Helluland
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Helluland is the name given to one of the three lands discovered by Leif Eriksson sometime around 1000 AD on the North Atlantic coast of North America. Helluland was characterized in the Icelandic sagas (the Eiríks saga rauða and the Grœnlendinga saga) as a land of flat stones, or ground of flat rock (from which it earns its name "Helluland" or "Land of Flat Stones"). This leads historians to guess that Helluland was Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut.
From the testimony of the sagas, the Norse explorers probably made contact with the native Dorset culture of the region, people whom the sagas term as skrælings, but there were no major cultural ramifications for either side.
Helluland was the first of three lands in North America visited by Leif Ericson. He decided not to try and settle this land because it was inhospitable. He would later continue south to Markland (probably Labrador) and Vinland (Newfoundland or more southern areas[1]).
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[edit] References and notes
- ^ Is L'Anse aux Meadows Vinland?. L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site of Canada. Parks Canada (2003). Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
