Norse America: The Story of a Founding Myth

Video

In our interview with Gordon Campbell, we chat all about his new book Norse America: The Story of a Founding Myth. The book tells two stories. One story is that of the Norse proceeding in the 10th and 11th century from mainland Scandinavia to the Faroes and Iceland and Greenland, and from Greenland they sail, hunting in many cases to what is now the Eastern Arctic in Canada. And they famously, as we have known since the 1060s, had a sort of camp in Northern Newfoundland at a site called L'Anse aux Meadows.

The other story is the appropriation of the first story by Canadians and Americans who want to have been discovered by people with white North European origins rather than by Columbus, who was Italian, sailed for Spain, and did all kinds of other suspicious things. So, there is a racial narrative, which is potentially pernicious in the huge attraction of having the Norse discover America. I became interested in the attraction as much as I did in the actual voyages themselves.

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https://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/english/people/gordoncampbell

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— CHAPTERS —
0:00​ Introduction
0:47 What is the book all about?
2:25 Bringing the two narratives together
4:20 Was it difficult disentangling the two narratives?
6:26 Columbus in America
7:30 Evidence and Artefacts (Real and Fake)
11:22 L'Anse aux Meadows
17:00 Fake Runic Inscription, Nova Scotia
20:40 Erik the Red and Leif the Lucky
27:00 Greenland Colonies
38:00 Outro

— WANT TO KNOW MORE? —
The Norse in America: Fact and Fiction https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1880/the-norse-in-america-fact-and-fiction/
Leif Erikson https://www.worldhistory.org/Leif_Erikson/
Vinland https://www.worldhistory.org/Vinland/
Viking Age Greenland https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1208/viking-age-greenland/
Vikings https://www.worldhistory.org/Vikings/
European Colonization of the Americas https://www.worldhistory.org/European_Colonization_of_the_Americas/

— WATCH NEXT —
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Bjorn Ironside: the Legendary Viking Warrior From the Historical Sagas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX3cjgyc_BE
History of the Vikings: Norse Culture, Religion, Seafaring and Famous Warriors https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er3psA0QzDA
Norse Mythology: an Introduction to the Norse Gods, Goddesses, Myths and Legends https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj6t5AO_650
Christopher Columbus: Life and Voyages in the Age of Exploration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kodTlQrLFnM

— ATTRIBUTIONS —
The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on:
https://www.ancientlyre.com
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A

— THUMBNAIL IMAGE —
Norse America: The Story of a Founding Myth
Gordon Campbell / Oxford University Press
Copyright

World History Encyclopedia
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