"From 985 until sometime in the 1400s, Greenland was the farthest, most isolated outpost of medieval Scandinavian society. For nearly 500 years, the Norse Greenlanders built churches, kept livestock, and wore the same clothes as their contemporaries in faraway Europe. Then, for reasons that are still debated today, they vanished. The disappearance of the Norse Greenlanders - apparently without anyone noticing - remains one of history's most tantalizing mysteries."
"Scandinavian explorers led by Erik the Red settled Greenland in the late 10th century, and their descendants flourished there for hundreds of years as farmers and hunters. The largest community of Viking Age Greenland, known as the Eastern Settlement, was in the extreme southwest and consisted of about 500 farms. At its peak, it even boasted its own bishop and cathedral. Hundreds of kilometers north was the smaller, more marginal Western Settlement, near present-day Nuuk."
From 985 until the 1400s Greenland served as the most remote outpost of medieval Scandinavian society. Norse Greenlanders built churches, kept livestock, and wore the same clothes as contemporaries in Europe before vanishing for debated reasons. Scandinavian explorers led by Erik the Red established settlements in the late 10th century. The Eastern Settlement in the extreme southwest comprised about 500 farms and had a bishop and cathedral. The smaller Western Settlement near present-day Nuuk had about 90 farmsteads and access to Disko Bay, source of walrus ivory. Norse voyages reached Helluland, Markland, and Vinland, and contact occurred with Dorset remnants and later Thule peoples.
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