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The Norse in North America
As early as 800 CE, the Norse were on the
move. Overcrowding and political unrest
in Scandinavia led some people to search
for new lands. Others were sent away as
punishment for crimes they had committed.
In around 870, some of these emigrants
landed in Iceland where they built a colony.
They were a hardy and independent people.
Eric the Red
Around 982, a man named Eric the Red
was exiled to Iceland for a crime he had
committed in his homeland. Soon, he was
in trouble with the law again, and took to
the seas, looking for a place to build a new
settlement. He landed in a place he named
Greenland, even though it was treeless,
cold, and wintry. He thought that more
people would come to live there if the land
sounded like it was a warm and fertile place.
Soon Eric the Red (so named because
of his red hair and beard) was joined
by more than 300 new settlers from
Iceland. The settlement on Greenland
would survive for nearly 500 years. From
Greenland came the Norse settlers who
would explore North America.
Leif the Lucky
Leif Ericsson (son of Eric the Red) set
sail from Greenland. He was searching
for a tree-covered island he had heard
Figure 41 Little is known of the Norse
ships that sailed across the Atlantic
Ocean a thousand years ago. Most
historians believe Leif Ericsson and
others travelled in a one-masted ship
called a burn Knarrs were about 16-17
metres long and 4-5 'metres wide.
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People and Stories of Canada to 1867 • Chapter 4
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Who is who?
Viking, Norse, Scandinavian: These terms are
different ways of describing people from northern
Europe. Their raids on the rest of Europe earned
them the name Viking, which is based on a
Norwegian word for"pirate." However, many
Vikings were farmers, not pirates.
about years earlier from a merchant named
Bjarni Herjolfsson. He landed at a place he
called Helluland (meaning "land of the flat
stones"), believed to be Baffin Island. He
also explored present-day Newfoundland
and Labrador. He named the most fertile of
these stopping points "Vinland." Leif took
a shipment of lumber back to Greenland,
made his fortune, and
never returned.
The Renaissance
Between the 14th century and the 16th
century, most of Europe emerged from the
Middle Ages and with new inventions and
ideas experienced a "rebirth."
The printing press changed the way
people learned and communicated. For the
first time, people, other than small groups of
priests and scholars, could buy books. This
resulted in new ideas spreading faster than
ever before.
New inventions also affected the economy of Europe, which, in turn, changed
the way people lived. The invention of the
telescope helped people discover new
things about science and astronomy. They
began to question long-standing beliefs,
including the idea that the sun revolved
around the earth.
Ship designs improved. People were
able to explore and sail farther than they
ever had tiefore. New instruments like the
quadrant, sextant, and compass helped
sailors determine direction easily, ensuring
quicker and safer ocean voyages. Even the
Basques' method of keeping cod from going
bad had an impact. Fish, which provided
00
Figure 4.8 Spices from Asia
sailors with a good source of protein, did
not spoil quickly when it was salted.
Spices like cinnamon, ginger, and pepper
were no longer just for the rich. The growing
middle class could now afford to buy them.
However, the overland trip to obtain spices
took years to complete, and many of the
routes were dangerous because of bandits.
Europeans wanted to find a safe route by sea
to the spice-growing countries in Asia and
Indonesia. They thought that if they found
a western sea passage to Asia, they could
easily get the things they wanted from the
East. It was like a great big treasure hunt.
Whoever found the sea route to the East
(called the Northwest Passage) would
be rewarded by his king and queen.
This period of time is called the
Renaissance.
Pepper was especially
prized and, literally,
worth its weight in gold.
When Columbus returned
from his voyage to the
New World, he brought chills, which were
grown by the Aboriginal peoples. In an
effort to convince his benefactors that
his trip had been worth it, he called the
chills "red peppers."
Travel to the western world ... is a consequence
of the long struggle of the nations of Europe,
vying for supremacy and control of trade
with the East ....For all those who pushed
back the limits of the unknown world, there
is always the glitter of gold and the odour of
far fetched spices.
— Sir Walter Raleigh, 1605
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People and Stories of Canada to 1867 • Chapter 4
The Empires
During the Renaissance, kings and queens
hired explorers and crews to expand their
empires, or the lands they controlled all
over the world. They competed for new
lands, slaves, trade routes, and precious
goods like spices and gold. They also wanted
to spread their regions to people in new
lands. The public loved to hear about exotic
places, and many explorers wrote stories
based on their experiences. Because
sensational stories sold, some explorers
even altered their adventures to include
stories of fantastical people.
Sometimes, explorers made their trips
sound more successful than they were. By
doing this, many got sponsors to fund their
expeditions. One explorer, for example,
reported that the Aboriginal peoples of
North America were Chinese. Others wrote
that they had found a river in North America
that would take them to the Pacific and
across Asia. In truth, no one had any idea
how wide North America was, and the
earliest maps often show coastline with
a rather skinny strip of land (see p. 64).
i
At first, the search for a Northwest
Passage was the reason for much of early
North American exploration. Soon, however,
explorers began to realize the enormous size
of North America. They knew it would be
both costly and difficult to find a way around
or through the continent. At about the same
time, they also discovered new riches on
the lands that they were exploring. Gold and
silver from South and Central America, and
luxurious furs from North America would be
valuable goods in Europe.
Explorers began claiming more and
more land for the rulers of the countries
sponsoring their expeditions. In turn, the
rulers started to plan colonies in these
newly claimed lands. They wanted to make
sure they could control both the people
and the riches they found there.
Some of the countries that explored
during this period of exploration are
discussed below.
Portugal
One of the first people to finance explorations
during this time was Henry the Navigator,
the king of Portugal. During the 1430s,
he founded a court to which he invited
Europe's best cartographers (mapmakers
shipbuilders, astronomers, instrument
makers, and sailors. Portugal, located on
the Atlantic Ocean, was active in exploration
during the 1400s and 1500s.
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Figure 4.10 Christopher Columbus travelled to Spain to ind
backing for his travels. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
were eager to find a way to the riches of Asia and so funded
Columbus's expeditions to search for a passage to Asia.
6o
Spain
Eager to find a way to the riches of Asia,
the royal court of Spain sponsored many
expeditions to search for a passage to the East.
When the Spaniards found gold and silver in
South America and Central America, they
People and Stories of Canada to 1867 • Chapter 4
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gave up on their search for the Northwest
Passage and put their energy into mining
these riches. Spain became very wealthy.
The Aztec and Maya civilizations of
Mexico and Central America and the Inca
of South America had flourished before the
Spaniards arrived. But European illnesses
and sophisticated weapons would destroy
the civilizations.
England and France
Both England and France began exploration
later than Spain and Portugal. They
sponsored explorations after hearing
reports of gold in South America. By this
time, however, Spain and Portugal had laid
claim to South America and Central America.
England and France decided to focus on
finding the Northwest Passage to Asia.
They had different ways of pursuing their
interests in North America. Their activities
are outlined in chapters 5 and 6.
Figure +12 Europeans expected that people in the New World
would look very different front themselves. The artist of
this painting imagined people's heads were in the 'middle
of their chests.
The Netherlands
The Netherlands entered the race for spices
and wealth during the 1600s. The Dutch
were involved in the North American fur
trade, but when Spain and Portugal left Asia
to explore the Americas, the Netherlands
took their place. The Netherlands traded all
over Asia, largely through the activities of
the powerful Dutch East Indies Company.
European Empires
1 Portugal
El Spain
11111 England
France
MI Netherlands
Figure. 4.11 EUROPEAN EMPIRES. This ntap shoW-s the empires of England, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Portugal around
the luid 11th century.
The Europeans Come to North America
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