ARCTIC FARMERS IN GREENLAND

Leif was a descendent of a group of people, who loved to travel, and who traversed the Atlantic Ocean long before Erik the Red ever came to Greenland with his family, but when the Norsemen reached the bottom end of the luscious fiords in the areas around modern day Narsarsuaq, Igaliku and Qassiarsuk, they settled down, and established a dynamic agricultural community with many farms in the region.

Milk, cheese and skyr (Icelandic style yogurt) were the main staples in the farmers diets, and as the people in the beginning were not willing to consume the tame animals they had brought with them, due to the small numbers of these animals, a technique was developed for hunting seals, and the most skilled hunters would also go out on the land hunting reindeer and small game.

The culture of the Norsemen was at its highest point around 1200 A.D. An estimated 2,500 people lived in Greenland at this time. Trading with Europe was prolific, and the Norsemen received requests for luxury items like walrus teeth, which they would travel far, along the shores of Greenland, to obtain.

Climate changes and the beginning of the Little Ice Age forced the Norsemen at the start of 13th century A.D., to consolidate and move everyone to the South of Greenland, where farming was still possible in spite of cold summers and longer winters. Some of the best kept ruins of farm buildings are actually found in the fiord by the capital city of Nuuk, on the west coast, and testifies to the fact, that they moved away due to climate change and hardship, and during a time when the farms in Southern Greenland were significantly larger, but fewer in number.