/asatru/ - Asatru / Heathenry / Paganism

"The Norse colonization of the Americas began as early as the 10th century AD, when Vikings explored and settled areas of the North Atlantic, including the northeastern fringes of North America.[1]

The Norse colony in Greenland lasted for almost 500 years. Continental North American settlements were small and did not develop into permanent colonies."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_colonization_of_the_Americas

http://www.livescience.com/37189-new-viking-voyage-discovered.html

>L'Anse aux Meadows (/ˈlænsi ˈmɛdoʊz/;[1] from the French L'Anse-aux-Méduses or "Jellyfish Cove") 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 outside Greenland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Anse_aux_Meadows

http://www.history.com/news/the-viking-explorer-who-beat-columbus-to-america

The Viking ship was perhaps the greatest technical and artistic achievement of the European dark ages (sic!). These fast ships had the strength to survive ocean crossings while having a draft of as little as 50cm (20 inches), allowing navigation in very shallow water.

The Viking ship was perhaps the greatest technical and artistic achievement of the European dark ages. These fast ships had the strength to survive ocean crossings while having a draft of as little as 50cm (20 inches), allowing navigation in very shallow water.

In order to maintain a constant latitude, some believe that Norse navigators employed a device that measured the sun's shadow at noon. This instrument used a wooden disc floating in a pail of water.

http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/norse_ships.htm

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-vikings-a-memorable-visit-to-america-98090935/?no-ist

Vinland or Vineland[1][2] is the name given to an area of North America by Norse Vikings, discovered by Norseman Leif Erikson.

In 1960 archaeological evidence of the only known Norse settlement[3] in North America (outside Greenland) was found at L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland. This proved conclusively the Vikings' pre-Columbian discovery of North America. Recent archaeological studies suggest that this site is not the Vinland of the Norse accounts in its entirety but was the entrance to a larger region called Vinland by the Norse.[4][5]

The Kensington Runestone

(Note that some bitter germanophobic and pseudo-scientific conspiracy theorists like to call this one a "hoax", but it really isn't )

This intriguing artifact was discovered in 1898, clutched in the roots of an apen tree on the Olof Öhman farm near Kensington, MN (15 miles southwest of Alexandria). The Kensington Runestone has led researchers from around the world and across the centuries on an exhaustive quest to explain how a runic artifact, dated 1362, could show up in North America.

https://www.runestonemuseum.org/runestone/

http://gadling.com/2012/03/16/the-kensington-runestone-and-other-viking-mysteries-in-america/

Sunnyway also has a very interesting article on this;

Viking rune stones in north america

http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/americanstones.html

… Enjoy ;o)

The viking Raven Banner and America

"It is frequently assumed that the first flag to fly in America was the Raven banner of the Vikings, the first Europeans to discover and settle (though not permanently) in North America. In the preface to the first volume of NAVA's journal Raven, the name of the journal is explained. Of the first flag in America it is said: "… it seems probable that this first flag was the most common Norse flag, known as ’Raven, Terror of the Land’, or more simply ‘Raven’."1 The Norse discoverers of America are presumed to have brought with them this flag on their journeys to North America. To support this assumption, it is pointed to the Lothbroc legend and to coins depicting a raven found in England and Ireland.

This line of reasoning is based on the assumption that the most common Norse flag, the one we hear most frequently of, was the flag that was commonly used by Norse seafarers, and so was also used by Leif Ericsson when he discovered America in AD 1000/1001. This assumption is difficult to support

The medieval sources attribute the Raven banner to a limited number of kings and warlords. Under the Raven banner, these men are almost exclusively operating in the British Isles. Hallvard Trætteberg, the leading Norwegian authority on heraldry and flags, lists six instances where the sources mention the Raven banner (…)

On its way to America, the Raven banner has undergone a second magical transformation, that from a banner of kings and warriors, to the emblem of all Vikings and thus also of a seafarer like Leif Ericsson out on a private mission to find more land suitable for the families of himself and his crew."

>The Vikings in Vinland aka Northern America (ca. AD 998-1002)

http://www.athenapub.com/vinland1.htm

"As described in the Graenlendinga Saga, Bjarni Herjolfsson was the first to sight the North American coast around 985 AD, but did not allow his crew to land. Better known is the Viking explorer Leif Eirikson (called Leif the Lucky), whose voyages to the North American coasts are recorded in both of the Vinland sagas. Thorfinn Karlsefni, an Icelandic trader, made a more permanent attempt to settle in Vinland. Due to the uncertainty caused by constant Indian attacks, however, this settlement was soon abandoned, the Vikings returning to Greenland. They must have spent at least three years in North America, as the saga relates that a son, Snorri, was born to Karlsefni and that he was three when the colonizers abandoned the Vinland site. Other documentary evidence for the Vinland settlement comes from Adam of Bremen, a German cleric writing some time shortly before 1076; and from the Icelandic Annals for AD 1121 and 1347.

11th century AD Cultural Contacts: Both peaceful and violent meetings between the Norsemen and natives are recorded in the sagas. Skraelings, the Norse term for the natives, included both northeastern Algonquin tribes (possibly Micmacs or Beothuks) and Eskimos. The short accounts in the sagas provide tantalizing glimpses of North American aboriginal physical appearances and customs, as well as initial inter-cultural reaction. The Graenlendinga Saga contains the first known record of an encounter between native North Americans and Europeans, shortly after AD 1000. That narrative tells how eight Indians were killed by Thorvald, Leif Eirikson's brother, and the battle which ensued."