Vikings in North America

In the first book to tackle the subject in forty years, the true extent of the Viking discovery and colonisation of the eastern seaboard of America is fully examined, taking into account the new archaeological, linguistic and DNA evidence which supplements the historic account.

It was the Vikings, not Christopher Columbus, who made the first European discovery of America. It was the Vikings, not the Pilgrim Fathers, who were the first Europeans settlers in America, and it was probably the Vikings who first used the name America. Around a thousand years ago the Vikings crossed the North Atlantic and established their settlements on the American continent. Yet today both Europe and North America treat the Vikings in North America as if it were no more than a curious footnote to their histories – as if the Vikings made just a handful of voyages with little impact. This book challenges this outdated view. We now know that the Vikings travelled widely in North America, both on the east coast and in the high Arctic and Hudson Bay. Today we realise that Viking presence in America lasted nearly five centuries, and its legacy inspired much of the post-Columban exploration of North America.