Climate Change, the Ocean, and the Vikings

By Cate LiaBraaten

Historical BackgroundNorse settlers reached the New World 500

years before Columbus.

Often left out of history because of their limited impact (Wilford, 1992).

Colonies did not thrive; there has been much speculation as to why.

Vikings and the SeaAdept sailors-in Scandinavia ocean travel was

often faster than travel by land (Diamond, 2005).

The sea was tied into myth-helped the Norse make the first discovery of an oceanic gyre (Scigliano, 2009).

Causes for FailureEnvironmental- Encountered “Little Ice Age,”

which limited trading and made survival difficult, few opportunities for agriculture

Cultural-Clung to pastoralism and European lifeways, did not adapt.

Culture also caused poor interaction with the environment.

Research MethodsArchaeological-Middens, Farmsteads

Historical-Sagas

Ice Cores-Climate records

ConclusionStudying the failures of societies is an

interdisciplinary endeavor.

Events in human history are often too complex for any one solution.

Sources Cited:

Diamond, Jared, 2005, Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed, New York, The Penguin Group

Scigliano, Eric, 2009, “Vikings were the first oceanographers,”: New Scientist 201.2700, p. 42-43