Given that L’Anse aux Meadows is Leifsbúðir–Straumfjo ̨rðr, it follows that Markland
is the central forest belt of Labrador, chiefly the area around Hamilton Inlet. It was here
that Þórvaldr met his death from an arrow shot fired by aboriginal people.
North of Markland was Helluland, ‘Land of Flat Rocks’. The sagas’ descriptions of
this area as one with big glaciers and mountains, and ‘as a slab of rock was everything
between the mountains and the sea’ (GS) is an apt description of the area north of 58 °
latitude north, including Baffin Island.
Vinland was a short-lived venture. This is understandable, considering the size of the
Greenland population and the distance to L’Anse aux Meadows and Vinland. By coastal
ship, it is 3 , 000 km to L’Anse aux Meadows, and 4 , 000 km to north-eastern New
Brunswick. This is nearly 2 , 000 km longer than from south-western Greenland to
Bergen in Norway. Given the short sailing season in the western Atlantic, it would have
been impossible for the small population in Greenland to maintain regular traffic to two
such distant locations, in opposite directions. The traffic with Europe was essential, the
one to Vinland was not. Lumber and wine could be obtained in Europe, but so could
goods such as metals, spices, exotic textiles and other luxury items. Europe also held
personal and political connections. For the small Greenland colony, Vinland remained
an impractical paradise.
BIBLIOGRAPHYBergersen, R. ( 1997 ) Vinland Bibliography. Writings Relating to the Norse in Greenland and America
(Ravnetrykk 10 ), Tromsø: University of Tromsø.
Crozier, A. ( 1998 ) ‘The Vinland hypothesis: a reply to the historians’, Gardar. Årsbok för samfundet
Sverige–Island i Lund–Malmö, 29 : 37 – 66.
Fitzhugh, W.W. and Ward, E.I. (eds) ( 2000 ) Vikings. The North Atlantic Saga, Washington, DC:
The Smithsonian Institution.
Figure 44. 4 The Miramichi River at Metepenagiaq Mi’kmaq First Nation, New Brunswick.
(Photo: R. Ferguson.)–– chapter 44 : The discovery of Vinland––