In Jared Diamond’s novel 'Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed' he discusses many civilizations that moved away from their homelands, grew in population, and then either failed or succeeded in their new environments. Throughout this essay I will attempt to explain the Collapse of the Greenland Norse, one of the many societies to rise and fall. The Greenland Norse faced multiple challenges including economical, agricultural, and unfriendly neighbors. Alongside Greenland other North Atlantic islands faced geographical challenges that lead to some of their falls as well. Yet, first I will discuss why the Norse left Scandinavia in search of new terrain.
Similarly to other expansions the Norse, also known as Vikings, expansion was most likely caused by what’s commonly known as “push/pull” triggers. “Push” means that the population pressure lead to a lack of opportunities in their homeland while “pull” represents good opportunities and empty areas to colonize elsewhere (Collapse pg. 185). Another reason for their sudden expansion is autocatalytic process. For the Norse two very distinct events set of this type of process: one was that in A.D. 793 a raid took place in Lindisfarne Monastery yielding a rich haul of booty that lead to even larger yields in following years and the second reason being the discovery of the unpopulated Faeroe Islands lead to the finding of larger, more distant islands (Collapse pg. 186).
Even though the islands looked promising the Norse soon found out otherwise as the geographical environments posed many problems. For instance, Orkneys which lays in the Gulf Stream was perhaps their most successful island as it enjoyed mild climates and allowed for great agricultural production, but on...
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...the Norse (Collapse pg. 255). Furthermore, the Inuit was able to outlive the Norse due to their advanced fishing skills that the Norse refused to learn from their neighbors largely in part to religion. In the end though it was the Norse’s decision to refrain from eating fish, ringed seals, and whales that potentially could have saved them from collapse (Collapse pg. 274).
Even though the Greenland Norse only survived for four hundred and fifty years they weren’t necessarily failures. After all their unique European society was able to survive longer than we’ve been able to survive here in America (Collapse pg. 276). If we, American’s, don’t learn from others past are we doomed to follow in their footsteps? In my opinion, the answer is yes, but hopefully we’ll be able to turn the tides before its too late and we fall into collapse like so many other societies.
The vikings first made contact in eighth century Shetland. From there they made their way south to Orkney and Caithness, eventual...
When the Vikings landed they were not friendly. The Vikings killed 10 Indians while they were sleeping (Weiner 4). That did not bold well with the Indians that upset them immensely. The Vikings did not like that they were outnumbered by the Indians (Weiner 4). The Indians did not like the Vikings at all. The Vikings tried to make peace with the Native Americans, but the Native Americans did not accept it. The Indians wanted the Vikings gone. Norse colony tried to establish itself in Newfoundland according to the sages (Clarke 177). Thorwald died trying to make the same trip his brother Leif had done to get to Vinland and an arrow belonging to the Native Americans killed him. (Clarke 177). Thorwald had made a home and settled before he died. Even after his death his family had stayed for a short time. Then it had gotten too dangerous for the Vikings so they had to leave. Hostility from Native Americans made their period there short lived (Clarke 178). The Indians had driven the Vikings out of North America. The Vikings left and only came
Leif Erikson’s grandfather, Thorvald Asvaldsson slaughtered a man in Jæren, Norway in 960 CE. This was the age of the Vikings, but Thorvald was still banished from the land (Mandia, n.d.). So he brought his ten year old son Erik, later to be named as Erik the Red because of his scarlet hair, to Drangar in northwestern Iceland on a farm with rather appalling soil (Where is Vinland?, n.d.).
Reasons attributing to the Viking’s success included their inability to be stopped by Western Europe and the fear that was installed into the residents of Western Europe. The viciousness of the attacks is clearly described in the Three Sources on the Ravages of the Northmen in Frankland, c. 843 – 912. The collection of these three texts describe various Viking attacks throughout Frankland, giving the reader a clear idea of the horror that the people of Frankland endured when attempting to resist the
With the Minoans civilization there is still great debate on how this civilization collapsed to was it due to the cause of the rise of the Mycenaeans or by the Thera Eruption or even to an extent neither caused the Minoans civilization to collapse as it remains a mystery to this day. As to many historians and archaeologists, they try to make a statement it was one of these events that lead to their collapse while others doubt these events were not the cause of their collapse as it was other things.
...ught could be seen as arrogant, and had a condescending attitude as they thought the Inuit were “skraelings (a sick, weak person)” (McAnany and Yoffee, p. 56), all their encounters may not have been confrontational. They believe that their attitude simply could have come from a religious factor that it was the difference in being Christian compared to non-Christian. Though artifacts were scarcely found from the Norse in the Thule Inuit ruins and vice versa, the artifacts that were found could represent an encounter, but could as well have been from plundering abandoned homes. Also, when searching Norse settlements, no weapons were found, thus making them powerless against the Inuits if it had come down to a conflict between them. A scene on a small piece of bone did depict a battle, however it is important to note that it did not depict a Norseman against an Inuit.
...of goods with the Vikings. In everyday life, every one of us is in search of the right food, the best and warmest clothing, and the perfect place to live. Religion is still important to the American people, just like it was to the Vikings way back then. And even today, the American people exchange goods through the use of trading. However, in the present, we use plenty of money to get the supplies we need to survive. The Vikings culture can be seen as a way of survival. If they didn’t work hard enough to get the items they needed to survive, they would die off. So, the Vikings were more than a bunch of wild men running around northern England destroying cities and killing people. They strived to lead a healthy life to the fullest extent possible during their time. Many people in northern England who are descendants of the Vikings are proud to be a progeny of such a dominant and prestigious culture.BIBILIOGRAPHY
The Inuit were people who lived in the Arctic such as Alaska, Northern Canada and Greenland. They can also be called Eskimos. The word Inuit refers to “real people of the north” and from this distinction as well as their way of living which I observed at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, I conclude that these people were a race of people with a strong spirit for life in general as well as each other. Their social customs included storytelling, dancing, drum playing, crafts, celebrations, games, hunting and survival skills. They based their social structure on the land, their families, and traditions that were passed on through generations.
burn and pillage their way across civilized Europe. During this period much progress was achieved in terms of Scandinavian art and craftsmanship, marine technology, exploration, and the development of commerce. It seems the Vikings did as much trading as they did
Petersen, R., 1992. Colonialism as seen from a former colonized area. Arctic Anthropology, 32(2), p. 118-126
Through the years, the Norse got better at skiing. They invented moves that helped them enormously during war and transportation. But that wasn’t easy. The norse had to try and try again to achieve the modern skiing we have today. Human resilience has always been a wonder on
In the earliest years of the Vikings, there was little history recorded due to the polytheistic views that they followed. After the Vikings converted to Christianity, there were eventually written documents created pertaining to their existence. In Viking Warfare, I.P. Stephenson states that the Vikings “first described attack took place in AD 789”(11). The Vikings were also known as Norsemen. They were great storytellers, and that is perhaps how society knows so much about them today. The stories that the Norsemen told were called Sagas. Today, Vikings are often depicted as murderous savages, but while they were not pillaging villages they were actually quite a peaceful civilization. There were three countries that Vikings evolved from; Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. Although it may seem that all Vikings were on the same side, they quarreled with each other as well. Despite the fact that Viking battles were bloody and gruesome they were also known to be the most hygienic out of many of the earlier civilizations. There was not a huge percentage of Vikings that went out and raided but when they did they made a huge impact on what Vikings are now known for. The success of Viking warfare and raids relied primarily on the uses of armor, weapons, long ships, and battle tactics.
The Greenland Norse colony, also known as the Vikings, is another group of people that influenced climate change through globalization. Erik the Red founded Greenland in 984 and led the first settlers to settle in Greenland from Iceland. Researchers studying Greenland ice cores convey that the climate was relatively mild when the Norse arrived. During the 1300s, they went through cold years and in the 1400s dove into the Little Ice Age, until the 1800s. Consequently, the Norse depleted their environmental resources, by stripping turf,
What was the history behind these men called vikings? Around A.D. 800 to the 11th century, a large amount Scandinavians left their homes in search of riches. These men eventually gained the name Vikings or Norsemen which come from North Man, a homage to their homeland. Viking raids started small, pillaging structures around the coast, particularly undefended monasteries, in the British Isles. Over the next three hundred years, they would be known far and wide as pirates, raiders, traders and settlers. Contrary to popular belief, Vikings were not a race, linked by ties of common ancestry or patriotism, and could not be defined by any single definition. Most of the Vikings, whose accomplishments are best known to come from Denmark, Norway and
In most cases, the Norse Viking Age is recorded to have officially began in 793 AD with the first recorded raid through to 1066 AD, ending with the Battle of Hastings. However, these dates vary upon scholars. The Battle of Hastings wasn't exactly the end of the Viking Age, because the Norse were spread out across Europe and Viking raids continued to take place in other locations. With that said, dating the conclusion of the Viking Age is fairly generic because Viking raids were sporadic in many locations and when one area was under control, another area was being raided. Additionally, because Viking raiders weren't unified efforts and most Norsemen tended to 'vikingr' (raid) at their own whim. This places the conclusion of the Viking Age at approximately the beginning of the 12th Century-ish. This is also about the time when Norse and other Kingdoms were becoming increasingly solidified and more able to repel Viking incursions. This was also around the time when the Christianization of Northern Europe and Norse dominated lands began to take a firmer hold. So dating the exact end of the Viking Age is vague at best.