Columbus’ voyages they have been described hundreds or thousands of times, chronicles, literature, painting and even cinema have recreated this impressive discovery hundreds of times, because the important thing about a discovery is to make it known. That’s what Christopher Columbus did, to announce his discovery or rather what he believed he had discovered, let us not forget that he was looking for a new route on behalf of the Crown of Castile to reach the Indian trade. What did Christopher Columbus know about the Viking voyages to America?was born with the idea of revealing if the Vikings discovered the new continent before Christopher Columbus, what maps they made or if Columbus knew of the existence of those maps.
Viking voyages to America | Who were the Vikings
Viking is the name they receive the Nordic Scandinavian peoples, They became known throughout Europe around the 8th century, thanks to their expansion followed by various raids and looting. The language they used was Old Norse.
The Romans They refer to the existence of peoples of german origin in the Baltic Sea and Scandinavia, but as we have already mentioned, in Europe they became famous thanks to looting, such as the one that occurred in the 8th century, to the north of Great Britain in the Lindisfarne monastery.
Various writings from the 9th and 10th centuries relate the extremely violent character, producing terror just hearing his name. Totally unprotected peoples at the beginning of the Middle Ages could not foresee where or when the next attack would be.
It must be taken into account that for the geographical situationthe Scandinavian peoples had very difficult to move through the snow and ice, which is why, the navegation it was the only means of transportation and communication they had, becoming true experts in navigation and orientation using the position of the stars.
They are known to have settled in the british isles until the arrival of the Normans, who ended up expelling them. in Normandy (France), was also the domain of the Vikings, the Norman kingdom of Sicily in Italy it also has its origins in Viking villages. Even having data on incursions into the Byzantine Empire or the Caliphate of Córdoba.
They managed both maritime and river navigationthrough river systems they managed to make repeated incursions into Russia and the Baltic Sea.
It speaks of end of the Viking period around 1066-1085, according to some historians with the death in battle of King Harald the Merciless, while other historians place it at the end of the reign of Cnut IV.
Several factors intervened in this sense, on the one hand Scandinavian Christianization that reduced the attacks and assaults, the rise of the normans both in England and in France and Italy. Military victories to secure the coasts like those that happened with France. All these factors caused the disappearance of what was called the Viking period.
Viking voyages to America | Viking explorations
The Vikings were great navigators, they reached Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland Island, the Labrador Peninsula and Baffin Island. But all this might not have been possible without the weather help.
It was during the Middle Ages, when the temperatures of the planet reached rise between 1 and 2 ºC, above the current temperature, this climatic change lasted for some centuries, these data have been known thanks to the archaeological and paleoclimatological data derived from scientific studies carried out by different North American universities.
This meant that the colonization of the greenland coast and even the appearances they made in America would not have been possible without a warmer and more benign climate. With the rise in temperatures, a smaller area of land would be found under the ice, revealing large extensions of grass. But this is not the only thing that was revealed.
New sea routes were opened, routes that were previously unfeasible now became easy steps. New exploration opportunities. The men of the north, in their desire for territorial expansion, found an opportunity to explore subarctic islands where they can establish new colonies.
But this opportunity that the climate gave them soon ended, after centuries of benign temperatures, a new ice Age, much less intense than the one lived in prehistory, but that supposed a great change in the way of life of the inhabitants of the planet. Now the new climate change had altered much of the planet, frozen crops that they caused famine, epidemics, plagues and finally death.
This new little ice age, started in the middle of the 14th century, this climate change particularly affected Greenland, which began to freeze rapidly. Soon life in Greenland became unbearable, beginning to depopulate, then Iceland followed. The ice packs made navigation much more difficult. The lack of crops and shortage of woodessential for the society of northern Europe, caused Viking expeditions to venture to reach America.
They arrived at Gulf of St. Lawrence, Saguenay Fjord and Lac-St-Jeanthese lands were called vinland, what translated would be Tierra de Viñas, received this name for the amount of wild vineyards that covered the land.
Newfoundland and the Labrador Peninsula, It was an area the Vikings called Markland, which meant Land of Forests. The Europeans of the time, like the Vikings, always thought that Vinland was part of Europethey never knew that they had discovered a new continent.
When the climate worsened during the 13th century, crops began to fail, the ground began to freeze to the point of not being able to bury the deceased. The survival of the peoples who had remained in Greenland now depended on outside supplies for their survival.
With the disappearance under the ice of the ancient sea routes, the supply did not reach Greenland or the land of Vinladn or Markland. Gradually the Vikings who had not escaped from these areas were isolated, trappeds in an icemass that an uncertain future held for them, prey to the Skraelingswhich were the indigenous peoples, very warlike and hostile that inhabited both the American and Greenland regions.
Viking voyages to America | Columbus and the Vikings
But what can be Relationship between the Vikings and Columbus. The truth is that this possible relationship is not very clear, in the first place they were not known in Europe in the Middle Ages, practically nothing about the Viking sagas, collected in the book of sagas
The book of the sagas of the icelanders It was written between the 12th and 14th centuries, and tells the genealogy or family history of the first settlers, describing the events that occurred during the settlement in Iceland in the 10th and 11th centuries.
They describe the conflicts and struggles of the peoples in second and third generation. Providing a large amount of information about the society and culture of the Viking peoples in the area.
Within the book of sagas, the part that is responsible for discovering the explorations and trips to America is the Saga of Erik the Red and the one of the Greenlending Saga.
When Columbus tried to find a new commercial route with India, since the routes through Africa were controlled by both Portugal and England. Spain was the only great power without a clear route to trade directly with the Chinese and Indian markets.
Columbus before beginning his voyages, perform a series of calculations, based on the belief that the earth was round, a basis not yet accepted in Medieval times. This fact clashed squarely with the Spanish scholars, who had discouraged the trip.
But Colon he did not give up, the Arabs they were skilled in calculations and many of them worked for the Crown of Castile, which moved the Admiral, to share plans and calculations made by him with the wise Arabs.
They warned him of calculation errors As for the real size of the known world, a fact that Columbus quickly corrected, making new calculations.
Some historians speak of a supposed voyage that Columbus made to Iceland in 1477, something that could never be proven, nor is there any evidence to support it. Among other things, because although it seems that Columbus crossed the English Channel, he never crossed beyond the north of England, so his supposed trip to Iceland was ruled out.
On the other hand, the idea that Greenland Y Vinlandwas that these territories belonged to Europe, it was a kind of prolongation of Europe, then they did not know of the existence of a new continent.
And perhaps the clearest intention to seek a new silk roadled color to perform his travel much further south than the Vikings had come. New and unexplored territories, if he had been aware of the Viking explorations, he would not have ventured and used the routes already explored and known.
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