Reverse Colonialism - How the Inuit Conquered the Vikings
Posted by Adam Shoalts
on Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Photo:Library and Archives Canada/e004665218
One of the strangest and least known chapters in North American history is surely the story of Greenland’s Norse (Vikings) and the Thule people (Inuit).
The standard narrative of North American history is turned on its head here, where centuries ago a Native American group displaced then colonized land inhabited by the Vikings.
Indeed, many of us don't know that Greenland is part of North America. Yet it's connected to Canada by a underwater ridge less than 180 metres deep, and at its nearest point, is only 26 kilometres from Ellesmere Island.
In 982 AD Vikings arrived in southern Greenland from nearby Iceland. They found a land that was uninhabited and soon established several settlements. Over the next few centuries the Viking settlements flourished and Greenland became medieval Europe’s "farthest frontier."
Though the first Vikings to arrive in Greenland followed traditional pagan beliefs, Christianity arrived there shortly after and churches and even a cathedral were built on the island.
The Catholic Church appointed a bishop for Greenland and as the Vikings gave up their old ways, they also lost much of their fierce reputation as warriors and raiders. Archaeologists estimate that at their height, the Norse numbered up to 5,000, perhaps even 6,000 in Greenland. (A very large amount given how small the world’s population was in the Middle Ages.) Some of the Vikings even ventured over to mainland North America, visiting what is now northeastern Canada and establishing a settlement at L’Anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland.
And they also travelled hundreds of kilometres north of their own settlements in Greenland to summer hunting grounds, where they killed polar bears, narwhals, and seals, trading the pelts and ivory with Europe. But a happy end for the Greenlanders wasn't meant to be.
In distant Alaska, a new culture was rising — the Thule (ancestors of today’s Inuit). The Thule, originally from Siberia, were gradually expanding across the Arctic, displacing the older, aboriginal Dorset people.
By roughly 1200 AD, the Dorset had vanished, killed off in warfare with the Thule or unable to survive the hardship occasioned by competition for resources with the invaders. (Inuit oral traditions tell of how the Dorset were a gentle people without bows and arrows, and thus easy to kill and drive away.) The Thule continued their expansion across the Canadian Arctic and sometime between 1100 AD and 1300 AD, spread into northern Greenland (at least more than a century after the Vikings had settled there). The Thule then moved south along the coast, eventually coming into contact with the Norse settlements. The surviving written records from the Norse tell of attacks by the invaders. Some of the sources even say the Thule newcomers massacred a whole Norse settlement.
Faced with a changing climate (the world was then cooling during the little Ice Age), hostile invaders, and perhaps internal problems, the Norse society in Greenland collapsed.
By sometime in the 15th century, Greenland’s Norse seem to have disappeared entirely, their territory eventually overrun and colonized by the Inuit, and their story largely forgotten by the modern world.
Comments (7)
Will the Norse or Vikings be seeking compensation and/or seeking land claims?
Submitted by brett gilmour on Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Well, their culture is long dead now, so probably not ;) Unlike our Cree, Haida, Iroquois and Ojibwa neighbours (among many others) who are still very much alive and competing (as other rural communities are) with corporate and government interests to carve out a place for themselves on this vast land.
Submitted by Pigglet on Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Interesting that you refer to the Thule as "Native Americans" while stating that they invaded Alaska from Siberia and wiped out the aboriginal inhabitants. But that's acceptable isn't it. Invasion of other peoples' lands is only a crime when white people do it, right? It really gets me how far these "racist" double-standards have penetrated into our society.
Submitted by Steve on Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Contrary to Steve's comment above, I don't think the writer was at all saying it was "acceptabe" that the Thule wiped out the Dorset people. I think the point he was making is that history is complex and that we should avoid simple formulations that try to turn it into a straight forward "good guys vs bad guys" narrative.
Submitted by David on Monday, February 06, 2012
I think the "reverse colonialism" heading is rather inapt for reasons Steve pointed out. The Maori in New Zealand also behaved in a way quite unlike our soft-focus ideas about gentle native peoples lived in harmony with nature etc.... however as David says I don't think the post is a celebration of Thule military prowess but a call for an appreciation of the complexity of history
Submitted by Living It Up In the Costa del Churchtown on Friday, July 13, 2012
there's scientific proof that the vikings died from starvation and disease. they depleted the land resources that they used for their livestock and never used the ocean's resources that the inuit exploited successfully. the vikings died off and the inuit replaced them without much warfare.
Submitted by marvin nubwaxer on Sunday, September 30, 2012
Yes, I disagree with Steve's tone about this article, even if his more general social commentary has merit. The mere fact that this article exists is a testament to the author's resistance to political correctness.
I remember seeing a something on TV several years ago that concluded that the Vikings in Greenland died out because conditions were changing and the isolationism of the church prevented them from learning how to adapt from the Inuit. This article has a refreshing honesty.
Submitted by Angus on Sunday, October 07, 2012
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