How did the Vikings Discover Greenland?

Greenland is the largest island on earth not to be counted as a continent in its own right and like many islands in the North Atlantic it was discovered and colonised by Norsemen. After last week's video about how the Norse discovered Iceland, I thought this was the next logical step in a series about Norse expansion westward, culminating in settlements on the North American mainland a generation after the successful colonisation of Greenland which made it possible. In this video I will talk about the first (known at least) Europeans to see and set foot in Greenland, including the tales of famous Norsemen like Gunnbjörn Ulfsson, Snæbjörn Galti and Eiríkr hinn rauði (Eric the Red). Enjoy!
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Lost Frontier - Kevin MacLeod
Clean Soul - Kevin MacLeod
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Eastern Thought- Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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All images are from the Public Domain of Wikimedia Commons and Pixabay.
How did the Vikings Discover Iceland?
• How did the Vikings Di...
Irish/Gaelic Monks in Iceland, The Faroe Islands and the Scottish Isles:
• Irish/Gaelic Monks in ...
How Vikings Names Work:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=73gqG...
Viking Raids - History Visualised:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b3pp...
The Great Heathen Army - History Visualised:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWMXv...
Norse and Anglo-Saxon Paganism:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1jPj...
A Guide to Dark Age Irish Politics:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=akWnk...
A Guide to Dark Age British Politics:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHNdQ...
Who Were the Anglo-Saxons?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP1eX...
Old English:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw6dI...
Anglo-Saxon Shields:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXIzd...
Patreon:
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Send me an email if you'd be interested in doing a collaboration! [e-mail]

[@Knowledgia]

When you want to learn something new and good, watch History With Hilbert! (and Knowledgia) haha

[@historywithhilbert146]

Can confirm

[@Knowledgia]

Nein Adolf, just a joke :)

[@SamIAmSXE]

Recently got into your channel. Very good stuff. Don't stop doing what you're doing, I guarantee you'll explode.

[@Knowledgia]

Thanks Napoleon :) Don't go to Russia again

[@posidonius3157]

Knowledgia Shameless plug

[@frisianmouve]

" I swear there's no ice, why else would I call it Greenland?" Erik the red

[@sirharken821]

frisianmouve "deception 100"

[@kiraraki_master6647]

frisianmouve they called in island so raiders would think it wasn’t worth invading

[@amirehatim1655]

Never thought like that

[@TheJazzax]

Hilbert I used one of your videos in a historical presentation I did during finals week, thank you!

[@historywithhilbert146]

845productions Wow, I'm honoured! Which one did you use? Hope they enjoyed it :)

[@braedengriffiths4249]

History With Hilbert If you're continuing this series on the Viking exploration and plan on doing an americas part; I could potentially be of help to you with any info as to settlements, manuscripts, etc. Reason being is because I live in Newfoundland and Labrador, the last places where the Vikings explored and where the first European settlements in North America were (and still here to this day) located. Anyways keep up the good work mate! Awesome content you're putting out there!

[@Halli50]

A slight "correction": It was not really land shortage that drove Eirik the Red to Greenland, he was, in fact, the "Neighbor from Hell" wherever he went. He killed someone in Norway and was outlawed - so he fled to Iceland. Once in Iceland, he ended up killing a neighbor again, and was outlawed once again - and fled to Greenland. The proverbial "bad neighbor".

[@xelakarzlan7255]

Your work rate is insane. Daily watch for me now. Keep it up

[@historywithhilbert146]

Xela Karzlan Thank you for your support :)

[@NorthworthySagasStories]

Another very cool video History With Hilbert, enjoyed this and looking forward to the next video.

[@Fingkregh]

Dit kanaal maakt me erg blij, het is fijn om veel begrijpelijke informatie te verkrijgen middels dit soort filmpjes. Je bent een zegen voor de mensheid en ik durf er redelijke geldbedragen op in te zetten dat je ons koningshuis trots maakt.

[@ChrisNoonetheFirst]

Here's the wikipedia page on Arctic mirages, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fata_Morgana_(mirage). What Hilbert didn't mention is that it's a superior mirage, meaning that it actually forms above the horizon unlike desert mirages, which form below.

[@rincewindrocks]

hah! i literally signed up for your patreon because i love your videos just prior to seeing this. best of luck sir!

[@connoragnewmusic]

Loving this series dude!!

[@ashleighuk84]

Merry Christmas Hilbert. I'm a relatively new subscriber and absolutely love your videos. Keep up the good work =)

[@Phrenotopia]

It still baffles me that the Norse did not persist in North America somehow, since the land was so much better than Iceland and Greenland and had lots of wood.

[@Chriscaf24]

Phrenomythic Pretty sure Natives pushed them out or something

[@Phrenotopia]

Chris Cafiero Yes, they apparently must have. There are several accounts on that. However, the Norse conquered many areas in Europe without problems. I guess there were simply too few of them out there and no good supply lines.

[@PkMnNeWb]

Norse colonization wasn't really some large organized effort, it was more or less just individual and small group efforts. They had very little contact with the "mother country". Iceland and Greenland didn't become part of Norway until the mid 1200's.

[@AdobadoFantastico]

Well, they were there for longer than America has been around. That's a pretty long time. Lots of peoples and authorities failed to persist after having been around for a long chunk of time. Even in places where they literally didn't go anywhere. Look at the Byzantines. Most people in Anatolia have been where they are for a long time in the genetic sense....yet now they're non greek speaking Turks. Where are the Hittites these days? Shit, look at France! Namesake from the Franks....yet they speak a latin language and associate with the Gauls in their proto national identity. The individuals didn't really go anywhere, yet the Frankish "people" left. They're not a Germanic people anymore. Instead they associate with the prior Gallic inhabitants....where were they when the Franks were around? As far as conquest and power; In Europe the Norse were able to insert themselves into an existing power structure. It's much harder to take over a place that doesn't have some kind of formalized power to usurp. Look at all the great expanding empires. Alexander of Macedon's territory was overwhelmingly made up of other empires he took over and became the head of. Same with all the Khans after Genghis did the groundwork of creating a power structure in the steppe. They mostly took over existing kingdoms after that. It would be extremely difficult to push into a foreign place, overcome local resistance, and then change their way of life to accommodate a vastly different set of assumptions on social organization. The Romans spent hundreds of years taking over tribal territories. They'd been fighting various gallic-celtic people since basically the start. The places they held the best control over were those culturally similar and integrated with the broader Mediterranean trade network. This is also why they moved the capital later to a more prime location within this trade network.

[@PkMnNeWb]

bob john That's what the sagas says, particularly about the colonization of Iceland, but they are likely to be unreliable. I think the main factors were as in most cases of norse emmigration that there were too little available farmland in Norway as well as the whaling opportunities in Iceland. The idea that people left because of king Harald Hårfagre has little historic viability as the settlement of Iceland had already begun around the 860s, though it might of course have been a factor.

[@Guitaristmalakian]

1 like from France ! Continue your videos dude, it's really interesting ! ;')

[@Quarton]

Love your videos!!

[@freyjasvansdottir9904]

You can see tops of mountains in Greenland from the top of mount Bolafjall in the Westfjords of Iceland on clear days.

[@historywithhilbert146]

Wow, I didn't know that! Have you seen them yourself, your name looks to be very Icelandic.

[@magnusorn7313]

i never heard about that, wouldnt that then also be the same for göltur?

[@bert90987]

Great video! 👍

[@mattabesta]

Eiríkur "hinn" Rauði is a retronym(I hope I'm using that right) it never appears in the sagas and the word hinn is not much used for Norse nicknames even though it's essentially sort of not really the equivelent of "the". Jackson Crawford has a nice video on the definitive article in Norse. In general, your pronunciation is phenomenal for Old Norse. Turns out I did not use it right. What I mean is that the original is Eiríkur rauði which in english gets translated to Eirik The Red and then translating it back you'd thing a "the" word would be there but nope there isn't because of course it's not that easy.

[@jesssiegman8881]

You could talk for hours and hours about Vikings,and I will never lose interest.

[@nietzscheanmiddleman9832]

Floki had a vision, then built a boat and sailed out of Kategatt. Floki is awesome.

[@rodskagg3328]

I hope you later make a video about the vikings pushing east, through Russia down to the middle east, and the viking conquests of the British isles and northern France. Keep up the good work.

[@user-wl4sr4tl7f]

I recommend you do a video on Snorri Sturluson

[@historywithhilbert146]

Олег Оленев That one is on my list of videos to make :)

[@josh0g]

Another excellent and informative video on the Vikings... or Snow-Polynesians.

[@josh0g]

Also, I'm here mainly because I'm a big fan of Bjork.

[@HistoryTime]

AWESOME

[@AdobadoFantastico]

We love you too, Hilbert

[@benstiller5054]

Do a video about the Icelandic commonwealth

[@user-wl4sr4tl7f]

I hope he does a video about Snorri Sturluson

[@historywithhilbert146]

Planning to make videos on both!

[@benstiller5054]

Fuck yes!

[@richard6133]

Love it!

[@historywithhilbert146]

Richard Sabo Thank you so much!

[@richard6133]

History With Hilbert I know your list of videos requested by subscribers probably rivals the length of Santa's "naughty or nice" list, but could you add a video on the Phonecians and a video on the Huns to the list of eventual videos? I'd love to hear your takes on those two peoples!

[@Randomstuffs261]

2:04 THATS WHAT SHE SAID

[@aliinga]

How do you manage to pop out so many videos every single week?

[@evangarvey7612]

You are one classy guy hilbert

[@rodvota3825]

Thank you for the great videos. I also like the animated characters it's great feature. Would like to know if you can do some homework on the end of the last ice age, North America in particular. Through Reading other people's research I believe this had devastating effects on our planet. This location is of particular interest to me. The Grand Coulee is an ancient river bed in the state of Washington. 60 miles southwest from Grand Coulee Dam to Soap Lake, being bisected by Dry Falls into the Upper and Lower Grand Coulee. Would love to hear your thoughts on this and what effects it had on an ancestors . P.S. if you do decide to research this,it will not be easy most of the research is theoretical . I believe you'll take this as a challenge . Good luck sir!

[@eliasfrahat7074]

Do a video about Frankia please

[@MrSafa61]

6:30 can you guys down here explain to me how they 'just sailed from place to place'? Dis he have a ship with a crew ot was he on a raft. How would he navigate? Etc. Thanks in advance

[@yoda614air]

When are you doing a video on Scotland history

[@stevqtalent]

are you sill planning on doing the second part?

[@ibbi30]

1:25 I am not sure this is true. Yes the Norse were indigenous to south-western Greenland, but I was pretty sure the Saqqaq culture and perhaps the Dorset culture had lived in the same areas the Norse settled and then gone extinct/extinct from the area/left the area before the Norse arrived.

[@williamcooke5627]

that may be true. The Norse settlers did not immediately encounter the Dorset culture, though I think they were living further north and in the adjacent lands.

[@ibbi30]

Yeah the Dorset had abandoned the area by the time of Norse settlement. But they were apparently living in "Western Greenland" in earlier times and then headed north as it got warmer and the specific hunting methods they were used to failed them. Whether they inhabited south-western greenland and the same fjords as the Norse centuries before the Norse arrived I don't know.

[@williamcooke5627]

The Inuit do have some traditional stories about encounters with Norsemen in Greenland, but they probably come down from the 14th or very early 15th century.

[@Dagsschiller]

Where is the second part of this video?

[@ashlisunflower]

i loved the funny parts :) Bjork :D

[@africanmate8036]

yes

[@lokitus]

A series on the British in India would be great: Sir Henry Oxenden (?) to the Great Mutiny.

[@magnushmann]

Great video as always. One question: why not metric?

[@magnushmann]

nah more like feet for people who don't wanna use resources, energy or political power to change fully for the better.

[@historywithhilbert146]

British measuring systems die hard

[@magnushmann]

But what's that supposed to even mean? I'm pretty sure most Brits I know don't use miles or anything like that...

[@magnushmann]

me? sure why not

[@nilsgrenholm]

Nice video, btw ting, is with a hard t, not thing as in english. Keep the videos coming!

[@joelm33]

PLEASE GO IN DEPTH! and have that video about Vikings in America around 20 minutes :)

[@Luredreier]

Hum, wish you'd say Håkon instead of Hakon. Also, if you see "Haakon" somewhere then the double "a" *usually* is a way to write "å".

[@Yora21]

"runs in the family". There's also the story of Erik's children, Leif and Freydis.

[@AG-fd8hn]

Do Grímsey island and the vikings

[@GazilionPT]

Loved the flag. Was it designed by you? (I know Greenland's current flag has no Nordic Cross.)

[@historywithhilbert146]

Thank you! Yes I threw this design together to represent the Scandinavian communities on Greenland :)

[@lvd8122]

Q: if you say: "he explored the island" "he got exiled" are you talking about a group or one person, because How can one person sail from Iceland to Greenland? And how did Eirikir know that Greenland existed?

[@benoitbvg2888]

Haven't watched the vid yet. Just wondering how he's gonna manage to nudge wilhelmus in this one...

[@stefanatliorvaldsson3563]

is Iceland part of the new world or the old world p.s. great video

[@SamIAmSXE]

Stefán Atli Þorvaldsson Iceland is considered Europe.

[@thelucas353]

How did they manage to survive on their own and sail back and forth? Did they have good ships at the time?

[@nicolas94h]

Admenton Yes they had excellent ones

[@garrettj.rodriguezslowpoke5094]

If you what to hear a good song about Erik the red, look up his name and then Týr

[@Evanwebble]

Not sure where you get the 200 mile distance between Iceland and Greenland, the closest point I could measure on google maps was closer to 300 miles. Was this a typo? I'm just confused hahaha

[@wach9191]

How they discovered Valhalla?

[@charlesstuart7290]

Isn't the mirages of land at see also called Fata Morganas/

[@skaterdave03]

Is still Bjork still making music??

[@RedArmy053]

Dag Hilbert, ik heb je een prive berichtje gestuurd. Zou jij daar op kunnen antwoorden? :)

[@htxhallitronix1569]

Loki the boatbuilder !

[@rateeightx]

4:51 The Thing Of Island?

[@nathanaelsallhageriksson1719]

Psst. DO THE VINLAND VIDEO SOMETIME!!!!!!!! Please.

[@gedalyahreback2133]

Nice X-Files reference

[@harryputa1805]

If the vikings had a settlement in Newfoundland in America, why did it take till the 15th century for other Europeans to discover it? Were they aware it existed?

[@williamcooke5627]

Some people knew it was there, but not many. Probably Basque and Portuguese fishermen fished the Grand Banks off Newfoundland before John Cabot 'discovered' the island for the King of England, but they kept their knowledge to themselves.

[@williamcooke5627]

And if the Yale Vinland Map is genuine, somebody in the 15th c. before Columbus and Cabot sailed knew about the Norse voyages 400 or 500 years earlier.

[@caszuko6148]

Faroe Island?

[@presidenttogekiss635]

Wait, so the Norseman are actually indigenous to Greenland? How curious kk

[@dannypeck96]

why all the bjorks? actually... they were crazy weed makes you crazy weed-aka trees bjork is birch birch is a tree 420 vikings confirmed?

[@historywithhilbert146]

Mind = bjorked

[@dametrosd6593]

My Friend Told me She Saw Eric The Red While She Was Riding The Bus 😂😂

[@magnusorn7313]

She Told Me She Saw Leif The Lucky When She Was On The Train Once

[@robcrum1630]

Please stop the abrupt audio cuts

[@misterklister3564]

What's up with the name Björk? I mean why are people called Birch?

[@wyattmathis4854]

What does bjork mean

[@ecurewitz]

Bjork is an Icelandic singer

[@samuelschonenberger]

I thought that stopping the actual video 3 minutes earlier was a fake out So you could make a joke and then continue with the settlements

[@tlaiful]

do one on how the Norse discovered Vietnam

[@IvanHegelundPetersen]

I From Greenland real in paamiut

[@martinwinther6013]

Long story short. Its what you come across when you can aim for the magnetic northpole.. No, there was no land shortage in Iceland. But Eric the Red did eff up, and had to ventire even further West to avoid the clan being killed. like wtf?? this is basic. Greenland is what anyone would come across if they aim for the magnetic northpole(assuming the starting point is iceland or scandinavia)

[@Bhaalspawn84]

Start of Finnish history. Finns appear out of thin air *puff* and get crusaded by Sweden 3 times (1150s,1240s and 1293). Yeah Finns,Estonians,Hungarians etc. came from urals but generally not very much is know about Finns say 1000 years ago.

[@nuikoimikoru6491]

Wow. I thought Greenland is a continent on it's own from the maps

[@IRISHATLANTIC]

Nuikoimi Koru It's just an island. It is distorted on maps to look much bigger than it really is.

[@meanders9221]

An artifact of Mercator projection, how to depict a spherical planet on a flat piece of paper.

[@Damnmeplease]

I really like this content, and I will continue watching it, BUT! There is a but! The shield symbols that you use are icelandic magical staves, and they are not contemporary at all. They are from the 17th century or later. Some may or may not have been there since before this time, but we have no evidence to suggest they used them earlier. I'm sorry to go all anal on your shield decorations, but it just bothers me some, even though the specific magical stave you used makes sense in the context of warfare. Have a nice day and i hope to see more videoes about this era.

[@NaviRyan]

They literally discovered North America but never came back discovered both Greenland and Vinland which is Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada not Columbus and if they were in Greenland for hundreds of years couldn't they just head south to North America for winter before the Spanish or other European countries sure Leif basically banned anyone from going to Vinland but you still have an entire continent to explore

[@twitchypaper1391]

Bjork

[@evilcolin908]

Bjork?

[@darkhorsearmor3513]

That’s not the Greenland flag this 🇬🇱 is

[@freyjasvansdottir9904]

I think calling inuits from Greenland native Americans is a stretch at best, half of Iceland is geographically in America too, but you wouldn’t call Icelanders Americans!

[@historywithhilbert146]

A very good point!

[@501lilspoon]

Freyja Svansdóttir Greenland was in the EU at one point

[@dutchigamemania]

USE KILOMETERS OMFG

[@historywithhilbert146]

Lourens 01 But Imperial Stronk

[@commonpepe2270]

i-it's not like i want you to give me money, b-baka!

[@ricksayers6367]

Simple answer; cod.

[@TheFissionchips]

Do the Siege of Vienna, and how Islam was driven out of Europe.

[@Jokkkkke]

Is that a real greenlandic flag?

[@ivalu5049]

No

[@eliasfrahat7074]

Do a video selecid empire of Persia please

[@historywithhilbert146]

الياس فرحات I'll add it to the list ;)

[@eliasfrahat7074]

History With Hilbert thanks

[@tahjaiseaton9921]

or Greenmark

[@cmdrmeldoc59]

Spoiler alert, (roughly) he went back and told everyone it was a very green and lush place and told them to go there, so they did. Little did they know, it was horribly cold and icy and they couldn't really get back to Iceland. So settle they did. (Maybe not 100%, but it's rough so whatevs.)

[@magnusorn7313]

the green parts of greenland where the same as iceland

[@coffee5981]

He was probably getting wood...now I know why Greenland is actually white:P

[@eliyahu899]

OK,Eric the Red discovered Greenland but everyone knows Columbus discovered America in 1492 !!!

[@sirharken821]

Eliyahu 8 just wait and see what the mad Bastards son does eh

[@weltgeist2604]

Sam Trumble {SPOILER ALERT} His son discovers the Americas.

[@moss_and_ivy3517]

Eliyahu 8 you've got to be joking... Surely?

[@matthewmann8969]

They also became conquered and enslaved by Eskimos

[@ole7146]

What are you talking about?

[@matthewmann8969]

Ole When Eskimos arrived and they met sometimes they got A long and some times they fought

[@klyanadkmorr]

Don't know where you got almost racist logic Norse are indigenous to Greenland as Greenland is officially scientifically archeologically considered the indigenous home of the Innuit tribes in that region, no matter if the Norse set up huts in some corners of it within the recent thousand years & LEFT for centuries afterward before returning, the Innuit were seasonal regular inhabitants & visitors even to the eastern south for thousands of years. Inwhich, do a research if the Sami Laplanders before the later cross cultural educating, ever met up with the Innuit peoples across the Artic circles (there are int'l cooperative unions representing Artic peoples tribes to the UN). Later in the 1800-1900s to help the food gathering in Canada I learned Laplanders were invited & migrated to N. Am to teach reindeer herding to Innuit tribes who lived further inland in Canada.

[@friedrichvonhoffmeister3343]

jesus calm your tits.

[@aminnakib5188]

NGL the storyteller skills aren't that good. Got bored half way

[@iPYW]

Bjork?