History Main / VikingsInAmerica

->''"Now I know what you're thinking. 'But ''WebAnimation/OverSimplified'', Columbus didn't discover America. The Vikings did.' [[TruthInTelevision And you'd be partially right.]]"''

For centuries the conventional wisdom was that Christopher Columbus's 1492 expedition was the first time Europeans reached the Americas. Icelandic settlements in Greenland were well documented up until their abandonment in the early 1400s, but the only records of Vikings going further west than that were some family sagas of dubious accuracy that spoke of an ill-fated expedition to a place called "Vinland".

Interest in pre-Columbian Norse exploration of America was renewed toward the end of the 19th century, coinciding with a wave of Scandinavian emigration to the US and Canada, but it was still considered highly speculative and lacking in evidence, and many of the "artifacts" of Viking exploration offered up in this period were of dubious authenticity (see Hoaxes below). Then in the 1960s archaeologists found genuine Viking artifacts in Newfoundland, Canada, that were dated to the first few decades of the 11th century, predating Columbus by nearly 500 years.[[note]]The exact years of the Norse presence in North America are highly debated, but a 2021 study of the wood used at the Newfoundland site dated it specifically to 1021, a decade or two later than some of the earlier dating estimates.[[/note]] Suggesting that ''Literature/TheVinlandSagas'' were based in some grain of truth after all.

This prompted a new wave of fascination with the Old Norse seamen and speculation that they could have ventured further into North America. This speculation became fuel for a number of stories. It might be a case of HistoricalFiction where characters are Vikings attempting to colonize America, it might be a modern setting where [[MacGuffin something]] (or someone) Vikings left behind becomes relevant to the plot, or it could even be an AlternateHistory where the Vinland colony persisted to the present day.

Note that as of this writing, there's no evidence that Vikings made it south of the modern Canadian border, or even to the mainland. However, due to CreatorProvincialism the United States of America are a popular setting for these stories.

** [[spoiler:Eivor ends up leaving England and living the rest of their life in North America, where they die of old age and eventually are buried. Their body is discovered and exhumed by Layla and her crew, and connected to the Animus.]]

** The game's Random New World option features Vinland (the only Norse religion country of the entire game), although in this case the Americas themselves have also been turned into something completely different than what they are in real life.
** In the alternate history mod ''VideoGame/ThirdOdyssey'', the Viking colonies of Markland and Helluland have survived till the 1400s, and play a part in the Byzantine exodus and settlement to the Americas in 1444.

-->''"Now I know what you're thinking. 'But ''WebAnimation/OverSimplified'', Columbus didn't discover America. The Vikings did.' [[TruthInTelevision And you'd be partially right.]]"''
--->--''WebAnimation/OverSimplified'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzALIXcY4pg The American Revolution (Part 1)]]

* ''ComicBook/ThorVikings'': In the year 1003, warlord Harald Jaekelsson and his band of ruthless vikings are cursed by a wise man for destroying a Norwegian town and murdering its inhabitants. They then set off to the New World which they have heard to lie west of Greenland. The curse not only causes their voyage to last a thousand years, it also transforms them into night-unkillable zombies who sail into New York harbor and proceed to kill everything in their path. Subsequently Thor has to assemble a team of warriors from different time periods to help him destroy the undead vikings.

* Juanita Coulson set to music and sang a Martha Keller poem titled Grugan about a cavalry man who finds armor on the body of one of the Sioux warriors he skirmished with. In questioning where the armor came from the filk song promptly asks "Was old Leif Ericjson the first to seek the setting sun or was it Magic after all, that Welshman out of Wales?" as one of several speculations as to how an Indian warrior ended up wearing metal armor.

* ''WebOriginal/AtlasAltera'': In the setting, the Norse stuck around and eventually founded a country called Windmark, in OTL Newfoundland.

* ''Recap/AsterixAndTheGreatCrossing'': Asterix and Obelix accidentally discover North America. They meet stereotypical vikings, who mistake them for natives.

* ''The Norseman'', a 1978 Creator/LeeMajors vehicle, a Viking prince heads off to Vinland to rescue his father from a group of ''skraelings''. Notable for its shameless amount of ArtisticLicenseHistory: the scenes of the Viking settlement were filmed on the sunny beaches of UsefulNotes/{{Florida}} (!), and the publicity material says that they fought "the savage warriors of the Iroquois Nation"; the Iroquois is a confederacy of tribes, not a single nation, it's based in interior UsefulNotes/NewYorkState, and it formed long after the Vikings left North America.

* The ''The Norseman'', a 1978 Creator/LeeMajors vehicle, a Viking prince heads off to Vinland to rescue his father from a group of ''skraelings''. Notable for its shameless amount of ArtisticLicenseHistory: the scenes of the Viking settlement were filmed on the sunny beaches of UsefulNotes/{{Florida}} (!), and the publicity material says that they fought "the savage warriors of the Iroquois Nation"; the Iroquois is a confederacy of tribes, not a single nation, it's based in interior UsefulNotes/NewYorkState, and it formed long after the Vikings left North America.

* ''Literature/TheMerchantPrincesSeries'':

[[folder:Film — Live Action]]

* In ''Recap/AsterixAndTheGreatCrossing'', Asterix and Obelix accidentally discover North America. They meet stereotypical vikings, who mistake them for natives.
* In ''ComicBook/TheGoldenHelmet'', a 1952 story by Creator/CarlBarks, ComicBook/DonaldDuck, working as a museum watchman, discovers an ancient map which turns out to be the private records of Olaf the Blue, a Viking explorer who reached Labrador in 901 AD and claimed the newfound continent for himself, burying a golden helmet as proof of his discovery. What's more, as Olaf's property claim is found legally valid, anyone who has the helmet can now claim to be Olaf's heir and thus, the legal owner of all of North America. Cue Donald, the nephews and the museum's curator racing to Labrador to secure the helmet before villain Azure Blue, a man who claims to be descended from Olaf the Blue, can do so.

* The 1978 Creator/LeeMajors vehicle ''The Norseman'', in which a Viking prince heads off to Vinland to rescue his father from a group of ''skraelings''. Notable for its shameless amount of ArtisticLicenseHistory: the scenes of the Viking settlement were filmed on the sunny beaches of UsefulNotes/{{Florida}} (!), and the publicity material says that they fought "the savage warriors of the Iroquois Nation"; the Iroquois is a confederacy of tribes, not a single nation, it's based in interior UsefulNotes/NewYorkState, and it formed long after the Vikings left North America.

* ''Film/{{The Viking|1928}}'' (1928): Protagonist Alwin, an Anglo-Saxon noble carried off to Norway, sails with Leif Ericsson when Leif goes looking for new lands west of Greenland. The ending has Alwin staying in North America as the leader of a Viking colony implied to be situated at Newport, Rhode Island.[[note]]Before the Newfoundland sites were discovered it was popularly believed that Vinland was in New England, and specifically an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newport_Tower_(Rhode_Island) old stone tower in Newport]] was touted as a Viking artifact. It's since been established as actually being the base of a windmill built by English colonists in the 17th century.[[/note]]
* In the Brazilian film ''Xuxa e o Tesouro da Cidade Perdida'' ("Xuxa and the Treasure of the Lost City"), children's entertainer Xuxa plays the role of a Brazilian archaeologist who searches for a lost city in the Amazon rainforest populated by descendants of Vikings.

* In Creator/RudyardKipling's short story "The Finest Story In the World", the narrator, [[AuthorAvatar a famous writer]], realizes that his acquaintance Charlie Mears, a poetry-loving London youth training as a bank clerk, remembers his past lives as a galley slave in the Mediterranean and as a Northman sailing to Vinland with Thorfin Karlsefne. The narrator plans to write down Charlie's memories (which Charlie thinks are just stories he is making up) to create the "finest story in the world", but fails because he cannot stop Charlie from forgetting his former lives as he inexorably transforms from a youthful dreamer into a middle-class bank clerk.

* In the US version of ''Series/{{Ghosts|US}}'', the oldest ghost in the upstate New York mansion is Thorfinn, a Viking who got marooned there one thousand years ago and struck by lightning. In one episode the living characters find his remains and consider selling them to a museum, but opt for giving him a VikingFuneral instead.

* At a 1998 concert in [[UsefulNotes/{{Norway}} Oslo]], there was this little bit of stage banter from Music/BobDylan (probably thinking about the Kensington Runestone mentioned in Hoaxes).
-->"I feel quite at home here actually. I was born and raised in Minnesota, where the Vikings landed long before Columbus did."

* The "Vinlandsaga" scenario in ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII'' is a fictionalized recounting of the Norse expeditions to the New World.

* ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis IV'':

* In ''Webcomic/FullFrontalNerdity'' Frank finds a Viking axe buried in his [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=2576 backyard]], somewhere in the continental United States but not specified. He winds up possessed by a Viking ghost obsessed with reaching the West Coast and claiming the continent in the name of Erik the Red.

* In the world of ''WebOriginal/AtlasAltera'', the Norse stuck around and eventually founded a country called Windmark, in OTL Newfoundland.

* ''Film/{{The Viking|1928}}'' (1928): Protagonist Alwin, an Anglo-Saxon noble carried off to Norway, sails with Leif Ericsson when Leif goes looking for new lands west of Greenland. The ending has Alwin staying in North America as the leader of a Viking colony implied to be situated at Newport, Rhode Island.

** The UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague[='s=] Minnesota Vikings are named after the (in)famous "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensington_Runestone Kensington Runestone]]", a 19th-century hoax from a Swedish immigrant to that area of central Minnesota.

* The 1978 Creator/LeeMajors vehicle ''The Norseman'', in which a Viking prince heads off to Vinland to rescue his father from a group of ''skraelings''. Notable for its shameless amount of ArtisticLicenseHistory: the scenes of the Viking settlement were filmed on the sunny beaches of UsefulNotes/{{Florida}} (!), and the publicity material says that they fought "the savage warriors of the Iroquois Nation"; the Iroquois is a confederacy of tribes, not a single nation, it's based in interior UsefulNotes/NewYorkState, and it formed long after the Vikings left North America.

* ''Series/AmericanGods'': Much like the book it also features a Viking expedition arriving in America. However, unlike in the novel where they attempted to set up a colony, they were quickly repelled by the unwelcoming terrain and hostile natives. However, they couldn't leave as there was no wind for their ship. So they built an idol to Odin, and held a melee as as a mass human sacrifice. This succeeded in summoning enough wind for them to leave, but in their haste they left their idol behind. [[spoiler: This event led to the creation of [[ConMan Mr Wednesday]], the American incarnation of Odin, drastically different from the version they knew]].

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': Ulfen explorers from the Land of the Linnorm Kings are believed to have been the first explorers from Avistan -- the setting's equivalent of medieval Europe -- to have reached Arcadia -- the equivalent of precolumbian America -- and maintain the hardscrabble settlement of Port Valen on its shores.

** The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_penny Maine penny]] is a Norse coin from the late 11th century found at a Native American archaeological site in Maine. Although certainly authentic, the lack of other Norse artifacts at the site led to some scholars suggesting that it was planted there, similar to the Beardmore hoax.

[[/folder]]

Interest in pre-Columbian Norse exploration of America was renewed toward the end of the 19th century, coinciding with a wave of Scandinavian emigration to the US and Canada, but it was still considered highly speculative and lacking in evidence, and many of the "artifacts" of Viking exploration offered up in this period were of dubious authenticity (see Hoaxes below). Then in the 1960s archaeologists found genuine Viking artifacts in Newfoundland, Canada, that were dated to the first few decades of the 11th century, predating Columbus by nearly 500 years.[[note]]The exact years of the Norse presence in North America are highly debated, but a 2021 study of the wood used at the Newfoundland site dated it specifically to 1021, a decade or two later later than some of the earlier dating estimates.[[/note]] Suggesting that ''Literature/TheVinlandSagas'' were based in some grain of truth after all.

* ''Film/Pathfinder2007'': Ca. 1000 AD, a group of seafaring vikings reach the shores of North America and settle there after killing the local "skraelings", but another Native American tribe wipes them out save for a boy [[RaisedByNatives they adopt]] and name "Ghost". Years later, another group of vikings arrives and Ghost must find a way to stop them and protect his adopted people.

* In the Brazilian film ''Xuxa e o Tesouro da Cidade Perdida'' ("Xuxa and the Treasure of the Lost City"), children's entertainer Xuxa plays the role of a Brazilian archaeologist that searches for a lost city in the Amazon rainforest populated by descendants of Vikings.

** The UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague[='s=] Minnesota Vikings are named after the (in)famous "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensington_Runestone Kensington Runestone]]", a 19th century hoax from a Swedish immigrant to that area of central Minnesota.

** In 1957, Yale University purchased the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinland_Map Vinland Map]], allegedly a 15th century map of the world that featured accurate depictions of Greenland and Vinland. Anachronistic details, such as Greenland being drawn as an island far before any European knew that, caused many to conclude it was a forgery; this was confirmed by a 2018 study that proved the ink was far younger than 500 years.

* In Creator/RudyardKipling's short story "The Finest Story In the World", the narrator, [[AuthorAvatar a famous writer]], realizes that his acquaintance Charlie Mears, a poetry-loving London youth training as a bank clerk, remembers his past lives as a galley slave in the Mediterranean and as a Northman sailing to Vinland with Thorfin Karlsefne. The narrator plans to write down Charlie's memories (which Charlie thinks are just stories he is making up) to create the "finest story in the world", but fails because he cannot stop Charlie forgetting his former lives as he inexorably transforms from a youthful dreamer into a middle-class bank clerk.

* ''Series/AmericanGods'': Much like the book it also features a Viking expedition arriving in America. However, unlike in the novel where they attempted to set up a colony, they were quickly repelled by the unwelcoming terrain and hostile natives. However, they couldn't leave as their was no wind for their ship. So they built an idol to Odin, and held a melee as as a mass human sacrifice. This succeeded in summoning enough wind for them to leave, but in their haste they left their idol behind. [[spoiler: This event led to creation of [[ConMan Mr Wednesday]], the American incarnation of Odin, drastically different from the version they knew]].
* In the US version of ''Series/{{Ghosts|US}}'', the oldest ghost in the upstate New York mansion is Thorfinn, a viking who got marooned there one thousand years ago and struck by lightning. In one episode the living characters find his remains and consider selling them to a museum, but opt for giving him a VikingFuneral instead.

** The game's Random New World option features Vinland (the only Norse religion country of the entire game), although in this case the Americas themselves have also been turned into something completely different then what they are in real life.
** In the alternate history mod ''VideoGame/ThirdOdyssey'' the Viking colonies of Markland and Helluland have survived till the 1400's, and play a part in the Byzantine exodus and settlement to the Americas in 1444.

* The 1978 Creator/LeeMajors vehicle ''The Norseman'', in which a Viking prince heads off to Vinland to rescue his father from a group of ''skraelings''. Notable for its shameless amount of ArtisticLicenseHistory: the scenes of the Viking settlement were filmed on the beaches of UsefulNotes/{{Florida}} (!), and the publicity material says that they fought "the savage warriors of the Iroquois Nation"; the Iroquois is a confederacy of tribes, not a single nation, it's based in interior UsefulNotes/NewYorkState, and it formed long after the Vikings left North America.

* The 1978 Creator/LeeMajors vehicle ''The Norseman'', in which a Viking prince heads off to Vinland to rescue his father from a group of ''skraelings''. Notable for its shameless amount of ArtisticLicenseHistory: the scenes of the Viking settlement were filmed on the beaches of UsefulNotes/{{Florida}} (!), and the publicity material says that they fought "the savage warriors of the Iroquois Nation"; the Iroqouis is a confederacy of tribes, not a single nation, it's based in interior UsefulNotes/NewYorkState, and it formed long after the Vikings left North America.

Then in the 1960s archaeologists found Viking artifacts in Newfoundland, Canada, that were dated to the 10th century, predating Columbus by nearly 500 years. Suggesting that ''Literature/TheVinlandSagas'' were based in some grain of truth after all.

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]