L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland

Site of the first Norse settlement in N America (1000 CE), the seafaring Vikings arrived by long boat close to the Gulf of St Lawrence. They set up a base camp of timber and sod buildings in the harsh Northern climate with some iron production to source raw materials for trading.

Greenland to Newfoundland Crossing

Across the Labrador Sea from Nuuk to St Gricquet-Lunaire in Newfoundland, we loosely followed the route of the Norse to reach the new continent of North America.

Nuuk

Originally inhabited by the Inuits around 2500 BCE, Norse settlers led by Eric the Red established two main colonies on the SW coast of Greenland in 986. By the 15th century, they were gone due to climate change (mini-Ice Age) and resource depletion.

Nuuk, Greenland

With icebergs floating in the Harbour during summer, we landed at Nuuk, the Capital of Greenland, to meet its lovely people amidst a harsh environment.