winters in Norway, when he arrives one summer in Iceland he finds that his father has emigrated to Greenland. He resolves to follow him there though he realizes that it is a proposition since neither he nor any of his crew has been in Greenland waters. After sailing for three days from Iceland, Bjarni receives unfavorable weather, north winds and fog and loses his bearing, after several days of bad weather the sun shines again and Bjarni reaches a wooded land. Realizing that it isnt Greenland, Bjarni decides not to go ashore, Bjarni finds two more lands but neither of them matches the descriptions he had heard of Greenland so he does not go ashore despite the curiosity of his sailors. Eventually the ship does reach Greenland and Bjarni settles in Herjolfsnes, the description of Bjarnis voyage is unique to Grœnlendinga saga. Bjarni is not mentioned at all in Eiríks saga rauða which gives Leif the credit for the discoveries, Leif Eriksson becomes interested in Bjarnis discoveries and buys a ship from him. He hires a crew of 35 people and asks Erik to lead an expedition to the west, Erik is reluctant and says he is too old but is eventually persuaded. As he rides to the ship, his horse stumbles and Erik falls to the ground, considering this an ill omen, he says, It is not ordained that I should discover more countries than that which we now inhabit
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Adam of Bremen
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Adam of Bremen was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the half of the eleventh century. He is most famous for his chronicle Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum, little is known of his life other than hints from his own chronicles. He is believed to have come from Meissen in Saxony, the dates of his birth and death are uncertain, but he was probably born before 1050 and died on 12 October of an unknown year. From his chronicles it is apparent that he was familiar with a number of authors, the honorary name of Magister Adam shows that he had passed through all the stages of a higher education. It is probable that he was taught at the Magdeburger Domschule, in 1066 or 1067 he was invited by archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg to join the Church of Bremen. Adam was accepted among the capitulars of Bremen, and by 1069 he appeared as director of the cathedrals school, soon thereafter he began to write the history of Bremen/Hamburg and of the northern lands in his Gesta. His position and the activity of the church of Bremen allowed him to gather information on the history. A stay at the court of Svend Estridson gave him the opportunity to find information about the history and geography of Denmark, among other things he wrote about in Scandinavia, includes the sailing passages across Øresund such as todays Elsinore to Helsingborg route Chłopacka Hanna, Adam Bremeński. Literature by and about Adam of Bremen in the German National Library catalogue Adamus Bremensis, repertorium Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages
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Omen
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An omen is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. People in the ancient times believed that omens lie with a message from their gods. These omens include natural phenomena, for example an eclipse, abnormal births of animals and humans and they had specialists, the diviners, to interpret these omens. They would also use a method, for example, a clay model of a sheep liver. They would expect a binary answer, either yes or no answer and they did these to predict what would happen in the future and to take action to avoid disaster. Though the word omen is usually devoid of reference to the nature, hence being possibly either good or bad. The origin of the word is unknown, although it may be connected with the Latin word audire, the oldest source for this practice in the Ancient Near East came from Mesopotamia. This practice attested at the first half of the 2nd millennium B. C. and it was pursued by the Assyrian kings, Esarhaddon and his son. There were 3 methods to interpret omens, and they were hepatoscopy, lecanomancy, hepatoscopy is to observe irregularities and abnormalities on the appearance of the entrails of a sacrificial sheep and they were used most in royal services. Astrological omens were popular in Assyria, during the 7th century BC, diviners gained much influence by interpreting the omens and advising the king how to avoid the terrible fate during the reign of Esarhaddon. One of the things they would do in Assyria was to put a substitute king on the throne, and the true king would hide for a while. The substitute king was expected to take the consequences and when they believed the danger is over, they would execute the substitute king. The observations of omens were recorded into series, some of them dated back to the first half of the 2nd millennium BC, and these were arranged as conditional statement later. Such practice was found in Israel as well, compared to Israel, they used the methods listed above except, hepatoscopy. According to the Bible, God did not answer King Saul through dreams, or Urim and Thummim, or prophets, thus, showed that they have a similar belief and practice with their prophets, and dreams, and similar tool as Urim and Thummim. An oionos was defined in antiquity as the vulture, especially a prophetic bird. By careful observation of the cries and the way or direction it flew. They also saw lightning or thunder as omens, sent from Zeus, even since Homeric times, the Greeks paid special attention to these signs, when they saw vultures from the left, another symbol of Zeus, they considered it a bad omen
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Helluland
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The Icelandic Saga of Erik the Red and the Greenland Saga characterized Helluland as a land of flat stones. According to a 2012 article by Jónas Kristjánsson et al, most scholars agree that Helluland corresponds to Baffin Island in the present-day Canadian territory of Nunavut. Helluland was the first of three lands in North America visited by Eriksson and he decided against trying to settle there because he found the land inhospitable. He continued south to Markland and Vinland, according to the Saga of Erik the Red, They sailed away from land, then to the Western Settlement and to Bjarneyjar. Thence they sailed away from Bjarneyjar with northerly winds and they were out at sea two half-days. Then they came to land, and rowed along it in boats, and explored it and this land they gave name to, and called it Helluland. From the testimony of the sagas, the Norse explorers probably made contact with the native Dorset culture of the region, historians suggest the contact had no major cultural ramifications for either side. Sutherlands new findings further strengthen the case for a Viking camp on Baffin Island, while her evidence was compelling before, I find it convincing now, said James Tuck, professor emeritus of archaeology
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Baffin Island
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Baffin Island, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world. Its area is 507,451 km2 and its population is about 11,000 and it is located 65.4215 N and 70.9654 W. Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, is located on the southeastern coast. Until 1987, the town shared the name Frobisher Bay with the bay on which it is located, to the south lies Hudson Strait, separating Baffin Island from mainland Quebec. South of the end of the island is the Fury. To the east are Davis Strait and Baffin Bay, with Greenland beyond, the Foxe Basin, the Gulf of Boothia and Lancaster Sound separate Baffin Island from the rest of the archipelago to the west and north. The Baffin Mountains run along the shore of the island and are a part of the Arctic Cordillera. Mount Odin is the highest peak, with an elevation of at least 2,143 m, another peak of note is Mount Asgard, located in Auyuittuq National Park, with an elevation of 2,011 m. Mount Thor, with an elevation of 1,675 m, is said to have the greatest purely vertical drop of any mountain on Earth, the two largest lakes on the island lie in the south-central part of the island, Nettilling Lake and Amadjuak Lake further south. Conversely, in the 1970s parts of Baffin Island failed to have the usual ice-free period in the summer, the island has been continuously inhabited by Inuit peoples for centuries. In September 2008, Nunatsiaq News reported that a team led by Dr, so you have to consider the possibility that as remote as it may seem, these finds may represent evidence of contact with Europeans prior to the Vikings arrival in Greenland. Dr Sutherlands research eventually led to a 2012 announcement that whetstones had been found remnants of alloys indicative of Viking presence. The archaeological site at Tanfield Valley is thought to have been a trading post, Baffin Island is part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region. Additionally, the communities of Qikiqtarjuaq and Cape Dorset are located on offshore islands, there are discussions to start the Baffinland Iron Mine, an iron ore mine with a 21-year life, at Mary River, and to build a railway and a port to transport the ore. This may create a mining community there. Baffin Island has both year-round and summer visitor wildlife, on land, examples of year-round wildlife are barren-ground caribou, polar bear, Arctic fox, Arctic hare, lemming and Arctic wolf. In 2012, a survey of caribou herds found that the population was only about 5000. Polar bears mate approximately every year with one to three cubs being born around March. Female polar bears may travel 10–20 km inland to find a large snow bank where they dig a den in which to spend the winter and later for giving birth, the polar bear population here is one of 19 genetically distinct demes of the circumpolar region
