Skraeling Island is a Canadian island, located within the territory of
Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...
, which lies off the east coast of
Ellesmere Island
Ellesmere Island (; ) is Canada's northernmost and List of Canadian islands by area, third largest island, and the List of islands by area, tenth largest in the world. It comprises an area of , slightly smaller than Great Britain, and the total ...
at the mouth of
Alexandra Fiord.
Buchanan Bay lies to its north-east.
History
The
Norse referred to the Indigenous peoples they encountered in
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...
and the
New World
The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...
as
skræling
(Old Norse and , plural ) is the name the Norse Greenlanders used for the peoples they encountered in North America (Canada and Greenland). In surviving sources, it is first applied to the Thule people, the proto-Inuit group with whom the Nors ...
. According to the ancient sagas, the Norse considered the natives hostile because they were repeatedly attacked by them.
Archaeology
Skraeling Island is an extensive archeological site which has yielded a wealth of artifacts
from Small-Tool cultures dating from 4500 BC (
Dorset
Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...
and
Thule
Thule ( ; also spelled as ''Thylē'') is the most northerly location mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman literature and cartography. First written of by the Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia (modern-day Marseille, France) in about 320 BC, i ...
). Norse items found at
Inuit
Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...
sites
— some 80 objects from a single site including a small driftwood carving of a face with
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
an features — suggests that there was a lively trade between the groups (as well as an exchange of Norse goods among the Inuit).
References
External links
Skraeling Island in the
Atlas of Canada
The Atlas of Canada () is an online atlas published by Natural Resources Canada that has information on every city, town, village, and hamlet in Canada. It was originally a print atlas, with its first edition being published in 1906 by geographer ...
- Toporama; Natural Resources Canada
Islands of the Queen Elizabeth Islands
Uninhabited islands of Qikiqtaaluk Region
Viking Age in Canada
{{QikiqtaalukNU-island-stub