The Western Settlement ( non, Vestribygð ) was a group of farms and communities established by
Norsemen
The Norsemen (or Norse people) were a North Germanic ethnolinguistic group of the Early Middle Ages, during which they spoke the Old Norse language. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages and is the ...
from
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...
around 985 in medieval
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...
. Despite its name, the Western Settlement was more north than west of its companion
Eastern Settlement and was located at the bottom of the deep
Nuup Kangerlua
Nuup Kangerlua is a long fjord in the Sermersooq municipality in southwestern Greenland. It was formerly known by its colonial name as Godthaab Fjord ( da, Godthåbsfjorden), Gilbert Sound and Baal's River.Nicoll, James. An Historical and Descr ...
fjord
In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icel ...
(inland from
Nuuk
Nuuk (; da, Nuuk, formerly ) is the capital and largest city of Greenland, a constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the country's largest cultural and economic centre. The major cities from other coun ...
, the modern-day Greenlandic capital).
Much less is known about the Western Settlement than the Eastern Settlement, as there is very little mention and no direct description of it in any of the medieval sources on Greenland. At its peak, the Western Settlement probably had about 1,000 inhabitants, about a quarter of the size of the Eastern Settlement, owing to its shorter growing season. The largest of the Western Settlement farms was
Sandnæs. Ruins of almost 95 farms have been found in the area.
The Western Settlement was last mentioned by Ivar Bardarson (''Ivar Bårdsson''), a Norwegian cleric who was sent to Greenland in 1341 to serve as superintendent of the bishop's seat at
Gardar in the Eastern Settlement. After the death of Bishop Árni in 1347 or 1348, Greenland was without a Bishop until Bishop Álfur was ordained in 1365 and arrived in 1368. Ivar Bardsson served as principal of the diocese during the interim period. In his voyage to the Western Settlement, he found only vacant farms. He subsequently wrote to the
Bishop of Bergen to describe conditions he observed. By 1360 he had returned to
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, secon ...
to serve as a
Canon of
Bergen Cathedral
Bergen Cathedral ( no, Bergen domkirke) is a cathedral in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. It is the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Bjørgvin as well as the seat of the "Bergen domkirke" parish and the seat of the Bergen domprosti ...
.
The demise of the Western Settlement coincides with a decrease in
summer
Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, wit ...
and
winter
Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultur ...
temperatures commonly known as the
Little Ice Age
The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of regional cooling, particularly pronounced in the North Atlantic region. It was not a true ice age of global extent. The term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939. Ma ...
. A study of North Atlantic seasonal temperature variability showed a significant decrease in maximum summer temperatures beginning in the late 13th century to early 14th century—as much as 6-8 °C lower than modern summer temperatures.
William P. Patterson, Kristin A. Dietrich, Chris Holmden, and John T. Andrews (2010) ''Two millennia of North Atlantic seasonality and implications for Norse colonies''
/ref> The study also found that the lowest winter temperatures of the last 2000 years occurred in the late 14th century and early 15th century.
See also
* Norse colonization of Greenland
The Norse exploration of North America began in the late 10th century, when Norsemen explored areas of the North Atlantic colonizing Greenland and creating a short term settlement near the northern tip of Newfoundland. This is known now as L'An ...
* Eastern Settlement
* Ivittuut, the site of a smaller "Middle Settlement"
* Danish colonization of Greenland
References
Other sources
* Diamond, Jared (2012) ''Norse Greenland: A Controlled Experiment in Collapse--A Selection from Collapse'' (Penguin)
*Jones, Gwyn (1964) ''The Norse Atlantic Saga: Being the Norse Voyages of Discovery and Settlement to Iceland, Greenland, America''(London: Oxford University Press)
* Lamb, Hubert H.(1995) ''Climate, History and the Modern World'' (London: Routledge)
*Mowat, Farley (1965) ''Westviking: The Ancient Norse in Greenland and North America'' (Boston: Little, Brown)
*Seaver, Kirsten A. (1996) ''The Frozen Echo: Greenland and the Exploration of North America, Ca. A.D. 1000-1500'' (Stanford University Press)
{{Authority control
Norse settlements in Greenland
Populated places established in the 10th century
890s establishments
10th century in Greenland
History of Nuuk