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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).
Hvalsey Church (Danish: Hvalsø Kirke; Old Norse: Hvalseyjarfjarðarkirkja) was a Catholic church in the abandoned Greenlandic Norse settlement of Hvalsey (modern-day Qaqortoq). The best preserved Norse ruins in Greenland, the church was also the location of the last written record of the Greenlandic Norse, a wedding in September 1408. [1]
Today there are various Viking ruins across the southern part of the country before they mysteriously and eerily disappeared off the land. You can go and see these ruins and learn how settlements clung on for hundreds of years before eventually disappearing off the map. History Of Greenland
On the grassy slope of a fjord near the southernmost tip of Greenland stand the ruins of a church built by Viking settlers more than a century before Columbus sailed to the Americas.
Norse settlements in Greenland were established after 986 by settlers coming from Iceland. The settlers, known as Grænlendingar ('Greenlanders' in Icelandic), were the first Europeans to explore and temporarily settle North America.
The Vikings’ Eastern Settlement in southern Greenland was established in 985 C.E., lasting to around 1450 C.E. At its peak, it contained a population of more than 2,000 inhabitants and was...
At the peak of Norse settlement in Greenland, there was a population of somewhere between 2,000 – 10,000 people spread across two settlements and some 650 farms. However, archaeological and historical evidence has shown that the settlement had ceased to exist by the early 15th century.
Greenland was drawn into the Viking Age and settled by Norse Vikings in the late 980s CE, their presence there lasting into the 15th century CE.
The centerpiece of our tour, the Hvalsey Church Ruins, stands as a remarkable testament to the Norse settlers’ resilience and architectural ingenuity. These well-preserved ruins offer a rare window into the past, inviting you to imagine life in Greenland over six centuries ago.
The traces of the Vikings – also called the Norse – can be found in the innermost and warmest fjord systems in South- and West Greenland. The landscape here continues to be dominated by large ruins of farms, stables, storerooms, etc., made of sandstone and granite blocks.
The ruins of the cathedral and the bishop’s palace have been renovated during recent years and today make up an attractive relic of the Viking period in Greenland. The cathedral itself had dimensions of no less than 27 x 16 metres (88.5 x 52.5 feet), and was thus the biggest of all the churches in Greenland in the Middle Ages.
The Norse settled Greenland from Iceland during a warm period around 1000 C.E. But even as a chilly era called the Little Ice Age set in, the story goes, they clung to raising livestock and church-building while squandering natural resources like soil and timber.
What to see: Hvalsey Church is the best-preserved Viking ruin in Greenland. Most people choose Qaqortoq as their base for trips to see the church.
For more than 450 years, Norse settlers from Scandinavia lived—sometimes even thrived—in southern Greenland. Then, they vanished. Their mysterious disappearance in the 14th century has been linked to everything from plummeting temperatures and poor land management to plague and pirate raids.
For several centuries, Viking settlers eked out a living on Greenland, tending pastureland, hunting walruses, and constructing stone buildings that still stand today.
Various Norse items, including bits of chain mail and a hinged bronze bar from a folding scale, have been found at Inuit camps in Greenland, mainland Canada, and on Baffin, Ellesmere, and Devon...
The Norse settled Greenland from Iceland during a warm period around 1000 C.E. But even as a chilly era called the Little Ice Age set in, the story goes, they clung to raising livestock and church-building while squandering natural resources like soil and timber.
Today there are several traces of Norse life on Greenland to be found in the landscape. Ruins of boat houses lie along the coast and testify to the importance of seafaring in terms of maintain contact between the settlements.
By the middle of the 15th century, the Norse experiment in Greenland was a bust. New research suggests we might have had it all wrong about the prime cause of the collapse, shifting the focus from extreme cold to extreme drought.
Ruins discovered at Vatnahverfi, located near the southernmost point of Greenland, have helped archaeologists piece together a picture of what these settlements were like.
This 69-Day Cruise That Sails Across the Arctic Circle from Iceland to Japan Is a True Explorer’s Dream The two-month expedition, inspired by historic Viking journeys, visits Greenland and crosses the storied Northwest Passage before heading to Alaska’s remote Aleutian Islands and ending in Japan and South Korea.