Does anyone actually LIVE in Greenland?

[bombshoo]

The Vikings didnt completley die out. There was mixing..I remember reading that a DNA test on the Inuits showed some mixing, particuarly in a certian town I cant remember which, I have to see if I can find it.

 

[Kentharu]

greenland? where is that??

 

[Lord_Iggy]

The Inuit on Greenland are Thule Inuit. The Vikings were wiped out, causes unknown, but they did probably marry the Inuit, as bombshoo said.

Yes, people definitely live in Greenland.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Are you stalking me Kentharu?

 

[History_Buff]

No this wasnt a joke, people. You see all this stuff on here i didnt know, hence why i asked in hte first place. Im rather surprised to find there is vegetation in Greenland, I obviously had the impression it was a big ice cube. Being a history major, i think its rather important i know these things. I appreciate the feedback too, people.

Yeah, is definitely not a giant ice cube. I think the center of the island is, because there is a glacier sitting on top of it, but the Southern Coast has some (from a western viewpoint) habitable area.

 

[superisis]

I thought that the Viking colonies "died out" because of trade policies of the Hanseatic league (or perhaps its predecessor), that switched and stopped sending their trading vessels to Greenland, disrupting the flow of essential goods to the island (essential to the Vikings (successors) anyways).

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

I would imagine there are some fish that are in a greater abundance in the frigid Norths than there are in the South. But I don't know. Also, some people would rather not leave where they have lived for generations.

 

[storealex]

Im 50% Greenlander, livin in Denmark but I have spend a lot of time in Nuuk. Nice place in the summer, very nice nature and all. But it's boring in the winter. There's a lot of Danes in Nuuk, but in the villages there's mostly Inuit.

 

[Plotinus]

I don't understand the idea that no-one would *want* to live in Greenland because it's cold. I like the cold! I'd far rather be there than in the tropics.

 

[Leifmk]

The Vikings were wiped out, causes unknown, but they did probably marry the Inuit, as bombshoo said.

Apparently not to any great extent; AFAICT modern DNA studies have failed to find any evidence of medieval Norse ancestry among Inuit populations.

The Greenland Norse were apparently caught between a change in their living conditions (cooler climate, trade links dying out, a marginal situation deteriorating further) and their own cultural inflexibility. They could have adopted a lifestyle better suited to local conditions, but that would mean abandoning the good Christian ways of their ancestors in favor of emulating those pagans over there, and so on.

 

[Plotinus]

Why would adapting their lifestyle to their conditions have necessarily involved abandoning Christianity?

 

[civconquer3000]

By the way, Greenland isn't that deserted. They've got several soccer teams, at least. And I bet there's at least one mansion is there so they shouldn't all be fishers. Well, you could own a mansion if you owned a large fishing company.

 

[Kafka2]

The Greenland Norse were apparently caught between a change in their living conditions (cooler climate, trade links dying out, a marginal situation deteriorating further) and their own cultural inflexibility. They could have adopted a lifestyle better suited to local conditions, but that would mean abandoning the good Christian ways of their ancestors in favor of emulating those pagans over there, and so on.

That's rather unfair to the Norse. When you're facing a sudden collapse in your agricultural system due to climatic change, and are facing starvation as a result, it's asking a lot to successfully adapt to a polar hunter-gatherer lifestyle before dying.

 

[Narz]

I hear they have some nice hot springs. No wait, that's Iceland. Hmm, they must be famous for something??

 

[Verbose]

Why would adapting their lifestyle to their conditions have necessarily involved abandoning Christianity?

The interpretation is of course that at the time religious identity was primary to these people and considered part of a package. Meaning the expectation was that Christians live in a certain way, and diverging from it would bring your immortal soul into jeopardy, especially if you took up a "heathen" lifestyle.
It's got nothing to do with belief or dogma of course, but religion for most of history, for most of humanity, have always been about what you do, not what you think, know or believe.

 

[Verbose]

That's rather unfair to the Norse. When you're facing a sudden collapse in your agricultural system due to climatic change, and are facing starvation as a result, it's asking a lot to successfully adapt to a polar hunter-gatherer lifestyle before dying.

Funny thing is, they might have.
If they successfully did so there's no way for us to know since then they would then have merged with the Inuit, which wouldn't leave distinguishable traces. Only the failure to adapt at all, or incomplete attempts, would.

The Inuit at least claim to have a store of stories relating to the old Scandinavian settlers. They seem to have been on rather amicable terms.

 

[MRM]

The interpretation is of course that at the time religious identity was primary to these people and considered part of a package. Meaning the expectation was that Christians live in a certain way, and diverging from it would bring your immortal soul into jeopardy, especially if you took up a "heathen" lifestyle.
It's got nothing to do with belief or dogma of course, but religion for most of history, for most of humanity, have always been about what you do, not what you think, know or believe.

Didn't they worshiped Odin anyway ?

 

[Leifmk]

Didn't they worshiped Odin anyway ?

Um, no. The Greenland settlements converted to Christianity about the same time as Iceland and Norway, i.e. about the year 1000. For most of the history of Norse Greenland, they had their own bishop (subordinate to the archbishop at Nidaros in Norway).

 

[Verbose]

Um, no. The Greenland settlements converted to Christianity about the same time as Iceland and Norway, i.e. about the year 1000. For most of the history of Norse Greenland, they had their own bishop (subordinate to the archbishop at Nidaros in Norway).

Of course the Icelandic process of conversion was true to form. You got the Fighting Bishops of Iceland, i.e. men of God who would travel the land and when they found a homestead where the owner was not yet a Christian, they challenged him to a duel, friendly like (not to the death): If they won, as they usually did being professional fighters, the owner and all his household would accept the baptism.

 

[Leifmk]

That's rather unfair to the Norse. When you're facing a sudden collapse in your agricultural system due to climatic change, and are facing starvation as a result, it's asking a lot to successfully adapt to a polar hunter-gatherer lifestyle before dying.

I don't really think it's unfair. They had, apparently, a very conservative attitude to their lifestyle, and while they had contact with (or at least had many opportunities to observe) the Inuit for hundreds of years, they showed no inclination toward adopting any Inuit technologies whatsoever, even when those were clearly superior (such as using the kayak to get around and do hunting and fishing). Indeed many of their priorities make little sense to us modern observers -- the most egregious example being the near-total absence of fish from their diet, from the earliest generations of the settlement until its demise.

Now, when you are living in a mostly-closed economy in marginal conditions, a rigidly conservative approach may be the best or indeed only way to ensure survival for the next generation. But when those marginal conditions deteriorate, that approach comes around to bite you. Either you adapt or you die. If your culture is such that risk-taking and innovation are severely discouraged, you are at a disadvantage.