L'Anse aux Meadows National Historical Park. What to see in L'Anse aux Meadows

One of the legends says that one day a Viking boat, traveling with goods, got into a storm and ended up west of its intended course. There the sailors discovered an island. Rumors of this event reached the Norwegian Viking Erik the Red. He gathered a team and set off to explore new lands, where in fact he saw the island, which he later named.

Volunteer settlers from the continent founded a colony there, began trading with Scandinavia, and at the end of the first millennium they discovered unknown lands and called them Vinland.

Until the middle of the last century, the sagas of the Vikings and Vinland were considered plausible fiction. And finally, in 1960, researcher Helge Markus Ingstad discovered a real Viking settlement with dugouts, forges and workshops in a small Canadian village. Various small implements were found there: bronze rivets, fasteners, grinding stones, knitting needles.

What to see in L'Anse aux Meadows?

Nowadays, the unique historical L'Anse aux Meadows is under state protection. Some buildings have been reconstructed here. Tourists can see costumed scenes from the life of the Vikings. A museum is also open, by visiting which you will learn everything about the real discoverers of America and the Norwegian explorer who confirmed this fact.

How to get to L'Anse aux Meadows?

If you want to get to the historical park, then from the city, the capital of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, you can take a plane to St. Anthony, which is located next to L'Anse aux Meadows. You will spend approximately 1 hour on the flight. 20 minutes. You can also get here by car, following Trans-Canada Hwy/NL-1 W and NL-430 N, and you will spend about 11.5 hours on the road.

The search for this settlement is partly similar to the search for Troy, except that not so many minds struggled to solve this riddle. One researcher from Norway named Helge Markus Ingstad tried for many years to find the land that was glorified in the sagas and was called “Vinland”. A fairly large area was allocated for the search, from the Hudson Strait in the north to Long Island (New York) in the south. The task was not easy, but in the end Ingstad was successful. In 1960, the settlement was discovered.

It dates back to the 10th-11th centuries and is located in Canada, in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. This place is famous for being evidence of the very first and earliest appearance of European people in North America. Consisting of eight houses, which were essentially dugouts built on a wooden frame and covered with turf, and a forge, it was not inhabited for long. According to experts, approximately 50-100 people who lived here left the island just a few years after they arrived.

In addition to the dwellings, various household items were found during the excavations: iron rivets, bronze fasteners and other items.

The official date of the discovery of America is 1492 AD, when Christopher Columbus first set foot on the lands of the new continent. However, modern archaeological finds have forced many historians to tacitly admit that America was discovered by Europeans more than 400 years earlier - during the Viking Age. L'Anse aux Meadows - discovered ancient settlement Vikings in Canada - a find that likely puts an end to the debate about the discovery of America by the Vikings.

In fact, the fact that the Vikings visited the territory of modern Canada has long been no secret to anyone. This is written about in detail in their chronicles. It all started when around 860 AD. medieval Scandinavian sailors, during their voyages to the west, discovered the island, most of which was covered with ice, and called it Iceland (“Ice Country”), founding a colony there and organizing trade with the continent. Once, a Viking boat heading towards Iceland lost its course due to a storm, and its crew was driven west, where they saw the island that is now called Greenland. Returning to their fellow tribesmen, the crew of the ship that had lost its course spoke about the new lands they had seen. Rumors about new lands were heard by the famous Norwegian Viking Erik the Red, who, together with his team, organized research into the northwestern lands and, after a long voyage, actually discovered an island, which he later named Greenland. Returning to the continent, Eric gathered volunteers to colonize the new land, and in 986 a group of settlers landed on the shores of Greenland, where they founded a colony and established trade with Scandinavia.

This is interesting: Greenland means " Green land" It is perplexing why such inhospitable cold lands were called “Green Land” by Eric the Red? There are two versions on this matter. Perhaps during the Middle Ages the climate in those places was milder, so Eric the Red and his team could easily see the shores of the island overgrown with green trees in the summer season. According to another version, the Scandinavians are so attractive name simply “advertised” the place among other Vikings to encourage them to organize a colony.

Looking at this photo, one can hardly call Greenland a “green island”

Having founded a settlement on the island of Greenland, the Vikings would certainly have discovered the lands of North America sooner or later. This happened at the very end of the first millennium AD, when one of the ships lost its course and discovered new lands. Soon several expeditions were sent to them and around 1000 AD. The first European, Leif Erikson, the son of Erik the Red, entered the lands of the New World.

Vinland is the name given to the lands of North America in the works of Scandinavian scribes. From them we learn the history of the colonization of Greenland by Eric the Red (which was later confirmed by radiocarbon dating archaeological finds) and the discovery of new territories outside of Greenland. The records also say that the Vikings made two attempts to establish colonies in new lands, but both of them ended in failure. The reason for the exodus of Europeans from the shores of Vinland was probably due to clashes with local tribes and internal disagreements. Later, the Vikings also left the island of Greenland (most likely due to the climate changing towards cooling).

Medieval Scandinavian map with supposed image of Vinland (North America)

Until recently, the Viking sagas about Vinland were considered fiction, although very plausible. Mainly because archaeologists could not find any traces of European settlements dating back to 1000 AD. Researcher Helge Markus Ingstad spent his entire life trying to discover the Viking settlement that they were supposed to establish on east coast North America. Finally, in 1960, luck turned to the researcher. In the small village of L'Anse aux Meadows, traces of a forge, dugouts, bronze fasteners and rivets were discovered. The assumption immediately arose that this was the same settlement that Leif Erikson founded. Currently, the Viking settlement on the American continent is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List and is under special protection as a unique historical monument and one of the most important pieces of evidence of Viking visits to the American coast long before Christopher Columbus.

L'Anse aux Meadows - a modern reconstruction of a Viking settlement in North America, created at an archaeological site

This is interesting: Another confirmation of the Vikings’ visit to America are the remains of a girl found in Iceland and examined in 2011. It turned out that the age of the remains dates back to approximately 1000 years and they are of Indian origin. Perhaps with this find, archaeologists discovered the first American to land on the European continent, sailing back in a Viking boat.

Many of you have probably heard that Christopher Columbus and his comrades were not the first Europeans to reach the shores of America - they say brave Vikings had already been there before him. Many have heard, but not many know where exactly the Scandinavian sailors landed on the shore.

In the most northern point The Great Northern Peninsula (that's the simple name) of the island of New Foundland is located in the town of L'Anse aux Meadows, where in 1960 the Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad and his wife Anne Stein Stine) discovered the remains of an 11th century settlement. Based on the nature of the buildings and a number of artifacts found, they came to the conclusion that the settlement they found was built by Vikings who sailed from Greenland. The researchers conducted their search based on ancient Scandinavian sagas, which mentioned the campaigns of the inhabitants of Greenland to the mysterious country of Vinland. Apparently, the name “Vinland” meant not just the coast of Newfoundland itself, but rather the entire coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the south. As the Scandinavian sagas say, the Viking settlement near D'Anse aux Meadows was founded by Leif Erikson and it served as a transshipment base for trips into the depths of the bay for about 10 years and all this time the population did not exceed hundreds of people. A thousand years ago, the northern part of New -Foundland was not like today - a swampy plain, but covered with forests and rivers abounding in fish. The inhabitants of Greenland were in dire need of wood and they repeatedly sent fishing parties to the coast of North America for construction timber, furs, etc.

Remains of the former settlement.

Excavations by archaeologists were carried out intermittently from 1961 to 1968 and from 1973 to 1976, during which the remains of several residential buildings, a forge, and workshops were discovered. Later, a little away from the excavation site, these same buildings were reproduced as accurately as possible - long residential half-dugouts covered with cut peat, a forge and a kind of hangars for storing ships in winter.

Fishing boat.

In the summer of 2009, during a long motor rally along the Atlantic coast of Canada, our whole family decided to visit this legendary place. The path is not at all close, but we were full of enthusiasm and did not regret our decision at all. Museum under open air Well organized and very interesting. At the entrance there is a large pavilion with an exhibition about the history of this place, several models of ancient Viking buildings and models of their ships. Further to the coast is the archaeological site itself where the excavations were carried out - outwardly it looks like several low ridges of earth of the correct shape. But very close by is a real Viking village! Where people dressed up as Scandinavians will tell you a lot of interesting things and answer any tricky questions about history and everyday life. Inside the buildings there are a lot of different utensils, skins and weapons. You can touch everything, look at it and ask “what is this” or “what is this bullshit for?” Of course, all the items are “remakes,” but they are made with great authenticity and love for detail: only forged iron, only wax candles, and so on. The “residents” of the village have become very accustomed to their roles and play them with great enthusiasm.

The harsh northern guys tell Katya about their difficult situation.

The Valkyrie outfit is anything but easy!

Loom

All buildings are covered with cut peat on top - according to science it should be very warm!

We listen about cod fishing and hunting

The seemingly good-natured “Olaf” talked a lot about all sorts of piercing cutting objects that the Normans used to send their opponents to Valhalla or Helm

L'Anse aux Meadows is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and today it is the only place with traces of Viking visits to North America.

L'Anse aux Meadows(distorted English) L'Anse aux Meadows from fr. L'Anse-aux-Méduses, lit. “Jellyfish Bay”) is a historical and archaeological monument in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador (Canada), where, according to excavations, the first European Viking settlement in North America and the Western Hemisphere existed at the end of the 11th century. It was the most western settlement Vikings.

Before the settlement was discovered, the Norwegian explorer Helge Marcus Ingstad tried for many years to find the land that was listed in the sagas as “Vinland”. Ingstad expected to find this settlement at a great distance - from the Hudson Strait in the north to the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the south, and even further south - to New York's Long Island. Ultimately, in 1960, the researcher was successful. Whether these excavations represent a settlement founded by Leif Eriksson around 1003 still remains a mystery.

Excavations

French settlers who arrived in the territory of the future Quebec were surprised to learn from the Iroquois about the existence of the mysterious Kingdom of Saguenay, where people with white skin and blond hair allegedly lived, who had a lot of gold and furs. Attempts to find the kingdom were unsuccessful; the city of Saguenay in Quebec was later named in his honor.

In the 1960s, in the small fishing village of L’Anse aux Meadows on the island of Newfoundland, which was repopulated in the 16th and 17th centuries by the French and the British who replaced them, 8 dugouts and a forge were discovered. Bronze clasps, iron rivets and other items found during the excavation were put on display in Washington and New York under the title "Vikings: A North Atlantic Saga."

According to scientists, the Vikings who founded the settlement in L’Anse aux Meadows arrived from neighboring Greenland, where Eric the Red shortly before () founded a colony of Normans. It is estimated that no more than 50-100 people lived in Newfoundland, who left the island within a few years.

The Scandinavian colony on the island of Greenland turned out to be more durable, existing for about 5 centuries, but due to climate cooling, as well as other factors unknown to science, it disappeared in the late - early 16th centuries. In the 13th century, during its heyday, the number of Scandinavians in Greenland apparently reached 5 thousand people.

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Excerpt describing L'Anse aux Meadows

Finding myself in “my” room, I fell onto the bed as if knocked down. There were no more tears. There was only a terrible, naked emptiness and soul-blinding despair...
I couldn’t, I didn’t want to believe what was happening!.. And although I was waiting for this day after day, now I could not understand or accept this terrible, inhuman reality. I didn’t want the morning to come... It was supposed to bring only horror, and I no longer had the former “firm confidence” that I could endure all this without breaking down, without betraying my father and myself... Feelings of guilt for his cut-off life, a mountain fell... The pain finally deafened, tearing my tormented heart to shreds...
To my great surprise (and wild chagrin!!!), I jumped up from the noise outside the door and realized that... I was sleeping! How could this happen?! How could I even sleep??? But apparently, our imperfect human body, in some of the most difficult moments of life, not obeying our desires, defended itself in order to survive. That’s how I, unable to bear any more suffering, simply “went” into peace to save my dying soul. And now it was too late - they came for me to take me to my father’s execution...
The morning was bright and clear. Curly white clouds floated high across the clear blue sky, the sun rose victoriously, joyfully and brightly. The day promised to be wonderful and sunny, like the coming spring itself! And among all this fresh, awakening life, only my tormented soul writhed and moaned, plunging into deep, cold, hopeless darkness...
In the middle of the small square filled with sunshine, where the covered carriage brought me, there was a huge fire, pre-built, “ready for use”... Internally shuddering, I looked at it, unable to take my eyes off. My courage was leaving me, making me afraid. I didn't want to see what was happening. It promised to be terrible...
The square was gradually filled with gloomy, sleepy people. They, who had just woken up, were forced to watch someone else's death, and this did not give them too much pleasure... Rome had long ago stopped enjoying the fires of the Inquisition. If at the beginning someone else was interested in the torments of others, now, several years later, people were afraid that tomorrow any of them could end up at the stake. And the native Romans, trying to avoid trouble, left their hometown...Leaving Rome. Since the beginning of Caraffa's reign, only about half of the inhabitants remained in the city. If possible, no more or less normal person wanted to stay there. And it was easy to understand - Caraffa did not take anyone into account. Whether he was a simple person or a prince of royal blood (and sometimes even a cardinal of his most holy church!..) - nothing stopped the Pope. People had no value or meaning for him. They were only pleasing or not pleasing to his “holy” gaze, well, the rest was decided very simply - the “unpleasant” person went to the stake, and his wealth replenished the treasury of his beloved, most holy church...
Suddenly I felt a soft touch - it was my father!.. Standing, already tied, at the nightmare post, he tenderly said goodbye to me...