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The Eastern Settlement (Old Norse: Eystribygð [ˈœystreˌbyɣð]) was the first and by far the larger of the two main areas of Norse Greenland, settled c. AD 985 – c. AD 1000 by Norsemen from Iceland. At its peak, it contained approximately 4,000 inhabitants.
Viking expansion was the historical movement which led Norse explorers, traders and warriors, the latter known in modern scholarship as Vikings, to sail most of the North Atlantic, reaching south as far as North Africa and east as far as Russia, and through the Mediterranean as far as Constantinople and the Middle East, acting as looters, traders, colonists and mercenaries.
The Vikings came to the Isle of Man in the year 798, and eventually became a Norwegian settlement there. The Norwegians lived on most of the northern and western edge of the island, while the Celts continued to live on the southern and eastern edge of the island. Many place names are reminiscent of the former Norwegian settlement.
986: Norse Settlement of Greenland begins. 1000: Eastern Settlement and Western Settlement established. 1000: Leif Eiriksson departs Greenland for his voyage to what is now Labrador. By now, Christianity is well established on the island. 1263: Greenland then becomes crown dependency of Norway.
Norse Greenland consisted of two main settlements. The Eastern Settlement was at the southwestern tip of Greenland, while the Western Settlement was about 500 km up the west coast, near present-day Nuuk. [19] A smaller settlement later founded near the Eastern Settlement is sometimes considered the Middle Settlement. [20]
c. 1350: The Norse Western Settlement in Greenland was abandoned. 1354: King Magnus of Sweden and Norway authorised Paul Knutson to lead an expedition to Greenland which may never have taken place. c.1450–1480s: [2] The Norse Eastern Settlement in Greenland was abandoned during the opening stages of the Little Ice Age [broken anchor].
On the Faroe Islands, the Norse settlers were poor farmers who created a new, free homeland for themselves. Stamp block from 2005 The Viking Age in the Faroe Islands lasted from Grímur Kamban 's conquest of the country around 825 until the death of Tróndur í Gøtu , the last Viking chieftain on the Faroe Islands in 1035, and the rise to ...
Hvalsey ("Whale Island"; Greenlandic Qaqortukulooq) is located near Qaqortoq, Greenland and is the site of Greenland's largest, best-preserved Norse ruins in the area known as the Eastern Settlement (Eystribyggð). In 2017, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List and part of the Kujataa Greenland site.