How Did The Norse Society Collapse

Many historians have tried to solve the mystery of the Greenlandic Norse society and its disappearance. Archaeological and literary evidence has been found that shows that the Greenlandic Norse society started to collapse because of many different factors, including changes in climate and economy. The collapse of society in Greenland caused the Norse to disappear from Greenland around the 15th century, and sail to Newfoundland and Labrador because they thought life would be better there. Eirik the Red, a Norwegian explorer, first sailed to Greenland around 985 CE, and then returned to build a society, settling there along with other explorers from Norway who came to Greenland and divided up the land. The Norse society in Greenland lasted for
The Norse mostly had a good relationship with the native peoples, the Thule and the Dorset3; artifacts have been found in ruins around Greenland that show that the Norse traded with them. Norse artifacts have been found in ruins of the Thule and Dorset, and Thule artifacts have been found in Norse ruins.4 Despite this trade relationship, there were sometimes minor conflicts between the Norse and the Thule and Dorset. However, historians believe that Norse society did not disappear because of a fatal battle between the Norse and Thule or Dorset people. Interactions between the Norse and the Thule were likely occasionally hostile, since both groups carried weapons with them, but most of their interactions would have been during hunting expeditions in the Arctic, and in an area with such abundant resources there would have been no reason to fight over them.5 Additionally, carvings have been found in Dorset artifacts that have very Norse characteristics, and the Dorset would not have modelled carvings after the Norse if they had a hostile relationship.6 All of this points to the Norse, Thule, and Dorset having a non-hostile
One question that historians still have is, “Who went looking for the Greenlandic Norse?” For a while after the Norse disappeared from Greenland, people tried to look for them, but continued to be unable to find them. This is because misinformation and confusion about Greenland’s geography caused all knowledge about the Norse in Greenland to be lost. Many people at the time, including the Danish map-maker Claudius Clavus, believed that there was one Norse settlement in the southeast of Greenland, rather than two settlements, an eastern and western settlement.21 Many Europeans tried to travel to Greenland because they believed that there were still people there that they could convert to their religion, since the Norse in Greenland ended contact with Norway and the rest of Europe before their disappearance. One person who tried to go to Greenland to convert the Norse was Erik Valkendorf, the Archbishop of Norway. He tried to organize an expedition to Greenland in 1514-1516 because he wanted to claim Greenland for the Church of Rome, but he died before the expedition could happen.22 Additionally, Frederik II wanted to convert Greenlanders to Lutheranism,23 and Hans Egede sailed to Greenland in the eighteenth century to convert the Norse to Protestantism.24 However, once they got there, they were surprised to find buildings that had been abandoned for