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Lords of the Seas

Spanish Translation

- Ritu Upadhyay

Nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus set off for the New World, a wooden ship sailed through the hazy mist and arrived on the rocky coast of what is now Newfoundland, Canada. The Viking sailors on board were the first Europeans to land in North America. But who, exactly, were they?

Folktales and history books have described them as violent warriors and thieves who terrorized Europe from about 800 to 1000 A.D. But discoveries over the past 30 years paint a bigger, less brutal picture of these ancient seafarers. Last week a new exhibit of Norse artifacts, "Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga," opened at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington. It will later travel to museums in New York City, Los Angeles and Houston, as well as Ottawa, Canada. Visitors will see the Vikings in a whole new light.

Masters of Many Arts
The Vikings weren't just burly fighters in horned helmets. In fact, their helmets had no horns. Vikings were Norse people from a region in Northern Europe that is now Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The Norse were peaceful farmers and traders. As the swords and jewelry in the new exhibit show, they were also gifted metalworkers. Their supreme talent, though, was shipbuilding. William Fitzhugh of the Smithsonian's National Museum describes the ships as "unbelievable--the best in Europe by far."

The Vikings used their ships to sail in search of goods they couldn't get at home--silk, glass, steel and silver from Europe, Russia, the Middle East and possibly Africa. There is much truth to the Vikings' savage reputation. They used brute force to steal, especially if they spotted a shiny treasure. In fact, the word Viking refers to those men who went on these thieving raids.

Exploring the West
In 871, their restless spirit led the Vikings west to a freezing-cold island they named Iceland. Evidence shows that about 12,000 Norse settled there.

A red-bearded Viking named Erik the Red sailed west from Iceland and landed in Greenland. It was just as cold as Iceland, but a legend says Erik hoped the pleasant name would attract settlers. What a trick!

Later, an explorer named Bjarni Herjolfsson was blown off course on his way to Greenland and spotted a forested land in the distance. Erik's son Leif set out to find it. He became the first European to reach North America. Ruins suggest his base in what is now Newfoundland lasted less than 10 years. Still, the many Norse objects found at Native American sites along Canada's northeastern coast show that Vikings continued to trade with the Inuit long after the Norse abandoned their camp and went back to Greenland.

The settlement in Greenland lasted for many centuries. But around 1450, a global climate change made it too cold for even the tough Vikings to survive.

Remnants of Viking culture remain part of modern life. The Vikings set up the world's oldest surviving democratic legislature, the Althing, in Iceland. Its representatives still meet to discuss important issues and settle disputes. Every week we all honor the ancient Norse gods Odin, Thor and Freya. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are named after them!

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